# NSFW Photo Essay 2 - A girl and her Fuji Instax



## Tropicalmemories (Feb 1, 2019)

My Fiance had wanted an instant camera for a while, but I was saying quality is not good and cost per print is high - but we bought one to see if we like it.

My 'model' feels a bit self conscious when posing for my (very) amateur portrait sessions, but is happy if playing with her phone or a camera.  Fuji XF 35mm f1.4


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## tirediron (Feb 1, 2019)

Nicely done; the two where you're holding the instant prints would have been even better had you had her mimic the pose in the print.


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## Tropicalmemories (Feb 1, 2019)

tirediron said:


> Nicely done; the two where you're holding the instant prints would have been even better had you had her mimic the pose in the print.



Ah yes - good suggestion for next time.


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## JoeW (Feb 1, 2019)

I think these are lovely, especially for an amateur model.  The concept of the DoF/poloroid shots is well executed.

Let me nitpick and point out two small compositional elements that would improve 2 of the photos.  On #1, the blurred black strip in the background is distracting.  On #3 there is a small white blur in her hair and her fingernail polish is a bit chipped and uneven.  Given the narrow DoF, those small things make a difference.  You could easily fix those with a cloning tool.

Otherwise, 4 lovely results.  I hope we'll see more.


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## Tropicalmemories (Feb 1, 2019)

JoeW said:


> I think these are lovely, especially for an amateur model.  The concept of the DoF/poloroid shots is well executed.
> 
> Let me nitpick and point out two small compositional elements that would improve 2 of the photos.  On #1, the blurred black strip in the background is distracting.  On #3 there is a small white blur in her hair and her fingernail polish is a bit chipped and uneven.  Given the narrow DoF, those small things make a difference.  You could easily fix those with a cloning tool.
> 
> Otherwise, 4 lovely results.  I hope we'll see more.



Thank you - all very useful tips for my next attempt.


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## JoeW (Feb 1, 2019)

Tropicalmemories said:


> JoeW said:
> 
> 
> > I think these are lovely, especially for an amateur model.  The concept of the DoF/poloroid shots is well executed.
> ...


I love the work on your Flickr page.  The first shot of "room with a view"--clone out blind cord behind her head and that would be outstanding.


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## Tropicalmemories (Feb 1, 2019)

JoeW said:


> Tropicalmemories said:
> 
> 
> > JoeW said:
> ...



Thank you!  Yes. I've had a few goes at cloning out the blind cord (it features in several shots from that day), but it gets messy where it crosses the buildings and my 'model'.


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## unpopular (Feb 1, 2019)

tirediron said:


> Nicely done; the two where you're holding the instant prints would have been even better had you had her mimic the pose in the print.



IDk. I think that would be kind of "meh". Perhaps unintentional, but I kind of like the disjointed weirdness here. They're like impossible self portraits and as series (including those holding the camera), it's interesting, even a little bit eerie.

Like I said, I am pretty sure that wasn't your intention with these - but I don't think it really matters, either. I actually like these a lot.


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## Dean_Gretsch (Feb 2, 2019)

unpopular said:


> They're like impossible self portraits and as series (including those holding the camera), it's interesting, even a little bit eerie.



Yeah, almost has a hostage/ransom feel. I know, I watch too much tv Honestly, I think the suggestion of mimicry would work. With the instant pics involved, I wonder how a BW conversion might look?


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## Tropicalmemories (Feb 2, 2019)

Dean_Gretsch said:


> unpopular said:
> 
> 
> > They're like impossible self portraits and as series (including those holding the camera), it's interesting, even a little bit eerie.
> ...



I tried a selective black and white conversion, but I don't think that works.  We'll try the mimic option next time, at least it's fun trying different ways to combine the images. 

- a bit like the shots showing a phone screen, I like the picture-in-picture look.

She's holding one picture in the background, but I don't think that's clear.


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## Tropicalmemories (Feb 25, 2019)

.[/QUOTE] The first shot of "room with a view"--clone out blind cord behind her head and that would be outstanding.[/QUOTE]

Finally had a go at removing the blind cord - but it was a jpeg edit, so some loss of details.


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## Donde (Feb 25, 2019)

Very nice. I wish you'd moved just a tad so her head would have clear  space around it and not be touching the central column.


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## Tropicalmemories (Feb 25, 2019)

Donde said:


> Very nice. I wish you'd moved just a tad so her head would have clear  space around it and not be touching the central column.



Yes - I was thinking that while I was editing, and realised issues like that can't be easily fixed later.

I did take some other shots with a better position, but the pose was not as good.  Not easy to get everything to come together!


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## vintagesnaps (Feb 25, 2019)

As women move and change poses, often with longer hair it needs periodically to be combed/arranged; it creates dark lines where it's straggling across a shoulder, etc. 

I don't understand why she had to do something that she's uncomfortable with, much less have the photos be posted publicly. She's lovely, but looking at some of the Flickr stream she seems with these type photos to be looking down or at a phone (and it seems like the way a child might be treated being given a toy to stay occupied); when she's looking at the camera and smiling she's in a dress, at dinner or out and about, etc. I don't get why the camera and film couldn't have been a gift instead of being given for doing something she didn't want to do.


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## Tropicalmemories (Feb 25, 2019)

vintagesnaps said:


> As women move and change poses, often with longer hair it needs periodically to be combed/arranged; it creates dark lines where it's straggling across a shoulder, etc.
> 
> I don't understand why she had to do something that she's uncomfortable with, much less have the photos be posted publicly. She's lovely, but looking at some of the Flickr stream she seems with these type photos to be looking down or at a phone (and it seems like the way a child might be treated being given a toy to stay occupied); when she's looking at the camera and smiling she's in a dress, at dinner or out and about, etc. I don't get why the camera and film couldn't have been a gift instead of being given for doing something she didn't want to do.



Good tip about her hair - thank you.

She loves to see the results of the portrait sessions, and says they will be great to look back on when we're older - but she gets bored and fidgety quickly 

She has the soul of a cat, playful, willful, could sleep all day, obsessed with food, and needs something to keep her amused to get her stay still (when she's not asleep).

But when she sees the images, she's delighted and suggests ways to improve them next time.

I guess there's a big difference between a professional model, and a girlfriend.


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## DarkShadow (Feb 25, 2019)

Beautiful Women and images creatively done with class. Kudos.


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## Tropicalmemories (Feb 25, 2019)

DarkShadow said:


> Beautiful Women and images creatively done with class. Kudos.



Thank you!


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## Donde (Feb 26, 2019)

"...but she gets bored and fidgety quickly 

She has the soul of a cat, playful, willful, could sleep all day, obsessed with food, and needs something to keep her amused to get her stay still (when she's not asleep)."

This should give you a sense of foreboding...


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## Tropicalmemories (Mar 5, 2019)

Donde said:


> This should give you a sense of foreboding...



-  I like cats, and after 9 years together and think she's a keeper

Couple more shots from a weekend trip, I thought the brickwork could make a nice background .... ?


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## sabrinahathaway (Mar 18, 2021)

Sorry for the stupid question, but I do not understand how you can make a photo with a blur where a girl is depicted and in the foreground a clear photo on paper (film?). I have a cool camera but I don't seem to remember that there was such a function. Can someone explain to me how it works? How so it turns out that it is the foreground that is blurred on one side, so that it hides what is in the background. I'm a beginner and still just learning, tell me how to do it better, or I will have to buy a new camera


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## Tropicalmemories (Mar 18, 2021)

sabrinahathaway said:


> Sorry for the stupid question, but I do not understand how you can make a photo with a blur where a girl is depicted and in the foreground a clear photo on paper (film?). I have a cool camera from compact click, but I don't seem to remember that there was such a function. Can someone explain to me how it works? How so it turns out that it is the foreground that is blurred on one side, so that it hides what is in the background. I'm a beginner and still just learning, tell me how to do it better, or I will have to buy a new camera



It's the lens that creates this effect, but there's several factors.  All lenses have a zone that it in focus, known as the depth of field, and the rest of the image will be out of focus.

The depth of the in-focus 'depth of field's depends on the aperture of the lens.  The aperture is the size of the hole inside the lens that let's in the light.

At wide apertures (large openings) the depth of field is very narrow, so if I use a wide aperture and focus on the paper photograph image, the girl in the background will be outside the depth of field, and so put of focus.

This effect is more commonly used in portraits, so the person is in focus, but the background is blurred.

There's three other factors influencing how narrow the depth of field can be:

Size of the image sensor in the camera - bigger equals narrower depth of field

Focal length of the lens - longer equals narrower depth of field (dof)

Distance to the subject - closer is narrower dof

I used a camera with large-ish sensor and a very wide aperture, and the subject was close. 

The problem is that most compact cameras and phones have very small sensors, which combined with moderate apertures and mid-range focal lengths results in such a wide depth of field that you don't see the out of focus effect.

If you arrange a shot so the subject is very close and the background is a long way back - you can see the effect with any camera and lens.  Some mobile phones also an effect that artificially creates this effect.

But to do it easily - you need a lens with either a wide aperture (less than f2.0) or a long focal length (over around 80mm) combined with a camera with  larger sensor.  

A low cost, used DSLR with some wide aperture lenses would be a good start learning this process.


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