Film Noir Nostalgia Series, Grain Elevators Mossleigh Alberta

Canon 5D Markii, Canon 16-35 at 20mm, f11, 1/100sec, ISO200

Mossleigh is a hamlet in southern Alberta, Canada within Vulcan County. It is located on Highway 24, approximately 63 kilometres (39 mi) southeast of Calgary.

A farm family in the Mossleigh area of Southern Alberta is doing all it can to keep their local grain elevators towering over the prairies.

Eric Donovan and his cousin purchased two of the three aging structures when the original owner had no more use for them. Now they're being restored to working condition.

 

2010, 3 elevators were still standing, Canon 5D Markii, Canon 24-105 at 105mm, f7, 1/320sec, ISO200

 The elevators were built in 1930, and were in very bad shape when I visited them in 2010, as you can see on my photographs, 2 are still standing today, I am hoping to go back this spring to see if they were restored, I hope so, the grain elevators are part of our history and should be preserved. The original prairie grain elevators are becoming fewer and further between - especially rows of them.

 

Canon 5D Markii, Canon 24-105 at 32mm, f11, 1/60sec, ISO200

I used "Film Noir" black and white preset for this project to bring back the nostalgia.

Canon 5D Markii, Canon 24-105 at 24mm, f11, 1/30sec, ISO200

Canon 5D Markii, Canon 16-35 at 16mm, f11, 1/30sec, ISO200

Canon 5D Markii, Canon 16-35 at 35mm, f11, 1/60sec, ISO200

Canon 5D Markii, Canon 16-35 at 16mm, f10, 1/100sec, ISO200

Canon 5D Markii, Canon 100-400 at 170mm, f7, 1/60sec, ISO200

 

Canon 5D Markii, Canon fisheye 15mm, f10, 1/250sec, ISO200

Film Noir Nostalgia Series, Old Cars

I took all these shots at the Okotoks Kinsmnen Show'n'Shine, it was done in the Olde Town a very charming venue for this kind of event, the old architecture gave a great backdrop to shoot old cars.

It’s not easy to get the shot during an event, dealing with the crowed, the space, all the signage, advertising, vendors, name it, need to be persistent and wait for the perfect timing.

I always bring my tripod, wait to get the point of view I am looking for, set my camera, sit and wait for the perfect moment. I always bracket my shot in an event like that, you may have only one chance to catch that moment and you want to make sure you got the perfect exposure, not only that you can also use some of the shots for HDR later on, HDR and old cars are a great mix.

Early morning Olde Town Okotoks doing my spotting walk, before the cars and crowed arrived,Canon 5D Markii, Canon 24-105 at 24mm, f4, 1/60sec, ISO 200

All the shots were done using my Canon 5D Markii, and most of the time my Canon 24-105, on a tripod when possible, I like to use the 24-105 for event, great range, and great image quality, during this shooting I also used my Canon 70-200 and Canon 16-35.

For this post, I used only black and white in Film Noir, Film Noir in French for Black Film, first applied to Hollywood film in 1946 it was great for melodrama, way before that Film noir was associated with a low-key black-and-white visual style .... of the 1910s and 1920s that involve theater, photography, painting, sculpture.

Using HDR and Film Noir a great mix, Canon 5D Markii, Canon 24-105 at 24mm, f4, 1/42sec, ISO 200

For me Film Noir is a way to add a bit of drama, and nostalgia to my story teller project.

When I photography car, I always try to get at least one side and and angle of the front or tailfin of it, but sometimes the lack of space render this practice impossible especially in event, to face that situation I try to get a good angle with great details and info about the make.

In a perfect shot adding old buildings in the background to add to the story is great, I had the chance to get few shots like this during this event, but I never expect to get this kind of opportunity during event, I don't want to end up very frustrated, when it happens it’s a bonus.

Having the chance to shoot the building as a backdrop Canon 5D Markii, Canon 24-105 at 32mm, f7, 1/128sec, ISO 200

Great point of view, HDR and Film Noir combination, Canon 5D Markii, Canon 24-105 at 40mm, f7, 1/198sec, ISO 200

All post production were done using Nik Silver Efex Pro 2, preset Film Noir 1, I change the grain per pixel for 250 to 350, the preset comes with 92 that is too low for my taste, I also in some case change the border or took it out, same thing for the burn edges, what is interesting with Nik Silver Efex is that you can control every details of the preset, same for all black and white plug ins programs like onOne, Alien, and Topaz.

No tripod space, sitting on the side of the sidewalk in between cars, angle front and side view, Canon 5D Markii, Canon 24-105 at 40mm, f5.6, 1/160sec, ISO 200

This is one of my favorite, angle front mid side shot, Canon 5D Markii, Canon 24-105 at 24mm, f7, 1/125ec, ISO 200

Angle front and full side shot, HDR and Film Noir combination, Canon 5D Markii, Canon 16-35 at 23mm, f2.8, 1/125sec, ISO 200

When there is no space at all, angle mid front and side front whell, Canon 5D Markii, Canon70-200 at 170mm, f6.3, 1/160sec, ISO 200

Another squeeze situation, angle mid front, full side, Canon 5D Markii, Canon 16-35 at 35mm, f5.6, 1/160sec, ISO 200

 Don't stop at the front only, some have beautiful tailfin design, like this one, angle 3/4 back and full side shot, Canon 5D Markii, Canon 16-35 at 35mm, f5.6, 1/160sec, ISO 200

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Black and White Filters

I use black and white filters all the time, I like the flexibility, and all the options.

The 4 programs that I used the most are onOne Perfect BW 8, Photoshop Plug In and Standalone, Nik Silver Effex 2, Photoshop Plug In, Alien exposure 5, Photoshop Plug In, and Topaz BW effect 2, Photoshop Plug In, they all offer a lot of flexibility, all of them have free trial, try one at the time, play with it, see if that respond to your needs, you can also try Film Noir, a Standalone Program just got it, very interesting program.

I took these 2 shots during a trip to Louisville Kentucky, these girls where promoting the day of the little black dress Oct. 19, never heard of it before, but apparently it’s to celebrate Coco Chanel introduction of the little black dress 85 years ago, quite interesting, now on I will wear my little black dress every year on that date.

I found these 2 street shots interesting, I am using black and white to change the mood of each image, have a look, and if you have any questions about the programs, use the comment section.

For all the black and white transformation, I only click on the preset, didn't play with it, except for my custom one, I normally play with each options a lot but for this post I didn't want to change the look of the presets I used, the only thing I took out was the frame, when it came with the preset and reduce the grain effect.



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This is the original, Canon 5D Markii, Canon 50mm prime lens, f6.3, 1/125 ISO200

 

I used Alien Skin Kodak Tech Pan Preset

I used onOne Holliwood Portrait Latte Preset

I used Nik High Structure Preset

This one is very different, Topaz as a lot of different filters, this one is Cyan and Pink,

This one is my custom transformation, using Nik, starting with Pinhole Preset, changing the film for Agfa APX 400, Toning Sepia 20, lowering contrast, and protecting the shadow, I also used a control point to add a bit a of brightness on the face of the girls in the corners. This custom one was done to send the attention to the 3 girls in the middle, and their interaction.

This one was kind of fun, I like the different expressions, serious, laughing, and dreaming, Canon 5D Markii, Canon 50mm prime lens, f11, 1/20, ISO 200

I used Topaz White Chocolate Preset

I used Nik High Structure Preset

 I used Alien Skin Low Contrast Kodak x 400 Preset

I like this one a lot, I used Onone Grade 5 Preset

As you can see, the options are huge, just depend of what you are looking for,

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