Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/04/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]on 4/24/02 5:15 PM, Aram Langhans at langhans@yakima-wa.com wrote: > > So, now, would someone please talk me out of buying Velvia? > Much of my objection to Velvia is what I see as an over-use of eye-popping vibrant color. It get to be a cliche' after a while. I like using color as an integral part of compositions, rather than making the color stand out so much that it becomes the subject of the photo and the objects in the photo are merely something for the color to reflect off. The original idea behind Velvia's warm, saturated colors as I understand it was to compensate for atmospheric haze in landscape photos. At close range there's no haze so the colors get to be excessive, IMHO, and lose subtlety, like shouting in my wife's ear instead of whispering. If she were a half-mile away, shouting would be more appropriate. Who was it who said "if the picture's not good enough, make it red"? That's what Velvia is to me - the reds and other saturated colors that get people to say "WOW" even when the photo is otherwise boring. Don't misunderstand, I think there are appropriate situations to use a saturated film but Velvia and E100VS IMHO are grossly over-used to save weak compositions. BTW I placed my film order yesterday for my trip to Yellowstone; 1/4 of the film is Provia 100F. Doug Herr Birdman of Sacramento http://www.wildlightphoto.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html