Mobile Photography Adam Polinger Mobile Photography Adam Polinger

Basic Mobile Photography Kit

I just had the pleasure of spending 15 days traveling through Europe.  When I was packing, I had to make a decision on my camera gear, what to bring and how much of it I wanted to carry.  The other factor I had to take into consideration was the weight restrictions and number of bags you are allowed to carry onto airlines. 

After taking these factors into consideration, I decided I was only going to bring a small mobile photography kit focused around my Samsung Note 20 Ultra.  You can find everything here in my Amazon Store

The first piece of equipment is a small tripod with a ball head. I like the GorillaPod made by Joby.  The one I use is the GorillaPod 3K Flexible Mini-Tripod with the Joby BallHead 3K.  This combination is lightweight and compact but it still gives you a sturdy platform to mount your phone to.  

With the tripod, you need a phone mount.  For my basic setup, I use the Joby GripTight ONE Mount.  This mount is small in size and does not take up a lot of space. Note that it will only hold the camera in a horizontal format.  I use this mount if I will only be shooting in a square format or if space and weight is extremely limited. 

The only additional accessory I will always carry is a ND (Neutral Density) filter.  A ND filter will reduce the amount of light coming in through the lens.  This will give you the ability to use a slower shutter speed allowing you to add motion to water.  The nd filter will also give you a more uniform exposure between highlights and shadows.  

I carry the Cokin Square Filter Full ND Creative Kit.  This kit gives you 3 ND filters to pick from, depending on how much light you want to reduce your exposure by.  To use the filter, I will have the phone on the tripod and I will just hold it in front of the lens.  ITs simple, but it works. 

The last piece to my basic kit is a case to hold everything.  For this I use a Tenba Tools Tool Box 6.  This case is compact to fit into a carry on but has enough space for all of my gear.  I will also carry all of my required charging cables in the case as well. 

If you are looking for a more advanced mobile photography kit or are planning on shooting more video, watch out for my Advance Mobile Photography Kit post.

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Adam Polinger Adam Polinger

The Darker Side of Round Valley Reservoir

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As most of you might know, I love Round Valley Reservoir located in Hunterdon County NJ.  Since I posted my last blog post about the park, I have researched the construction of the reservoir. I found a great movie called The Town that Disappeared Overnight.  The movie looks at the rescue from the perspective of the townspeople who lived in the valley.

Along with learning about the construction history of Round Valley, I also discovered the reservoir has the name nickname of the New Jersey Bermuda Triangle.  This is due to the number of swimmers and boaters who have gone missing over the years and the many accounts of boaters and swimmers seeing things in the water.  If you would like to learn more about the swimmers who have gone missing, here is a great article called New Jersey Has Its Own Bermuda Triangle... And Its’ Eerie Beautiful

Both of these links are extremely interesting.  The movie has made me look at the lake from a different perspective, but I am not going to stop enjoying the resources the park has to offer.


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Analog/Fim Adam Polinger Analog/Fim Adam Polinger

At Home Black and White Film Processing

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One of the many things I love about black and white film is that you can process (develop) the film at home in your kitchen or anywhere you have access to a sink.  The following steps detail the way I process my film, I find that this system works well. If you research a bit more on the internet, you will find there are additional steps and chemicals you can add or remove depending on the look you want to achieve.  What I like about this system is it keeps my chemical use to a minimum and the supplies do not require a lot of storage space nor are they overly expensive. 

Here is my equipment and chemical list. The initial cost is around $200 not including film. You can find everything you need at B&H Photo as well as most of it on Amazon.

Equipment

  1. Paterson Changing Bag Use this to load the film into the processing tank if you do not have access to a photography darkroom.

  2. Paterson Universal Tank with Two Reels Light tight film processing tank

  3. Delta 1 6" Precision Darkroom Thermometer Temperature is extremely important for developer time. 

  4. Delta 1 Datatainer Chemical Storage Bottle These containers are made to store photographic chemicals and to keep light out. You need one for developer and one fixer.

  5. Kaiser Graduated Beaker

  6. Film Squeegee

Chemicals

  1. Developer- Kodak D-76.  It is a powder- one container makes 1 gal. 

  2. Fixer-  Photographers' Formulary TF-4 Archival Rapid Fix - one container makes 1 gal.

  3. Kodak Photo-Flo it helps to speed up drying and cuts down on water spots. 

To time everything I use an app called The Massive Dev Chart.(Android and IOS) It is not a free app but it is well worth the cost because one of the trickiest aspects of processing your own film is timing.  Simply select your film and developer type from the scroll down menu and it tells you the processing time. It gives you general timing for stop bath, fixer, and final wash but you can customize the settings.   For the fixer, check the instructions on the back of the bottle for the timing.

 Process

Image 1: Agitation

Image 1: Agitation

  1. Load the film onto the reel in the changing bag

  2. Pre rinse the film for 1 min in running water

  3. Develop with developer. I use Kodak D-76, the time and temp depends on the film.

    1. Agitate (See Image 1) for the first min and then 5-6 times every 30 sec.  When done after each agitation session, give the tank a little knock to release any air bubbles. 

  4. Stop Bath for 1 min in running water

  5. Fixer for 4 min

    1. Agitate for the first min and then 5-6 times every 30 sec.   When done after each agitation session, give the tank a little knock to release any air bubbles. 

  6. Finial rinse 10 min in running water. It is now safe to open the film tank.

  7. Photo Flo 30 sec.

    1. Agitate by dunking the film reel in and out of the fluid 5-6 times.

  8. Hang to dry. If you decide to use a squeegee do it very light.

Black and White Film Developing Tips

1. The best way to open a 35mm film can is with a bottle opener.  Open it on the end without the spool sticking out. Again this need to be done in a changing bag or a  photography darkroom.  Loading the film on the spool is the hardest part, I highly recommend you destroy a roll of unexposed film and practice outside of the bag first, so you can master the process and see how it works before trying it blind. 

2. The film tank Paterson Universal tank comes with 2 reels and can process, two 35mm rolls at one time or one of 120 film or 220 film at a time.  The bottom of the tank will tell you how much chemicals you need depending on what your processing.

 

At home film processing is fun and very easy to do after you get the hang of it.  I hope this post helps you get started, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!


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