The Joy of Slides

BY ERIC GARNETT ARPS CPAGB

The joy of slides comes when you capture a correctly exposed slide and the image is then projected onto a huge screen. The light, rather than the reflecting of a surface as with a print, passes through your slide, which brings to life the subject you have photographed - literally painting with light. You can almost remember the warmth of the sunset, and it glows like a sunset is supposed to. The water of a stream trickles past and the image poses the same intangible purity and clarity that pure water has.

However, there is a draw back. Slides require a level of attention that has almost been forgotten in this digital age of being able to take an image, regardless of whether it has been exposed or composed correctly, with the belief that everything can be retrieved latter. I am a huge fan of digital and all the positives that it brings for prints, but you must guard against believing that your exposure doesn’t matter and composition can be resolved with a bit of cropping on the computer. It all leads to sloppy technique/practice and inferior work. You should always be thinking of the final image and what you want to show while you’re there composing your image, to create impact by changing height, altering your view point, etc. This must be done at the time - no cropping tool at home will help you without the image.

As I mentioned earlier, slide requires a higher degree of attention and it is not cheap in monetary or in technical terms. Your exposure has to be within a 1/3 of a stop. Slide is slightly more forgiving when under-exposed and can even have a pleasant saturated look - a trick many slide workers consciously use. However, to over-expose results in a slide that is burnt out and useless. Never over-expose your highlights. Once they are gone they are gone with no opportunity to burn in. Your composition is vital. What you take is what you get - no cropping here without it being obvious, with the exception of the letter box format which is done for effect. There’s no sharpening tool (shock, horror!). Your technique has to be spot on, and if it isn’t it will show.

Working with slides, in my opinion, improves your skills with the camera in the seeing and taking of a photograph. You will develop your exposure and composition, and your ability to access what needs to be captured will improve. You will slow down your thought process in a similar way that working with large format does, but increase your ability to capture what is essential, slowly eradicating this “bang bang” approach in the belief that if you take enough pictures you will eventually get something. Working along these lines, it will all become natural and with slides comes the ability to record vibrant colours. You will achieve images with impact and meaning. Remember, images that have impact and aesthetic beauty will have been conceived, seen and captured with good exposure, composition, correct lens use of a suitable aperture and a creative view point. Of course, you also need to press the shutter at the right time or all the rest will have been a waste of time.

Whoever is up to the challenge, get out there armed with a bag of slides and your minds eye. To make it even harder, get four images that all sit together for next year’s Fab 4 comp. All I have to do is heed my own words and try and get it right myself.

Please send any comments to Eric