Lush

Lush
Originally uploaded by borealnz

I finally managed to finish my first film from the BBF camera, I'd left the mask out this time so couldn't wait to see what photos with sprocket hole edges would look like.
Because developing labs aren't can't usually print films exposed this way, I used the develop only option at my lab and the resulting developed film, hadn't been cut into the usual strips but arrived rolled up in the film canister, so first I had to cut it into manageable lengths -not easy when there wasn't the usual gap between negatives.
Next step was the scanning -my scanner a Canon 8400f scans both 35 mm and 120 film but it's not set up to scan 35mm with the sprocket edges. So I decided to make my own mask out of cardboard which would fit inside the 120 film adapter. I used a double layer of card with a hole in the middle just a little bit smaller than the size of the negative. That was the easy bit....when I went to put my negative strip between the two cardboard layers I discovered it was extremely tricky to get the edges straight without the film popping out of the mask, things weren't helped by the fact that the film kept curling up.
I finally got the negative sort of straight and onto the scanner and after much messing with scanner settings to get the colour right got the negative strip scanned. Naturally after all the handling the negatives had had the resulting photos were covered with dust spots, I guess I could call it added texture :-) but I can see I'll have to spend hours removing dust spots.
So far I've scanned around 8 negatives out of my 24 exposure film so I've got hours of *fun* ahead of me still. I like the result though but unless I figure out a better and quicker way of doing the scanning I won't be taking too many films with sprocket edges.

The accompanying photo is of a Gunnera plant -they are huge lush looking plants that look a little like a giant version of rhubarb.