The ideal conditions for storing photographs, transparencies and magnetic tapes, are cool dry places away from the light. If you have large and valuable archives, you should consider setting aside a small area with a properly-sized air-conditioning unit running 24 hours a day, properly installed and maintained in order to avoid any risk of fire. If the unit is switched off and on, it will produce condensation on the materials when not running, and they will deteriorate more rapidly, due to fungus. If you have only a few photographs and do not want to invest so heavily, store them in a place that is hermetically sealed with blue silicon gel. Dry the silicon gel in the oven whenever it loses its blue color. Avoid Thermo-Fix or Sterilair devices, as heat is bad for storing films, photographs and magnetic tapes. The plastic sheets used to store transparencies should be polyethylene, a neutral material that does not contain a plastifier that exudes a liquid which is harmful to the chromos.
Fungus develops in damp places. So avoid humidity and moisture. In this case, the Thermo-Fix and Sterilair devices work well, when correctly sized to the area. Slight warming avoids condensation on equipment in the cool of the early morning. But avoid too much heat, which can dry out the rubber parts on the equipment.
I only use 35mm Nikon F3, F4s and N90S cameras, with a wide range of lenses, from wide-angle 20mm to 800mm zoom.
Yes, it is very foolish to neglect your work tools. Is there any doubt that the quality of the paints and brushes are important for a painter? Different cameras and lenses represent your options for resolving problems, helping you express your ideas and artistic concepts. But obviously, the most important thing is to have something to say.
It depends on what you want to photograph. Equipment should be appropriate to our needs and for expressing our ideas. To photograph landscapes, you need wide-angle lenses, normal lenses and small zoom lenses. For insects, you need macro lenses, for a really close-up focus. When I run into a photography problem, I check to see if its solution depends on a new item of equipment. For instance, when I had to get close to really wary birds, I bought an 800mm zoom lens and a hide; when I needed to photograph the guácharo, a bird that lives in caves and keeps its distance from man, I bought an adapter for my flash which concentrates the light and allows me to shoot with good power over longer distances.
Both Fuji and Kodak are excellent quality. The selection is a matter of taste, but it is important to be really familiar with the film in order to get consistent results from it. I feel that the film is like a palette for a painter. I photograph mainly with transparencies, using Fujichrome Velvia because this film has low granulation and bright, saturated colors which please me. But the Velvia has a lot of contrast. When I need a more gentle film, I use Fujichrome Provia 100 or Astia. To achieve emulsions with warmer tones, or for flash photography, I use Ektachrome E100S or E100SW. For photographs on paper, I use Fujicolor Superia or Reala - 100 ISO.
It depends on what you want to shoot. The light just before and after dawn and sunset enhances volumes with beautiful shadows, reflecting in the eyes of the animals. But when shooting beaches, for instance, colors appear more vibrant with the sun high in the sky, with the sky bluer at the horizon, particularly with a polarizing filter. On cloudy days, more intensive midday light is good for photography in forests, or when we need saturated colors.
Yes, I always use a Skylight or UV on all lenses to protect them, and a polarizing filter to enhance color saturation, avoid reflections, or eliminate any cloudiness in the air, for landscape or aerial photography.
This is almost due to the enlargement process. There are few mysteries in developing a negative, but enlarging photographs requires assessment by a laboratory expert in order to use the correct filter and avoid color distortions. Go back to the photo lab and ask for a repeat print of the bad enlargements, with the colors properly corrected.
It is almost impossible to guarantee the right exposure, but in order to improve your chances, when shooting transparencies, use exposures with variations from _ point up to 1 point, more or less, or even 2 points, when the lighting situation is hard to assess.