Posted by Daniel Buck on July 19, 2007 at 12:01 AM
I'm in the beginning of my venture into large format shooting! My uncle has been gracious enough to lend me one of his spare 4x5 setups (zone field camera, with 105, 135, and 200) I'm still getting used to the double flipped view on the glass, composing my photograph is a bit of a challenge right now, I'm sure after a while it will be come as natural as my 35mm shooting :-)
I finally got my hands on a scanner that can take sheet film, here are my first scans! I love the detail in these, plenty of resolution for me to play around with before I print my usual 11x14" prints! I'm sure a finer grain film than Tri-X 320 would work even better, but I'm already used to processing Tri-X, so for now that's what I'll be sticking with.
Daniel, good luck with your venture into the LF arena. Looking at these recent posts it looks like you are doing very well overall. Typically some of the issues on transitioning to the LF Format are as you mentioned already, the upside down and backwards view. That becomes somewhat second nature, but does still take more thought during the composition setup then looking through a standard viewfinder of a 35mm or MF camera we are all use to. I'm not sure if you have started to use the shift/tilts yet, but you will also find those essential under certain conditions as time goes by. More often it will be the tilt in most cases. Your lens selection is excellent and should meet most landscape shooting conditions. You did not list what scanner you had used, but the results looked pretty nice to me. Again, good luck with your future images.
So far, the main movement I have been using is raising the front standard, and that's about it. I look forward to working on tilting the front to keep more in focus!
Daniel: The image of the old car is really something, and is my favorite. The sharpness looks great, and the tonalities are wonderful. In fact, the tonalities in all the images are very nice. Good work!
When I first started using 4x5 back in the 70's I shot Tri-X exclusively. With well controlled development of the neg, very large prints with little grain will be possible. In this digital age, a 'top-drawer' drum scan will yield the best results for large prints with this film.
One advantage I have found with the up-side down/reversed groundglass image is that it makes it much easier to judge the geometrical perspective of the image. With practice, it will become second nature, as Paul said.
Camera movements (swings/tilts) will be essential for some images. Lens tilt is used to place the plane of focus. The most common use of lens tilt is to ensure sharpness from near to far. Typically, the amount of lens tilt used is measured in millimeters!
Swing or tilt of the back is used to change the shape of objects in the image, i.e. for geometrical perspective control. Most of the better books on view camera use will delve into the details of camera movements. Camera movements provide much in terms of creative control of the image. So, experiment!
You might consider adding a 300mm, assuming you have enough bellows extension available. I use my 300 quite regularly. The perspective is wonderful with this lens. My 300 is the Nikor-M, f-9. It is small and light, very bright (even though it's an f-9), and it is tack sharp. Get hold of Jeff at Badger Graphic Sales. He's a great guy.
You're going to have fun, and judging by your early results, it appears that you will do nice work in large format.
Welcome to the world of LF! I can't add much to what Paul and Preston have already mentioned. The backard/upsidedown orientation won't take very long to get used to. and as Preston mentioned, I think it actually helps your compositions and balance. Focusing and tilts is a whole 'nuther question... :-)
The images you posted are all very well done. I too really, really liked the buried car image. Perfect b&w subject. I also liked the sandy path image as well. All of them were nicely exposed with nice tones. Nice job!
Discussion
4 repliesI finally got my hands on a scanner that can take sheet film, here are my first scans! I love the detail in these, plenty of resolution for me to play around with before I print my usual 11x14" prints! I'm sure a finer grain film than Tri-X 320 would work even better, but I'm already used to processing Tri-X, so for now that's what I'll be sticking with.
http://404photography.net/wip/4x5/4x5_01.jpg
http://404photography.net/wip/4x5/4x5_02.jpg
http://404photography.net/wip/4x5/4x5_03.jpg
http://404photography.net/wip/4x5/4x5_04.jpg
So far, the main movement I have been using is raising the front standard, and that's about it. I look forward to working on tilting the front to keep more in focus!
When I first started using 4x5 back in the 70's I shot Tri-X exclusively. With well controlled development of the neg, very large prints with little grain will be possible. In this digital age, a 'top-drawer' drum scan will yield the best results for large prints with this film.
One advantage I have found with the up-side down/reversed groundglass image is that it makes it much easier to judge the geometrical perspective of the image. With practice, it will become second nature, as Paul said.
Camera movements (swings/tilts) will be essential for some images. Lens tilt is used to place the plane of focus. The most common use of lens tilt is to ensure sharpness from near to far. Typically, the amount of lens tilt used is measured in millimeters!
Swing or tilt of the back is used to change the shape of objects in the image, i.e. for geometrical perspective control. Most of the better books on view camera use will delve into the details of camera movements. Camera movements provide much in terms of creative control of the image. So, experiment!
You might consider adding a 300mm, assuming you have enough bellows extension available. I use my 300 quite regularly. The perspective is wonderful with this lens. My 300 is the Nikor-M, f-9. It is small and light, very bright (even though it's an f-9), and it is tack sharp. Get hold of Jeff at Badger Graphic Sales. He's a great guy.
You're going to have fun, and judging by your early results, it appears that you will do nice work in large format.
-PB
Welcome to the world of LF! I can't add much to what Paul and Preston have already mentioned. The backard/upsidedown orientation won't take very long to get used to. and as Preston mentioned, I think it actually helps your compositions and balance. Focusing and tilts is a whole 'nuther question... :-)
The images you posted are all very well done. I too really, really liked the buried car image. Perfect b&w subject. I also liked the sandy path image as well. All of them were nicely exposed with nice tones. Nice job!
Lon