I was not all that satisfied with my recent post of an image made at Badwater in Death Valley. As I sort through more results, I get closer to the essence of what I am hoping to present. On a technical level, I have a new way of quickly evaluating my 4x5 films, including BW negs without needing to make proof sheets. I am now photographing the films with my 1DsIII ! An associate of mine came up with the idea based on some slide duplication equipment he had. I fabricated a custom mount for an enlarger lens to fit the unit and we added an EOS, T-mount adapter and a 4x5 diffusion box. Pretty crazy, huh? But, in less than one minute, I can have a fairly good digital representation of my films, mainly to be used for evaluation of exposure and content to help decide which ones I will throw big money at for drum scans. However, files from that Canon are pretty good, and I discovered that the entire process yields a certain look to the image that I like. So I began to post-process the RAW images as I normally would. I can make prints up to 16" and they will be decent. The web prepared jpegs are much more useable.
Here is one image from the salt flats in Death Valley, again. Shot with the Chamonix and Delta 100 film.
Posted by Robert Dayton on December 21, 2008 at 11:19 AM
Very artistic, Jeffrey! I seldom make a trip to Death Valley without going to Badwater.
With all these great shots of the salt flats you're really making me want to go there! I might try to work in a stop on the way home..
It might just be my laptop screen, but I think it could use a touch more contrast to really make the lines and clouds pop, right now it looks like there's a lot of gray. Love the composition though!
Posted by Greg Cope on December 21, 2008 at 12:30 PM
That's a clever way to scan your film Jeffrey, and I'm quite impressed with the result. This is a beautiful shot. Quite a nice depiction of scale in this
Posted by Steve Sieren on December 22, 2008 at 10:17 AM
I love the feel and sound of your steps the first time you walk out on to the salt flats. Too bad it's the sound destroying salt crystals but I guess they form again every year. I wonder if the hexagon patterns reform every year? fWho knows. Nice framing of the patterns here Jeffrey. Hope the you're happy w/ the 4x5 results. The web presentation works well on this one.
I attended a Marc Muench Print Workshop and his assisstant showed us his version of how they do what your mentioning about copying your 4x5's. Beyond what equipment they were using they mentioned they could not use a camera shutter speed around a 1/50 or 1/60 with out getting some minimal shake. Have you tested yours for this same problem? Also I know this works for 4x5's but will work for 35mm slides?
Jeffery, I kind of understand how you did this , but no matter, the results look very encouraging with your first attempt. I think as stated with the B&W post here, maybe just a slight boost in contrast, otherwise this came out very nice overall.
Thanks, everyone. This type of image is the worst when it comes to web presentation. Even I can't stand looking at this jpeg version.
The setup I used has a 4x5 light diffusion box that the film sits on. The top is white glass or plastic and underneath is a flash head. So, visible shake is eliminated by using a 200th shutter speed and the flash burst.
Steve, it was Marc, his associate Tom, and myself that developed this technique together! I don't know how long ago your workshop was, but I'm sure that what you saw there all led up to this new contraption. It can do 35mm and MF, too, although I have a dedicated film scanner for those formats.
Posted by Eric Good on December 22, 2008 at 6:24 PM
I'm sure there must be a reason behind your madness I guess I'm just not fully following it. The funny thing is, I always wished I could evaluate my digital files with a lightbox and a loupe.
As for the photo, I like the classic composition and brooding sky captured here. I too would favor a boost in contrast, but that is merely a personal preference. Nice work!
Discussion
7 repliesHere is one image from the salt flats in Death Valley, again. Shot with the Chamonix and Delta 100 film.
It might just be my laptop screen, but I think it could use a touch more contrast to really make the lines and clouds pop, right now it looks like there's a lot of gray. Love the composition though!
I attended a Marc Muench Print Workshop and his assisstant showed us his version of how they do what your mentioning about copying your 4x5's. Beyond what equipment they were using they mentioned they could not use a camera shutter speed around a 1/50 or 1/60 with out getting some minimal shake. Have you tested yours for this same problem? Also I know this works for 4x5's but will work for 35mm slides?
The setup I used has a 4x5 light diffusion box that the film sits on. The top is white glass or plastic and underneath is a flash head. So, visible shake is eliminated by using a 200th shutter speed and the flash burst.
Steve, it was Marc, his associate Tom, and myself that developed this technique together! I don't know how long ago your workshop was, but I'm sure that what you saw there all led up to this new contraption. It can do 35mm and MF, too, although I have a dedicated film scanner for those formats.
As for the photo, I like the classic composition and brooding sky captured here. I too would favor a boost in contrast, but that is merely a personal preference. Nice work!