Been a long time since I have shot with the 4x5 or been able to do any printing, since May I think. Had a couple outings in October to the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Still have another 6 shots to develop and print. Let me know what you all think :)
I don't know anything about your paper & developer, but I think your print needs 1 stop less at the printing stage. The landscape itself is excellent and well worth photographing.
Hi TEX, thanks for your input I'm curious why you think one stop less? I was actually thinking one stop more as I would like some more pop to the clouds. I'd be interested in hearing how you would print this, what you would emphasize and what you wouldn't. Always eager to learn new things and how other view the same subjects.
On both my screen at home and in work your picture appears to be overprinted. When I say 1 stop less, I mean at the printing stage ( if you are using the F-Stop printing method). I sometimes assume everyone use's this method with an f-stop timer. Another approach would be to use a harder grade of paper, that will lend your clouds some POP.
What I'm saying is that I think your print while excellent in every other way is just too dark.
Thanks Tex. Not familiar with the F-Stop method. I just play around with the timing a bit. Looking at this on my work monitor it is a little dark. It's hard to gauge when I do my scans because I have a backlit lcd. I'm making the move to VC and just got in a variety of papers to try out and this is one of the images I'll be playing with. I would appreciate any feedback you could give me on those next week
This composition is rock solid, but the image lacks brilliance. I am not sure if there is much you could do for it at this point.
As a color landscape photographer, it takes me on average 2.5 years to actually take a photograph with many revisits until I finally get the correct atmospheric and lighting conditions I need to reenforce my initial vision of the composition. Currently, I am tracking over 280 compositions that I have not taken. I have resorted to using a database on my desktop, and palm pilot to keep track of them all. If this were my image, then it would most definitely be on my list to revisit, and I would not stop until I nailed it.
This will be a hard one to get because you need still atmospheric conditions on a large body of water to preserve the reflection in the lake which is a rare event plus some nice clouds. Not easy, but I have waited out worse and got them. Patience and persistence are in order here. Reshoot this image until you get perfect. Print it and frame with meticulous precision, and then you will have a very sellable image.
As a color landscape photographer, skies tend to be recorded at a lower contrast because they reside in Zones on the shoulder of the characteristic curve (CC) where the curve has a shallower slope, and thus a lower contrast. I suspect that b&w photography is no different. Adams resorted to using a some colored filter to add contrast to the skies and clouds. I use a polarizer when ever possible to beef up the contrast of clouds and skies. I also use contrast masks as well to help increase the contrast of skies. Perhaps a higher contrast paper would be more appropriate to help increase the contrast and brilliance of the image. Perhaps you could could do split contrast printing using VC papers, and print the sky at a higher contrast then the land.
Hope this helps....
PS As a kid I did a lot of backpacking and hiking in the White Mountains of NH. I have lots of great memories of those trips. Now I live in Colorado and have fallen in love with the western landscape.
Thank you very much for your comments. Timing is my biggest problem. I work full time and am also a full time student, so shooting is pretty much fit it in when I can. I love hiking in that area and used to go a few times a month as a kid. Many fond memories as well. Would love to make it out to the Rockies sometime, the scenery there just seems breathtaking. Thanks again and have a Merry Christmas!