I'd really like some advice here. The dark area in the lower portion of this image. I know I can dodge it out, but why not prevent it in the first place. It's a 65mm lens on a 4x5. (negative scan)
Why would you want to dodge it out? Looks fine by me. You will get some vignetting just because it's a 65mm lens. You could use a center filter, but not sure if it would really be worth it or not. Did you use any front shift? If so, why not move the whole camera instead and not apply any shift? That way you keep the lens centered on its central area and not worry as much about vignetting?
This is really beautiful. I like the dark foreground and strip of dark water at the horizon; they create a nice sense of depth. Very nice. Wouldn't change anything.
It helps to draw you into the scene, and I get a feeling of almost hoovering above the water as the sense of distance becomes more pronounced.
I don't see why you have to counteract the vignette. It works very well as it is.
Well thank you all, I'm suprised - in a good way.
Andrew, I didn't use any movements. The biggest problem I'm having with this camera is finding where to place the lens vertically when using the bag bellows. To focus on infinity you have to swing the front standard backwards from the base to bring it closer to the gg, then straighten it using axis to line it up parallel w/gg and then adjust the lens up or down to center it. (I don't know how familiar you are with Wisner or if they're all basically the same.) There are no guides on this camera to tell you when it's centered at this position. I suppose you could call those movements, but I think of movements as altering perspective. These were just for paralleling gg & lens brd. I just used two fingers between the lens brd & top and bottom to estimate centering to avoid fall off on either top or bottom. make any sense? (haven't had my morning coffee yet)
anyway, thanks, oh, and Bill, I don't think you're splitting hairs, I'm always looking for improvements