4x5 Landscape

hazardsg · Apr 5, 2014

Here is a scan from a negative I took last November at Turkey Run State Park. I discovered the battery was dead in my spot meter when I got there. When I made it home I botched the development on some of the other shots I had taken. Originally I didn't like the way the negative looked and hadn't messed with it. Last night I decided to give it another try. This was probably my third time out with my 4x5. Any feedback and suggestions would be appreciated.

Toyo 45A
75mm Fuji
I'll have to find my notebook to look up the rest of the info. It was shot on either Tri-X or Arista 200.

Steven

Ian Grant · Apr 5, 2014

Why are you shooting images like this with a 75mm, it's 150mm-210mm Territory.

You need good precision when in thee limited tonal range situations, I prefer a Spotmeter but can cope with a Lunasix or even a Lenigrad 4

Ian

hazardsg · Apr 5, 2014

Ill have to find my notes it may have been taken with my !35mm or 210mm. You're right my spotmeter would have been useful. I now have a new battery in it, and three spares.

ROL · Apr 5, 2014

Get battery. Get light.

I'm not sure what you're looking for here in terms of criticism. Good light makes good pictures. Ask yourself what you are trying to say with your compositions. If you cannot answer that question definitively, it is doubtful your viewers will either. Why use a hammer to pound a nail if you don't know where the nail is?

ROL · Apr 5, 2014

hazardsg said:
Ill have to find my notes it may have been taken with my !35mm or 210mm.

I'm pretty sure that was a reference by Ian to narrowing down subject matter to what's important (see post above).

Ian Grant · Apr 6, 2014

ROL said:
I'm pretty sure that was a reference by Ian to narrowing down subject matter to what's important (see post above).

I hadn't really thought of it that way, but the most important decisions after deciding what to shoot is deciding on the edges (framing) of the composition. That becomes harder with wider-angle lenses. I guess most of my images (5x4) are shot with a 150mm lens, a smaller proportion with a 90mm a few with a 210mm and a very small number with a 65mm (or 75mm).

With a shot like the OP's posted I might use a Green filter to bring out detail in the ferns and moss, it's my favourite filter and about the only one I use these days.

shows the effects of a green filter on foliage which otherwise would much darker.

This one's essentially just rock but shows the importance of good exposure to make the most from what's actually quite a bleak landscape of an old lead-silver mine.

Ian

Rick A · Apr 6, 2014

I have to agree with Ian on this one. Using a filter of any color might have helped with the otherwise blandness of this photo, as well as more critical composition choice for lens focal length or shooting position. Whether to lighten or darken foliage is a personal choice, or maybe better to decide which would make the image pop more by shooting one of each.

Drew B. · Apr 6, 2014

Is there something wrong with that image Steve?

ROL · Apr 6, 2014

Ian Grant said:
I hadn't really thought of it that way...

Yeah, sorry, that was a pretty insensitive assumption on my part. I was inappropriately attempting to buttress my own sharp-focus-fuzzy-subject point as the OP responded almost immediately. I broke my own self enforced forum rule of outright criticizing others' work, not knowing exactly what the OP was after. But I will always gadfly the rampant, poorly understood, and unnecessary use of filtration in B/W photography that plagues photo forums. That's not a critique of your pix posts, just a reminder that I don't believe filtration is a primary factor in the OPs interpretation of the scene.

Ian Grant · Apr 6, 2014

ROL said:
Yeah, sorry, that was a pretty insensitive assumption on my part. I was inappropriately attempting to buttress my own sharp-focus-fuzzy-subject point as the OP responded almost immediately. I broke my own self enforced forum rule of outright criticizing others' work, not knowing exactly what the OP was after. But I will always gadfly the rampant, poorly understood, and unnecessary use of filtration in B/W photography that plagues photo forums. That's not a critique of your pix posts, just a reminder that I don't believe filtration is a primary factor in the OPs interpretation of the scene.

Actually I was agreeing with you So definitely no need to be sorry

Ian

4x5 Landscape

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