Camera Movements

I have photographed many compositions that only required leveling of the camera, or downward/upward pointing. Sometimes I need a bit of front tilt, and back slide. There have been a few times where I've had to tilt the front and rear standards forward to make them parallel with each other. The odd time I've used front swing... I can't even remember the last time I used both front and rear swing at the same time... Then there are the times when the moment was fleeting, and only had time to set up, stick wrong lens on, focus, insert, holder, and take photo... and I've still been pleased with the results

All the magic happens on the ground glass...everything else is theory...

I've not been able to do much photographing lately but have been able to spend some time in my backyard practicing with the "focus on far and tilt (or swing) on near" concept. Also using the focus spread idea for best aperture selection once the plane of sharp focus is accurately placed. I'm just about to retire on Aug 1, and am so looking forward to being able to spend more time behind the camera and in the darkroom.

Have fun Chuck! Once you've mastered the techniques it all becomes second nature. I seem to spend a lot of time explaining things, but in practice it takes very little time at all to apply a tilt, find focus spread, set focus and choose the aperture. I like to spend my thinking time working on the image

Doremus