Hey, I finally made a large format photo

PFGS · Oct 26, 2020

After getting all excited and leaning to fix a shutter and scraping together a bare-bones kit, and then letting my fresh box of Fomapan sit intimidatingly unopened for about six weeks, I finally said screw it and hauled out into the woods, forgot my cable release, used my hoodie as a dark cloth, and took a picture. "Scan" from putting the half-dried negative on my iPad-as-lightbox and shooting it with a hand-held old macro lens adapted to my Fuji, 'cause I'm just that pro.

BrianShaw · Oct 26, 2020

Woo hoo!

Cholentpot · Oct 26, 2020

Nice job!

My lens doesn't work well with cable release so I don't bother.

Trail Images · Oct 26, 2020

Congrats on having it come together for you. Over time it will become second nature on movements and such......

Andrew O'Neill · Oct 26, 2020

Congratulations!

bdial · Oct 27, 2020

Looks nice! Congratulations.
I own probably 2 dozen cable releases, and I'm lucky when I actually have one with me when I'm using the LF kit.

Lucid · Oct 27, 2020

Congratulations! Keep it up!

md_photo · Oct 27, 2020

Good start! Its always rewarding to see the result after all the work that goes into each shot. Reminds me, one of my first few times I forgot the loaded film holder at home. Discovered the omission after I had set up the camera on the tripod and looked in the bag. It was another 40 minutes or so to come rushing back to the spot with the film, and re-set up everything. And by then the late afternoon light was mostly gone So now I do a visual pre-check in the bag that I got everything, including the darn release cable, the quick release plate, the holder(s), the light meter etc.

Donald Qualls · Oct 27, 2020

Looks like a good start. Get the whole "focus and compose, close shutter, insert film holder, test fire shutter, remove dark slide, expose, insert dark slide, remove/reverse film holder" routine down, and you can start working on things like movements (IMO, the second biggest reason to shoot LF), Zone or similar exposure/contrast control methods, etc.

removed account4 · Oct 27, 2020

have fun

GKC · Oct 27, 2020

So what's going to be the next subject?

Cholentpot · Oct 27, 2020

Donald Qualls said:
Looks like a good start. Get the whole "focus and compose, close shutter, insert film holder, test fire shutter, remove dark slide, expose, insert dark slide, remove/reverse film holder" routine down, and you can start working on things like movements (IMO, the second biggest reason to shoot LF), Zone or similar exposure/contrast control methods, etc.

Coming from 135 and 120 there are so many steps. My first few shoots I was going 1 for 4, 2 out of 4 and on. Couldn't get 4/4 photos exposed and developed. I finally got back to back shoots of 4 exposures shot and developed. Thank goodness for X-Ray film or I would have thrown out quite a bit of cash.

PFGS · Oct 27, 2020

GKC said:
So what's going to be the next subject?

You don't think I should make a career out of studies of this glorified mud puddle in the middle of the storm sewer easement?

We are still on pretty strict stay at home pandemic routine, so my options within reach are:

overtrafficed, careworn woods
utilitarian municipal park
more portraits of my two kids who barely sit still for autofocus digital
heartlessly ugly middle school grounds
sleeping dog
the same still life, junk around the house setups I've been shooting with every other format

In other words, this seems like a good time to get reps on the technique without sweating over a magical subject opportunity, only to find I've blown it when I pull it out of the tank.

Donald Qualls · Oct 27, 2020

I can see any of those producing good to excellent images. Far more so being good practice as you work on the mechanics of large format.

PFGS · Oct 27, 2020

Donald Qualls said:
I can see any of those producing good to excellent images. Far more so being good practice as you work on the mechanics of large format.

Yep. Truth is that list has been 90% of my images for the last 10 or 15 years; even before corona I didn't really go anywhere or do anything, so all that's been struck off is "disappointing state university campus."

Tel · Oct 27, 2020

Well, that's the hard part done! When you stop thinking about it and just fire the shutter you're on your way. Good that you've got a box of Fomapan. Shoot lots of cheap film and have fun with it. (My lockdown advice would be to exercise the bellows and do closeups. Mundane things can become interesting if you get close enough....)

Donald Qualls · Oct 27, 2020

Tel said:
(My lockdown advice would be to exercise the bellows and do closeups. Mundane things can become interesting if you get close enough....)

And you'll get to practice calculating bellows factor for exposure, too...

BrianShaw · Oct 27, 2020

PFGS said:
sleeping dog

Don’t get your hopes up. If your dog is like mine, the minute you get the focus right it will move... or stop sleeping... or want to play... or want to eat... or...

Donald Qualls · Oct 27, 2020

BrianShaw said:
Don’t get your hopes up. If your dog is like mine, the minute you gent the focus right it will move.

Yep. Cats too. In fact, cats are a lot like kids; even auto-focus can't keep up.

Luis-F-S · Oct 27, 2020

bdial said:
Looks nice! Congratulations.
I own probably 2 dozen cable releases, and I'm lucky when I actually have one with me when I'm using the LF kit.

I keep mine in the LF case

John Earley · Nov 1, 2020

You had one job.....and you aced it.

138S · Nov 2, 2020

PFGS said:
in the middle of the storm

Yeah... time to practice with movements, and N+/- development. To me (a relatively LF newcomer), my experince is that it's worth perfecting the LF technique for several months before going to serious projects, still YMMV.

May be by March/April some 30% of the pupolation would be vaccinated, so total inmunity perhaps around 40% to 45%, so Rt will drop to around the half with same prophylaxis. When the spring comes you can be a quite skilled LF shooter !!!

Now we need some optimism.

Donald Qualls · Nov 2, 2020

@PFGS you and YouTube got me inspired; I loaded up four film holders with fresh Ultra 400 on Saturday and went out with my (4x5) Graphic View and my 150mm f/5.6 Componon. I got six good negatives (two were misloaded, dark slide wouldn't close after exposure -- need to work on that), front tilt required on three, one of those needing front swing as well (to get both leaves of a gate into focus at my chosen perspective).

They got an accidental N-1, because I mismeasured the developer and overfilled my Yankee Agitank (55 ounces = 1626 ml, but I poured 1830 due to misreading the graduations on the pitcher); this level of fill reduces the effectiveness of agitation and cut back my contrast a little, but I believe they'll still print well enough once I get my enlarger back in operation.

radiant · Nov 2, 2020

Donald Qualls said:
@PFGS you and YouTube got me inspired; I loaded up four film holders with fresh Ultra 400 on Saturday and went out with my (4x5) Graphic View and my 150mm f/5.6 Componon. I got six good negatives (two were misloaded, dark slide wouldn't close after exposure -- need to work on that), front tilt required on three, one of those needing front swing as well (to get both leaves of a gate into focus at my chosen perspective).

I had same issue until I understood that it was negative falling towards the lens and maybe bit curling up -> preventing dark slide insert.

Solution: tilt the camera backwards after shot

Donald Qualls · Nov 2, 2020

vedostuu said:
I had same issue until I understood that it was negative falling towards the lens and maybe bit curling up -> preventing dark slide insert.

Solution: tilt the camera backwards after shot

That won't help much if the film isn't in the groove on one side, as was the case with at least one of those two (the other I can't say for certain, it was pushed completely out of the holder by the dark slide -- but likely the same only worse). Just need to improve my loading technique, ensure the film is in the groove on both sides and all the way in so it goes into the top groove as well.

Hey, I finally made a large format photo

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