Well, I've posted a few times, but I figure it's time for an introduction. Greetings from wintery Calgary, AB, Canada.
I've been reading here for awhile but only this weekend finally developed my own negatives. I've already really been enjoying large format for the last month, shooting polaroid type 54 to get the hang of the movements and stuff. I'm pretty addicted to the working style with my camera, a shen hao field camera, and developing my film was a great experience. I can't wait to do more.
Anyway, here are my first 4x5 negatives - first shot and first developed. These are really bad digital captures - I used my digital SLR (blasphemy!) to photograph the negatives against a blank screen on my monitor. As I didn't want to get dust on them or scratch them I photographed them through protective plastic which left ugly reflections (including the blue stuff in the harbour photo, and the uneven sky on the beach). They're much cleaner than they look - it's amazing looking at a 4x5" negative for the first time, especially when you turn on the lights after muddling around in the dark and see them floating in a fixer tray! I'll need a proper scanner before I can do justice to these things digitally.
Now, I know this is an analogue photography forum, and that a lot of you are very passionate about traditional techniques, but I'm going to post a link to my website which contains a lot of digital work anyway - it's where I'm coming from, and was a tool that has taught me an awful lot. I promise not to bring it up ever again around here though - it'll be my dirty little secret. If it makes you feel better, some of my favorite landscape shots also have analogues on Velvia 50 that I took at the same time, or on a different day
I do like the hum and smell of the slide projector.
Dead Link Removed
I've been reading here for awhile but only this weekend finally developed my own negatives. I've already really been enjoying large format for the last month, shooting polaroid type 54 to get the hang of the movements and stuff. I'm pretty addicted to the working style with my camera, a shen hao field camera, and developing my film was a great experience. I can't wait to do more.
Anyway, here are my first 4x5 negatives - first shot and first developed. These are really bad digital captures - I used my digital SLR (blasphemy!) to photograph the negatives against a blank screen on my monitor. As I didn't want to get dust on them or scratch them I photographed them through protective plastic which left ugly reflections (including the blue stuff in the harbour photo, and the uneven sky on the beach). They're much cleaner than they look - it's amazing looking at a 4x5" negative for the first time, especially when you turn on the lights after muddling around in the dark and see them floating in a fixer tray! I'll need a proper scanner before I can do justice to these things digitally.
Now, I know this is an analogue photography forum, and that a lot of you are very passionate about traditional techniques, but I'm going to post a link to my website which contains a lot of digital work anyway - it's where I'm coming from, and was a tool that has taught me an awful lot. I promise not to bring it up ever again around here though - it'll be my dirty little secret. If it makes you feel better, some of my favorite landscape shots also have analogues on Velvia 50 that I took at the same time, or on a different day
I do like the hum and smell of the slide projector. Dead Link Removed
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