nick rowan
12-Jul-2001, 11:54
I recently tried to photograph a person half-figure laying on top of a LARGE (4f t x 5 ft) mirror using a 4 x 5 camera, 210 Sironar S lens, and one 2040 Dynalit e strobe head (undiffused, with reflector) as light source about 4 feet from sub ject, at a 45-degree angle in relation to camera, pointed down onto the person a nd mirror and experienced what I can only term a MAJOR ACUTANCE BREAKDOWN throug hout the picture-- in other words, a major loss in edge sharpness or "ghosting" along the entire length of the frame surrounding the mirror, as well as along th e edges of various objects that I had placed next to and around the mirror, whic h made the whole picture look as if there had been either camera or enlarger-sha ke during the shooting or printing, both of which did not occur.
Does anyone know if it is possible for light reflected/refracted from a mirror ( or any other highly reflective surface for that matter) back into (and around, p ossibly) a camera lens, to cause such a loss of sharpness of various objects in various, discrete areas throughout a picture?
The whole photograph (8x10 print enlarged 2x from 4x5 BW neg) in fact looked REA LLY REALLY BAD: mushy, "aqueous", maddeningly unsharp in various places througho ut the frame; some parts were normal looking and sharp while other parts were fu zzy; there were fuzzy areas within sharp areas and sharp pockets next to fuzzy e dges... Even the subject's face looked fuzzy--as if she had moved slightly durin g the exposure, which she hadn't...
I have racked my brain, wondering if such effects could have been caused by any other factor (including the lens, the camera, the film, the holder, the film pro cessing, etc., etc. etc), but seem to have eliminated all variables, and yet I f ind it a little hard to believe that reflected light could cause such a degradat ion of sharpness.
Is this really possible?
Has anyone else ever encountered this in your picture-taking?
If so, is there any way to still take this type of a picture without incurring s uch a loss in sharpness? Dulling the mirror? Dulling the light?
Thank you.
Does anyone know if it is possible for light reflected/refracted from a mirror ( or any other highly reflective surface for that matter) back into (and around, p ossibly) a camera lens, to cause such a loss of sharpness of various objects in various, discrete areas throughout a picture?
The whole photograph (8x10 print enlarged 2x from 4x5 BW neg) in fact looked REA LLY REALLY BAD: mushy, "aqueous", maddeningly unsharp in various places througho ut the frame; some parts were normal looking and sharp while other parts were fu zzy; there were fuzzy areas within sharp areas and sharp pockets next to fuzzy e dges... Even the subject's face looked fuzzy--as if she had moved slightly durin g the exposure, which she hadn't...
I have racked my brain, wondering if such effects could have been caused by any other factor (including the lens, the camera, the film, the holder, the film pro cessing, etc., etc. etc), but seem to have eliminated all variables, and yet I f ind it a little hard to believe that reflected light could cause such a degradat ion of sharpness.
Is this really possible?
Has anyone else ever encountered this in your picture-taking?
If so, is there any way to still take this type of a picture without incurring s uch a loss in sharpness? Dulling the mirror? Dulling the light?
Thank you.