http://www.kennethleegallery.com/ima...m/img322aa.jpg
Clouds, 2008
Sinar P, 450mm Fujinon C
5x7 HP5+, Pyrocat HD
Printable View
http://www.kennethleegallery.com/ima...m/img322aa.jpg
Clouds, 2008
Sinar P, 450mm Fujinon C
5x7 HP5+, Pyrocat HD
Mountain-top tree watching sun-painted clouds.
Tachi 4x5
Schneider XL 110mm/5.6
Fuji Velvia-50 (old version)
Epson 4990/Epson Scan
High-meadow fence ducking low-zooming cloud.
Tachi 4x5
Schneider 150mm/9 g-claron
Ilford FP4+ (in Rodinal 1:50)
Epson 4990/Epson Scan
A very good question - Were you there ?
I had a heck of a time pointing the camera at a high angle, since my Manfrotto 3275 410 goes only so far, after which it starts to bang up against the tripod itself. So I had to resort to lots of vertical rise, as much as the camera would allow. Lens coverage isn't an issue, but everything else was. The angle was around 60 degrees, I'd guess.
The head is strong enough to hold the camera, but the rig probably exceeds the recommended weight by a large factor. I'm probably stupid to use it.
In this thread, Vaughn recommended a Ries Tripod and head. I wonder if they are more suitable for this sort of subject ? I'd shoot a lot more cloud photos if I could.
Is there something more appropriate ?
Thanks for asking !!
The question occurred to me while I was trying to visualize doing this with my own Manfrotto 410 holding up the 5x7 camera and a 360mm Nikkor :)
Some people who use very large, heavy binoculars for astronomy use what is called a parallelogram mount. The are some videos on YouTube that show how they work, such as these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2uluHEe_GI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLFvhrVTQAE
Some of these mounts are very expensive, but the ones shown in the videos may be fairly reasonable. You wouldn't need all these functions, and you could probably build something, or have it built, for not too much money.
You might check out the binocular forum on Cloudy Nights: http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthrea...ard/binoculars
Holy Moley !
I think that what one basically needs is a boom with a way to mount the camera on one end and a counterweight on the other, and the ability to lock everything down.
"Just Clouds!" That's what Paul Strand said of Alfred Steiglitz's cloud pictures of which he made such a big production by calling them "equivalents."
Mount Fuji, wreathed in cloud
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3164/...838376b9_b.jpg
Fuji G617 / 300mm T, Plus X
Ken,
You could also do this with something similar to a Dobson telescope mount. The mount could be screwed onto the tripod plate or be stand-alone at whatever height you desire, built out of plywood. Plans for Dobson mounts are widely available and construction is dead simple. See the top photo of this Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altazimuth_mount
"Just Clouds!" That's what Paul Strand said of Alfred Steiglitz's cloud pictures of which he made such a big production by calling them "equivalents."
Excellent !
Of course, there's "just clouds"... and then there's "just clouds" :)
Ken- you can do wondrous things, and the others are good too.
Question: did you use any filters or is it all You and pyrocat HD?
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/phot...0/b11_hole.jpg
sorry it's digital, it was only open like that for a minute... then the aliens disappeared.
"Ken- you can do wondrous things, and the others are good too.
Question: did you use any filters or is it all You and pyrocat HD?"
Thanks, Ed
For that cloud photo, I used a medium yellow filter and a polarizer. (I don't own a red or orange filter, because for most of photos with sky, there are trees, and I prefer to keep the foliage light. If I figure out a way to do more cloud shots, I'll get some deeper filters.)
Pyrocat is certainly important, because of its compensating nature and kindness to the high values. Also important, is the Curves Tool in Photoshop. I often dream of going back to Silver printing, but wonder how I'd get by without it.
My 2 cents:
I try to "just say no" to subjects that have only ordinary tonality. To be a keeper (for me), the tonality has to be beautiful in some way. The subject alone, no matter how interesting, can't carry the image. It can in other types of photography, where the subject can be horrible or shocking or mysterious or intriguing. My work isn't about concepts, about selling anything, or about what is interesting, or telling a story of any kind. It's just about beauty. Hopefully, our photos improve as our sense of beauty improves.
One of the great words in Indian languages, is Rasa. Literally, it means flavor, but the same word also means delight, sap, essence of life, juice. You might say that beautiful tones are like the overall taste of a pleasing dish - the Rasa we crave from time to time.
All the other factors like composition, come after tone. Someone with a lovely voice can sing even the simplest piece of music, and it will sound good. On the other hand, someone with an ugly voice can render even the most beautiful melody, distasteful. :)
I know that the full size Ries head could handle a straight-up shot with an 8x10. I just measured my pod and head. With one leg towards the photographer so that the pod would not fall backwards from the weight (opposite from normal set-up were we put a leg towards the subject), and with the head in position to point the camera straight up, it is about 8 inches from the screw that holds on the camera down to where the camera would hit the leg. This is with the legs spread out enough to be very stable. So a camera with a 16" square base could be shot straight up...one would just have to rack the front standard up, not the back standard down.
It works well because when tipping the head to a straight up shot, the plane of the head surface (where the camera sits) is actually outside the circle of where the head attaches to the legs -- did I make sense? One could increase the distance from the screw to the pod leg even more by setting the legs closer together -- still would be stable.
Smaller cameras would be even easier. Viewing/focusing looking up might be tricky, but can be done.
The heck with it -- here is a photo! This is the double tilt head -- a single tilt head would be even more stable, I believe. This is the fullsize head on their full size pod (A series) The J Series is built the same way, but smaller -- but I would think it would be fine for 5x7.
Vaughn
Wonderful - Thanks !!
the blue sky faded into the night
the darkness brought black clouds
and rain in buckets
just here, nowhere else
Brilliant !
Boliver Pennisula, post-Hurricane Ike, setting sun, thunderhead before a massive rain storm.
http://www.epr-art.com/working/1657.jpg
Way to go Ed... :)
Fabulous image.
jim k
Ed please tell us what film, and what filter you used. This is an amazing image and I would love to learn more about it. Thanks.
Ken, Thanks for starting Just Clouds - infinite subject matter.
http://www.virtuallygrey.co.uk/files...llssunrise.jpg
Sunrise from on top of the Malvern Hills
And one which perhaps has too much foreground to be "Just Clouds" - and most of the clouds are artificial:
http://www.virtuallygrey.co.uk/files...dcontrails.jpg
Con trails over the Cotswolds
I may have posted these before?
Tmax 100, Xtol 1:3, probably a 25 Red filter, but might have been a deep yellow. But this is not a filter driven picture, it is timing - we are looking northeast, sun setting to the left, already down enough to shade the beach, but thunderhead is still lit.
http://www.ladewigs.com/Gallery/d/85...0080121_04.jpg
Above clouds and even colder than it looks.
This photo shows several different moods at the same time. Looking down, you have the silent depths with mist and snow and trees and rocks... Damn ! At the same time there is warm light and clear skies looking out over a gorgeous sunrise on those peaks... Heavens to Murgatroid.
http://www.kenleegallery.com/images/...tripodhead.jpg
I figured out how I was able to get the max upward tilt out of the 410 head: Raise the center column. (Although this only makes the whole rig more unstable).
Otherwise (on my tripod anyhow) the controls can bump against the top of the tripod. The 410 head allows you to tilt 30 degrees up. I'll experiment with turning the camera around. The head turns down 90 degrees.
According to the specs, a 410 head will support up to 5 kg or 11.1 pounds, but a 5x7 Sinar P weighs 8.2 kg, or 18 pounds.
So I'm over-loading it by... 75%. Oops :rolleyes:
Ken,
Try facing the camera the other way and though it's a bit contortionisty you can get even more upward tilt. Just have to handle the controls backwards.
http://images54.fotki.com/v1592/phot...97/PO15-vi.jpg
The prune industry used to be big around here, but most of the orchards have been converted to vineyards.
Some clouds from the top side.
Greg, The tones of your image are awesome. The broken symmetry is interesting, but with the tree so dominant I would be interested in seeing compositions where it is off center too. I definitely understand the reason for a square crop as presented.
Ed, what a stunning image.
8x10 wet plate collodion image.
http://kerik.com/clouds_scotland.jpg
Clouds Over Carl's House - Glasgow, Scotland
Great thread idea, by the way. I see several images here which remind me of Stieglitz's Equivalents, for example.
Ken, I have been trying to suppress this since we don't know each other, but am afraid my self-control has run out: you do realize that there is a song about you and Benny Moore, right?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RgL2MKfWTo
Ken Lee, Benny Moore.
Tooooooo much :)
Mike
Dunno who Benny Moore is, but I'm... acquainted with the song.
How do you think I can afford Large Format photography ? :cool:
http://images52.fotki.com/v8/photos/...nrescan-vi.jpg
Lake Wilson; Graphic Kowa 305, HP5, PMK
I love pictures of clouds. Lots of great stuff in this thread
Here is a lucky grab just off I40 in Northern Az.
Now we're talkin'
Great work here. I'll contribute one each of COLOR and B&W, both on 4x5.
North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Arizona
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4036/...4d803140_o.jpg
Wupatki National Monument, Arizona
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2729/...05fc0f6b_o.jpg
Shot this one in my back yard on 8x10. It was a race against time...