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Thread: procedural question for landscape photographers

  1. #1

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    procedural question for landscape photographers

    How many exposures do you make of a subject? I work in 4x5, and my habit from the beginning has been to shoot two sheets ( 1 holder) per subject. This lets me vary development, if needed, and/or exposure, if I'm not sure; and is a hedge against physical mistakes in loading/processing. I even find myself doubling up on my rare color negatives, which seems foolish when I review. Of course with a great subject in rapidly changing light, I use more film, but that's not too common. When shooting professionally I'm always balancing between insurance (more exposures)and cost/time (fewer), but there the parameters are different. I realize that the larger the format, the fewer the total numbers of sheets used, but I'd be interested to hear how other people approach this.

  2. #2
    Founder QT Luong's Avatar
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    procedural question for landscape photographers

    I expose two sheets with the same exposure per subject.

  3. #3

    procedural question for landscape photographers

    I just take 1 shot

  4. #4

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    procedural question for landscape photographers

    For many years when I shot a lot of 4x5, and I was learning large format, I made two exposures. When I moved to 8x10, I cut down to one and now find myself only shooting one in 4x5, too.

  5. #5

    procedural question for landscape photographers

    Two sheets, unless there's motion in the scene (surf, for example), in which case it's a minimum of two sheets but often more than two.

    Sometime I bracket on shutter speed when there's motion (flowing water, for instance) and I'm having trouble visualizing how it will appear at different shutter speeds.

    But usually, two sheets. The number of times having more than one negative has saved my butt is large enough that it's worth continuing.

  6. #6
    Is that a Hassleblad? Brian Vuillemenot's Avatar
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    procedural question for landscape photographers

    Usually, just one, unless it's something that's really special, in which I make several duplicates. Of course, the one sheet doesn't count verticals of horizontals, using different lenses, and different compositions of the same subject, so I can expose 5 or 6 sheets of the same subject, seen differently.
    Brian Vuillemenot

  7. #7
    Moderator Ralph Barker's Avatar
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    procedural question for landscape photographers

    FWIW, I, too, usually shoot a minimum of two sheets per subject/composition, but at the same exposure. Occasionally, I'll add bracketed shots to that if I want to play with different development ideas. The second sheets get separated into a different box for separate processing after the first set has been developed and reviewed. "Insurance" shots are worth the raw film expense, I think, if one factors in the travel expense involved in getting there. If I'm doing a commercial shoot, particularly at a remote location, the scope of the "insurance policy" gets considerably larger. The "insurance" film never gets processed at the same time, or in the same batch - especially if being done by a commercial lab.

  8. #8

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    procedural question for landscape photographers

    I try at least two images per subject, frequently more with the 4X5. With 8X10 I'm still learning so also do two ( at least while still using the cheaper J&C Pro 100). It seems many photographers will shoot two at same exposure, develop the 1st, and use 2nd as spare for any indicated changes in dev (or something went wrong). Seems like a good practice.
    van Huyck Photography
    "Searching for the moral justification for selfishness" JK Galbraith

  9. #9

    procedural question for landscape photographers

    I normally will only shoot one of each subject on 5X4 or 10X8. But some subjects call for more than one angle or perspective in which case I take as many as I consider will meet my brief.
    The other exception is when a difficult or very unusual subject is in the frame, beit through lighting or subject matter, then again, I would then consider taking more than one shot.

  10. #10

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    procedural question for landscape photographers

    For "solemn" pictures just one sheet. You cannot celebrate marriage twice a day. The more sheets you do, the more you rationalize the picture - the heart needs just one cry to express itself. For clients I take more - such pictures are more a talk than a statement. On big roll fillm formats I take 2 or 3 so that I could easily finish off the roll. I hate to change a roll in the middle of work - a clean table is more prone to an inspirative work than a cluttered one.

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