I shoot 4x5" and I used to put my prints inside those very simple glassboards where there is no actual frame around it besides the glass itself having the same size as the print. Recently I started to mount my prints of e.g. size 6.75x9" into real frames of 12x16" where the excess space is filled with a thick passepartou. As I was leaning back in my armchair enjoying the prints it struck me that I still have a few things to learn and master... probably not to anybodies surprise ;=)
With the simple glassframes I deliberately shot the negative so that there was space around the subject and it always looked good. But as I looked at the ones with a passepartout the extra space did not add any value, rather the opposite! And this was most apparent in those prints 'standing up', i.e. portrait mode.
Now I do not like getting too depressed about things I can possibly change so I thought maybe I could learn something from this.
To reprint those 'portrait mode negatives' and removing the extra space in the top and bottom would not help since the subject instead would extend passed the borders on the sides...so this would mean that I need to change the way I frame the subject already at the time of exposure...and that I probably need to know which type of mounting I will use for the final print. (Man, is that not taking the 'previsualization' a bit too far?)
I then eagerly started to glance through some of my 'professional photobooks' to see if I could find an answer...and you know what... for portrait mode I found the following:
1) some prints did not include any space at all around the subject, be it still life or pure portraits (and they all looked very good)
2) many many prints included lots of space above the subject...but there was seldom anything interesting/contributing in the top of the picture
3) the space to the left right and bottom of the pictures were usually very symmetrical and narrow
It would seem to me that there is a general challenge of actually determining the 'appropriate' use of the top of a standing negative and that I and probably others might be afraid to fill the frame to the top!
Of course some people would claim that 'the negative probably include lots of space around the subject ...it's just a matter of cropping'. But I'm not happy with this since I shoot LF for the large negative and also want to make full use of it. (And I guess those who are fortunate to do contact prints from an 8x10 negative must master this without cropping, right?)
I would be interested to understand how you more experienced LF-photographers master this challenge and if you think about the mounting already at the time of exposure?
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