Most of us know that Large Format photography offers features not usually availa ble with smaller formats, camera movements, ability to expose specifically one s heet at a time, so exepting these more technical features: why do you use LF?
Most of us know that Large Format photography offers features not usually availa ble with smaller formats, camera movements, ability to expose specifically one s heet at a time, so exepting these more technical features: why do you use LF?
I shoot large format because it's fun!
Contact printing and alternative processes.
Besides the advantages when printing... it makes me smile when I see those big negs... like this wouahhhhhhhhhhhhh..
I like to spend my free hours in dodgy weather fiddling with brass knobs.
I use large format camera for the influence they have on the image- making process, as much as for the technical advantages. The precision and skill a large format camera demands focuses you (sorry for the pun) on the task at hand, and I am far happier struggling over making 12 images a session with an 8x10 then I would be making 100's with a 35mm.
http://www.evolvingbeauty.com
Hmmm......probably too many reasons for me to put here, but my main technical reasons for working with it is the larger negatives (8x10 contacts are unbeatable), ability to develop each sheet individually, and the ability to use various movements to control image characteristics. I think most overwhelmingly, though, it just fits the way I think, if that makes any sense. I've been using the same Nikon for about 7 years now and it's still a lot harder for me to use intuitively than the 8x10 I've been using for about two years now. My friends call me crazy, but it's one dementia of which I hope I am never cured.
The forgettable stuff is still.........forgettable, but at least there's not so many of them. And the good stuff can be....incredible! At least the possibility is there.
Although I'm the poster I can't resist chiping in, I think that an LF print, whatever the technique has a certain presence, hard to define, perhaps it has something to do with the effort that goes on beforehand, but it is more than just fine grain or quality.
I find LF forces me to work more purposefully and makes me more selective in what I photograph. By slowing things down, I feel you just naturally start to look at everything with a more critical eye. It also trains you to do the same with smaller formats, when circustances dictate.
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