Go to it, if you're idea of good photography is to make pictures like Fred Picker.
Go to it, if you're idea of good photography is to make pictures like Fred Picker.
Like many other endeavors, the tool is a means to an end. I've seen too many people with too much obscenely expensive camera gear producing (in my own opinion) rather bland photographs. At the same time, I've seen poor, talented students producing stunning work with cheap 35mm cameras. There are also several landscape photographers who produce wonderfully grainy black and white prints from 35mm film. My point here is that one's vision of the kind of photographs that you want to produce should drive your choice of camera. Using an LF camera would not make me a better wildlife or sports photographer, for example. Also, one should be careful making such pronouncements as it leads to thinking of onself as a "better" photographer simply because your negative has a larger surface area. Photographs are better judged by more aesthetic criteria.
To Bjorn Nilsson,
Back in the mid-seventies (OK, so I am old!) Ansel offered me a simple quote to "live" by when doing Large Format Photograhy:
"Chance favors the prepared mind!"
In other words be ready for that cloud change - or whatever comes your way...
You cannot really appreciate LF untill you work with it and learn the advantages it presents. One of the biggest advantages is the larger film area allows a tremendous amount of flexibility in choosing the film used and the kind of chemistry for processing. Chemistry that wuld be useless for any 35mm film enlarged over 8x10 is perfectly acceptable with LF. A greater tonality and detail can be achieved in the fine print. You also have the opportunity to fine tune the neg with various masking techniques. LF even allows for spotting and repairing of the negative.
The way you approach subjects will be determined by your knowledge of the tools at your disposal. Every format has its own strengths and limitations. There is no point in shooting the same subject with both a 35mm and LF to produce a fine print unless it is to learn how each produces its own unique product. IMHO every subject or idea has a best format. The fun and challenge is to learn the difference.
Yes, using LF has made me a better photographer.
I learnt photography on a manual 35mm, and was happy if I got 2 to 3 "keepers" per roll. Since learning to me more circumspect with composition and exposure, aspects forced upon me by methods and costs of LF, my perceived success rate with 35mm has gone up to 15- 16 "keepers" per roll. Additionally, the images that I consider to be good now are much better than my early work (as you would expect with experience). It's the attitude to each photo that's changed, rather than the materials used. I now treat every scene like an LF subject, asking my self "would I spend the cost of a 5x4 on this shot and would I hang it on my wall?". If the answer is no, I usually don't make the exposure.
I am only comparing 35mm shots in writing this, since there is no comparison between good 35mm shots and 5x4 trannies.
"Chance favors the prepared mind" is a statement attributed to the great French scientist Louis Pasteur on the process leading to scientific breakthroughs. It is not a St-Ansel original, but his use of the concept is very applicable to picture taking.
The assertion that all LF photography takes place on a tripod with an image carefully composed on the ground-glass ignores the magnificent tradition of hand-held large format photography (press photography of old, Weegee, Life Magazine, Dorothea Lange, etc.). It is not all about rocks and trees and beautiful landscapes and the zone system.
I use a 4X5 Technika (with range finder coupled lenses) mostly hand- held. I pretend that it is a giant 35 mm camera and use it to take semi-candid environmental portraits. I can compose very quickly and fluidly, focus very accurately with the rangefinder, and move about with all the needed equipment on my person (including an incident meter). Changing film holders is a little slower than advancing roll film, but it is surprising how fast you can do it with one hand if you have the right pouches on your belt and a clip for the dark slide on the back of the camera. The results obtained from a 4X5 negative this way are stunning and far better than one can acheive with even MF.
There are many ways to move a boat: you can sail with the wind, use a motor, drift with the tide, or tow it on a trailer behind your car...
A lot of great answers were given. I haven't tried what Mark says, but it sounds like it could be a lot of fun. That is exactly the sort of thing I mostly use medium or 35mm for, but then, why not give Mark's idea a try? I do the "rocks and trees" thing sometimes but there >is< more than just that. I used to pick up spare cash doing portraits....people for some reason loved the look of 35mm Tri-X enlarged and processed for a grainy "old timey" look. But really, no matter what format you started in or currently use, if you understand what is going on and why, it is easier and more natural feeling to do it right. Given a little experience, which you already have, it is just a matter of selecting the "tools for the job". Look at what the professionals in various fields use for different purposes (and why), then go from there.
I did what mark said a few years back, got me a speed graphic and when taking pictures hand held, you would be surprised how easy it was and how it made me try to "anticipate" the action, it was fun, but alas not for me. In any case the negs were great and I did not find any problem using the 4x5 handheld, then again it was for fun, not to make money.
Sorry to nitpick a side comment, but since misunderstanding of Heisberg's Uncertainty Principle is responsible for a lot of the nonsense in the world, I feel compelled to say that Heisenberg never said anything remotely like "you cannot measure something without changing it in some way." All he said was that you can't measure two dependent qualities (velocity and location, if I remember right) simultaneously; you have to measure one, and then the other.
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