Thanks for the help!

**SeanEsopenko** · 5-Sep-2010, 13:29

It's been about a month since I started working in large format 4x5 and I only have about 8 images. I would have been disheartened, or even in a panic, if I was working digitally, but I feel I have been quite productive. I even have an image I feel is worth sharing.

So this is a thanks to the people who've helped me get this new process & medium figured out enough to dive in, whether it was direct advice or from resources on this site I sifted through. Thanks for the help!

**jmooney** · 5-Sep-2010, 15:00

Very nice photo!

I've been wanting to do more architectural work. Where was this taken?

Jim

**SeanEsopenko** · 5-Sep-2010, 21:14

Originally Posted by jmooney

Very nice photo!

I've been wanting to do more architectural work. Where was this taken?

Jim

Thanks! That's in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. On the north side of the bow river facing south to the northern end of the downtown region.

I'm really digging the movements, especially front rise to cut out some of the ground and rear tilt to correct key-stoning. Long story short, I started leaning towards large format photography because I thought a Canon tilt shift lens was an atrocious price that I couldn't justify purchasing. Man I'm glad I didn't

**Brian Ellis** · 6-Sep-2010, 06:50

Congratulations, that's a very nicely composed photograph especially for one of your first eight. However, it's somewhat underexposed or under-developed (at least for my tastes and as it appears on my calibrated monitor) because everything is some shade of gray, there's no highlights anywhere. If you wanted to present the scene as kind of gloomy that would be fine but I suspect that isn't what you had in mind. You may want to do some testing to check your light meter and your method of using it, also your developing process. That eight-sided object in the upper middle also indicates that you needed to shade the lens. However, you can't do everything at once and just using to learn the camera, which you're obviously learning very well, is a challenge so these are just thoughts for the future.

**SeanEsopenko** · 6-Sep-2010, 08:58

Originally Posted by Brian Ellis

Congratulations, that's a very nicely composed photograph especially for one of your first eight. However, it's somewhat underexposed or under-developed (at least for my tastes and as it appears on my calibrated monitor) because everything is some shade of gray, there's no highlights anywhere. If you wanted to present the scene as kind of gloomy that would be fine but I suspect that isn't what you had in mind. You may want to do some testing to check your light meter and your method of using it, also your developing process. That eight-sided object in the upper middle also indicates that you needed to shade the lens. However, you can't do everything at once and just using to learn the camera, which you're obviously learning very well, is a challenge so these are just thoughts for the future.

Yeah they're not that way in the negative, I usually make them that way in post processing. I tend to have a pretty low-key tendency in my digital workflow. It's strange because when I draw I tend to favour the high keys.

I'm aware my images tend to be dark and I've been trying to correct it for the past while. I'm trying to kick the habit of producing dark images constantly because it doesn't always suit the subject.

On another subject I think I'm going to stop using my film bag completely to load film. Every sheet loaded in the film bag is littered entirely with fibers. The film loaded in the dark room is nice and clear. Looks like I'll just be using it as a dark cloth...

**Steve M Hostetter** · 6-Sep-2010, 14:30

I think that most of the problem here is the fact that stray light is hitting the front element which will distroy the contrast and make the whole image look funky.
Techniclly everything looks good except for the flare
I always tell people that If your ready to make the exposure your holding the darkslide in your hand and that should be your reminder to sheild the lens which you can do with the darkslide or your body.
One of those things that is complicated to remember but easy to perform.
I see no reason for a lens hood unless you are shooting from behind the camera as you might with an slr that is not mounted to a tripod.

**SeanEsopenko** · 6-Sep-2010, 17:20

Originally Posted by Steve M Hostetter

I think that most of the problem here is the fact that stray light is hitting the front element which will distroy the contrast and make the whole image look funky.
Techniclly everything looks good except for the flare
I always tell people that If your ready to make the exposure your holding the darkslide in your hand and that should be your reminder to sheild the lens which you can do with the darkslide or your body.
One of those things that is complicated to remember but easy to perform.
I see no reason for a lens hood unless you are shooting from behind the camera as you might with an slr that is not mounted to a tripod.

Thanks for pointing that out, I've gotten some good critique in this thread so far.

Yeah there was a pretty heavy flare from a building just outside of the shot. I took it out of the shot to help but noticed the 6 sided flare on the negative when I turned the lights on in the dark room. Shielding the view camera is something I'm still getting the hang of; I still haven't gotten a solid feel for the angle of view from this fujinon 180mm.

I know exactly where to have my hat when I shoot with my 35mm on my Canon but I still don't have this new lens and it's new FOV figured out. I even carry around a little viewfinder cut from cardstock, holding it from my face at the approximate distance I need for the 180mm's FOV. I find when I set up the camera & look through the ground glass, however, 50% of the time I want to tear it down again because the composition isn't working the way I thought it would.