Al,Originally Posted by al olson
And finally, one on Ektar 100 (See, there is some vegetation!)
Glad you found that brave plant! Do you have this as a scan too?
Asher
Al,And finally, one on Ektar 100 (See, there is some vegetation!)
Glad you found that brave plant! Do you have this as a scan too?
Asher
Asher,I have not thought about this photo much,not the best one. I don't have a neg scanner so they are all print scans, have not done any thing to them but contact prints. Takes me about a year to get around to them, just in time for the next Tonopah Work shop.
Mike
Asher, this is a negative scan. I have no plans to print it because I consider it a mediocre composition, even when cropping out some of the foreground. It was a matter of trying different things to see how they work out.
My intent when I made this exposure (the only color that I made during the workshop) was to see how Ektar handled the early morning light. In fact it does not seem as rich with the orange/yellow cast as I remember that sunrise. Of course I could change that in the darkroom, but I prefer the results from other monochrome compositions over this color.
al
Hi Al,
I'm interested in this color negative because it might allow different ways of eliciting a B&W image from the scene. One would need to scan for the highlights perhaps, to get everything. It's intriguing to consider that converting to b&W by assigning colors to different ranges of grey scale might, in the end, provide novel B&W pictures optimized for this scene. So, even if you don't get excited by the composition right now, it could come alive with a custom B&W conversion.
It's worth trying before the next Tonopah expedition!
Asher
Al,that aviator looks like it worked out pretty good.
Mike
This first one is on Tri-X
This one is on HP5+
This first one is on Tri-X
Here is another on HP5+ (Just to present a different angle on a popular subject.)
Al,
I keep returning to this set of images. You did very well here. I really enjoyed the place and was amazed that folk hadn't carted off all those sinks, for example! Have you processed any more pictures?
Asher
Jim,OK, I plan to get serious about the scanning today, so will be posting some.
window, white caps mine office, manhattan, nv
This is the only image I did at the White Caps mine in Manhattan. Eddie was giving our friend Glen an excellent basic lesson in Large Fromat 4X5 camera movements sharing his Chamonix with Glen. I thought I would expand it a bit and a bunch of the other folks joined in.
I knew this shot would not make my name a household word, but it did offer several problems to solve and a good teaching platform.
The first problem was an equipment one. I didn't have a sharp wide angle with me, and I didn't have a flash, or sync. Ask for help! Asher Kelman came to the rescue with a beautiful 240mm Docter Optik wide field lens in Copal 1 shutter. Al Olson had a Vivitar 285 flash, but no sync cord. Steve Lumry had a nice little Leica flash with an adapter cord. I used all 3 items on the Eastman 7X11
The photo has a bunch of technical problems to solve one at a time which allows a good chance for instruction. The first that comes to mind is the gigantic range of light to capture some how from direct sunlight outside, to a cave inside. The interior walls had been long ago coated with soot from a fire. Try to imagine the light readings from a soot covered wall in non-open shade inside and direct sunlight outside. 12 - 14 stops perhaps? We would hopefully solve that by popping 2 flashes inside during the exposure for outside. We actually did meter both situations but I didn't write it down. Trust me it was huge.
Next is focus. We can swing the back on the eastman to get the wall perfect everywhere and ensure that all of our verticals on the camera are plumb. Then we focus outside, put a fingernail at that place on the base, roll the standard forward for best inside focus, and look down at the distance. Ouch! Almost an inch. The best you can do is place the rear standard exactly half way between the near and far, and stop down. F64 1/2 is the only solution. It's the best trade off between getting absolutely nothing because of diffraction, and getting enough resolution everywhere for a usable image.
The exposure is 1/2 second f64 1/2. One flash is synced to the shutter, and the other will be popped by Eddie during the 1/2 second. Easily done, but we didn't calculate how much help the 2 flashes would provide at f64 1/2. That we just leave to hopefulness, and as you can see, it worked fine.
Am glad to revisit the Tonopah images, going page by page. Eddie's wet plate picture of Per made me stop to think a while, the demo and Per were impressive experiences I'll never forget.
I didn't see you make this picture. This was a great group effort and most impressive how you put it together! I really like the result here and those two flash pops really did open up the interior, just enough. Well done. Do you think more detail could be burnt in on the roof? I'm not saying it would be better, just wondering as you did, after all face a daunting range of lighting.
Thanks again Jim for all the effort you made and especially the personal attention you gave to everyone and sharing a glimpse of your wild collection of soft focus lenses!
Asher
Asher, thanks for you kind comments. I posted early on most of the photos that I bothered to scan. I was not happy with most of the results, but I felt obligated to post them on this thread as part of the sharing experience. The remainder were either not what I wanted or were too similar to images posted by others. For example, I had to perform some serious cropping of the sinks photo and I still could not make the photo that I envisioned.
The photo of the rail car seems quite contrasty except for the tonality around the top. I tried to underexpose to eliminate the detail of the straps in the interior. The real problem, however, is that the photo was crooked so that when I straightened it, I had to crop off the eaves of the car. Then the trick was to hide the bald, white sky. Perhaps it would be better with IR.
The one of the seat back through the window is difficult to tell what you are looking at. A bit abstract. I think that the HP5+ was the right film for getting the texture of the wood. I also had to crop off the top of the window because its trashy appearance did not complement the rest of the image. The only one I was really happy with is the one of the Dodge.
[I also had several a number of ruined photos from holders that had light leaks. After the trip I tested the holders by loading them up with enlarging paper. Then I placed each one in the camera, pulled the slide, and used a flash to light each side of the holder including twice at the slide opening. I did this for each side of all of the slides. Then I developed the papers, keeping track of which side of which holder they were from. I culled eight holders this way.]
To get back on topic, I did quite a bit of photography with a 6x6 Bronica, which I haven't posted here. My favorite 120 film is Ilford SFX that I sometimes shoot at the ISO 200 box speed and sometimes at an EI of 6 with an infrared filter. I was much happier with these effects.
To answer your question, the photos I posted on this thread were all that I cared to post. I have a number sites that I would like to return to and redo. I also have some additional ideas for shots I would like to try.
SO... my question is when are we going to do this again? If we pick a date, we could all meet in Tonopah without putting the burden on Jim. Jim did a fine job of leading the workshop, but I think we all know our way around by now. It does not have to be a workshop. What do you think?
al
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Activating Thread Auto Search = "Tonopah Temptation Workshop *** 2012 + 2013"
"Sex is like maths, add the bed, subtract the clothes, divide the whoo hoo and hope you don't multiply." - Leather jacket guy
Well, I've been on two of these and would go on another.
I had originally planned on going back with my digital shooting brother the week of 10/15. Now he can't make it. I may still go ... I would love to stay and have dinner in the restored Mizpah Hotel (opened last fall after a full renovation) and I'd like to have another late-night Dead Laden (the drink of the week when we were there last time after Bin Laden was killed) while playing video poker at the Clubhouse Saloon on Main Street (the bar where Jack Dempsey tended bar before he became heavyweight champ.) Plus, I lost 12 8x10 shots in six holders last time when I set them down by my car and drove off ... so I have some re-shooting to do.
The mid-October date is perfect because the early and late golden hours are at decent times, the temps around Tonopah are good, the eastern Sierra will be turning colors, and Tioga Pass is likely to still be open ... and all those things open up a ton of possibilities in Tonopah, Goldfield, and the Nevada Desert for the main shoots and on the way there or back, the Eastern Sierra, Mono Lake, the Bristlecone Pines, Bodie ghost town, and even Death Valley, Vegas, and Yosemite (I love the reflections available on the Merced during October.)
I like the idea of an independent ... non-workshop type get-together ... Per's workshops were pretty close to that anyway ... and that is what I really liked about them. And, I like the idea of limiting the group's pressure on Jim ... so he doesn't end up having to host. With a little coordination we might be able to rent the firehouse hangout for a night or two and swap stories, pour drinks, share photos, and plan a shoot ... and add some new shots to our joint group effort on PhotoNet.
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