Poor Mans 4X10

[John Hollenberg]

I thought others might be want to hear about an interesting approach to LARGE panorama creation I ran across by accident. When I got my 4X5 transparencies back after a recent trip to death valley, I realized that I had panned from one shot to the next and there was a slight overlap (5-10%). Although the light had changed a little in the few minutes that elapsed between shots, I was able to stitch the two photos together using Panotools and PTGUI software and a curves layer to match the luminosity and colors.

To my surprise, even with this tiny bit of overlap the stitching process was nearly perfect. A family member was unable to see the seam even at 100% magnification in photoshop. This was from two 250 MB drum scans. The average distance between matching points of the two scans was only 4 pixels! I thought I could pick out the seam, but when I checked in Photoshop it turns out I had picked an area that was not on the seam. The resulting panorama has an aspect ratio of about 2.5:1. With this amount of information I could print up to 30X75 without loss of quality (but will probably stick with 24X60).

It is a little tricky learning how to use this software combo, but well worth it. PTGUI is a front end (doesn't run on Mac, though) for Panotools that makes panorama creation fairly easy. There is a Panotools group on Yahoo groups and the members are very helpful. Also, you can output each piece to a separate file which can then be put on a separate layer in photoshop, so it is easy to adjust the color matching.

--John

[Byron Rakitzis]

Okay, I was wondering if I could do a REALLY poor man's 4x10 by contact printing two negatives side-by-side. I'd like to make a rubylith mask so that there are black borders around and between the two panels. This would be a diptych, I guess.

I'm wondering about this because I am reluctant to move to a larger format and yet I want to explore contact printing. Rather, I'm tempted to move to a larger format in order to contact print negatives of a reasonable size (at least 5x7) but I want a useful way of exploring contact printing first before I take the plunge. Hence my diptych idea.

Has anyone tried this already? More generally, I'd be interested in feedback on contact printing frames and the use of rubylith for borders. I don't yet own a proper printing frame, and after just one short experiment with rubylith I'm not sure this is the best way to make borders on my prints. But I think this is all going somewhere for me...

Oh yeah, I'd love to see discussion on generating the image, too. Am I right in thinking that it's okay to pan my tripod head as long as I'm focused at infinity? For closeups I imagine you'd need to do it all (if possible) with shifts to avoid any perspective distortions between the two panels.

Byron.

[Jeff Corbett]

For someone who dislikes computers, and enjoys LF for it's independence from the digital/electronic world among other things, I don't see this option as a poor man's 4x10. How much would I have to spend on computer hardware and software to do this method? I'd rather invest in the camera and lenses to actually do 4x10. The price tag may not be much different.

[John Kasaian]

You can find old 8x10s with sliders, allowing you to put two 4x10s on a single sheet of 8x10 film:-)

[David A. Goldfarb]

I use a half darkslide to mask two 4x10"'s on an 8x10" sheet. No computer required.

[John Hollenberg]

Well, since I already have the computer and use digital for printing from color transparencies, the cost to me is:

1) Panotools - free 2) PTGUI - $55

"Poor man" was meant as a cheap alternative for those who already have the other components, not as a way to get into this from scratch. It is simply another option, which for those who already have the hardware and print digitally will require very little additional capital outlay. For those of us shooting 4X5 in color and printing digitally I think it is an interesting alternative. Please don't turn this thread into an argument about traditional or digital processes.

--John

[Dennis Mairet]

I like Byron's idea. Although, I am thinking of printing separately, and mounting the multiple prints behind one mat board with appropriate dividers cut into it.

[wfwhitaker]

Along the lines of Dennis' idea... In a waiting room the other day I was drawn to a photograph on the wall which was a triptych - in this case, three 8x10 black and white prints, not on hinged panels, but mounted and over-matted side-by-side. The images, all taken from the same point, formed essentially an 8x30 -ish panorama. There was no effort made to "stitch" the images together; the over-mat separated the three by a small amount so that it was not one continuous image. From a normal viewing distance, however, there was a continuity to the overall image. I wouldn't have thought of the technique myself, but it was striking.

[Mark Sampson]

If you rubylith two negs together, you'll get white, not black, edges.

[Byron Rakitzis]

My plan is this: cut two 4x5 windows in a 11x14 piece of rubylith for the two negatives. The windows should be large enough to print the whole negative with black borders. I will experiment I suppose (I just ordered a 150" roll of rubylith today!) with the idea of just one 4x10 window for the two negatives, so they are joined with a black border rather than black-white-black.

All this is just a way of getting the photographic paper to simulate a mat anyway. Maybe I need to spend more time cutting mats and less time fussing with rubylith. But there is something attractive to me about having it all laid out on one piece of paper.

Recently I've become extremely accustomed to making black borders with a 4 bladed easel and an oversized glass carrier for 6x6 or 6x9 negatives. Or for that matter with 35mm.