Jim,
Hope you got some nice snow shots today, as May 29th. :-0
Andrew
Printable View
Jim,
Hope you got some nice snow shots today, as May 29th. :-0
Andrew
Dear Nana,
Merci, and yes the image originates from a scanned negative... :)
I pre-scan the negative with an Epson 750 to determine whether the image's shadow detail can be retrieved effectively, and if the shadow detail performs admirably, I will continue my procedure using the Epson's digital capture. The negative is drum scanned when significant shadow detail becomes blocked and, or lost in an Epson scanned image, for whatever reason.
As a side note, my shadow detail improved significantly, therefore reducing my dependency upon a drum scanned image, once I modified my negative development times and developer dilutions to accommodate the scanning process with the Epson 750. I also believe that a negative's resultant image quality will always be at the mercy of the scanner's inherent characteristics, the scanner's inherent quality, and reflected in the final image. The size of my 8X10 negative, and the resultant RGB file size, contributes significantly and effectively to the original digital information that I can transfer to a digital negative, or print.
jim k
Out of curiosity, Steve, when did you make that Peggy's Cove photo. The reason I am asking is that I met someone there who was shooting a Sinar. It was the first Sinar I had seen up close.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve M Hostetter
However, this was a long time ago ... around October 2002. It would be an unlikely coincidence.
Hello al,,
Yes, that is the lighthouse at Peggy's Cove..!
Was the guy pretty big with a mustache and wearing Scarpa mountain boots..? I say that because I get a lot of compliments on my boots..:D
Seems like I remember you al but as you say it was a long time ago.. What a place though and I miss it..! :)
I don't recall the boots or mustache. I was really interested in the camera. I vaguely recall that he was pretty large.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve M Hostetter
I started the conversation with a dumb question: "What kind of camera is that?" I was carrying my Nikon and had left the Linhof in the trunk.
The guy's response was, with slightly veiled irritation, an explanation about about large format. After I quickly broke in and explained that I, also, was using large format the conversation went to a higher plane.
I do recall that the man was from California and that he had something unique on his license plates. Perhaps they said SINAR.
It must not of been me. I'm from Indiana and once you get me to talkin photography in general I hardly shut-up,,Quote:
Originally Posted by al olson
I've been to N.S. 3 times now, last time was in 05. I went over on the Cat from Bar Harbor.. On the second trip I went all the way around Cape Bretton ,, can't recall the earlier years but I was always there in Oct.
Hi. JimQuote:
Originally Posted by jim kitchen
Thanks for the explanation.
I have the Epson V700, wich is an excelent scanner for the price and recently bought an Howtek 4500 drum scanner, still waiting for a SCSI board for my computer. I hope it is much better than the V700, not that I paid very much for it (150€) but because it was a pain in the ass to carry it home, it's fu**** big and heavy!!!:D
One from french Jura taken on the last day of my business trip - just before heading home to Germany. I found a few hours to visit a smaller ski centrum close to where our experiment is located. I had no skis so I just walked - made a lot of people wondering what is that guy with a big backpack doing there :-)
I used Tachi with Osaka 400/8 and Fuji Pro160s. I also used recently acquired lens hood just to find out that it vignettes in the very corners. Given the weather (hazy) a BW film with orange or red filter would have been a better solution. Scanned with microtek F1.
I just wanted to get the view of the distant Alps when these few skiers appeared - apparently waiting for the rest of the group. I think they improved my composition a lot.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/...e17fee8f_o.jpg
You did a great job with the snow. There's such a fine line between getting the tone right but losing the texture and vice versa. Also an excellent composition I think and I agree, the skiers make it a very different but to me more interesting photograph than it would have been without them. I don't know why things like that don't happen to me. If I had been making the photograph a big old snow plow would have driven over the ridge, messed up the snow, and then parked. : - )Quote:
Originally Posted by Matus Kalisky
Ditto what Brian said. You've transformed this shot from just yet another technically perfect picture postcard like shot to one that creates a human interest aspect to a beautiful natural backdrop.Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian Ellis
Your tonal palette is super!
Don Bryant
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4051/...261d53c9_b.jpg
Alders, Olympic NP. 5x12/300mm 4.5 xenar opened up
Just gorgeous, Colin.Quote:
Originally Posted by Colin Graham
Best,
Daniel
Just starting to post process negatives from my April vacation. This is the 1st and while its just a snappy, Im glad that the wind (gusts to 60mph) and clouds blew in to reduce the haze. Having lived in AZ for 2 years a while back, I never had the time to make it to the canyon.
http://ronmiller.smugmug.com/Landsca...8_LeT9a-XL.jpg
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colin Graham
Dear Colin,
Such a beautiful image... :)
Nicely done.
jim k
Extremely nice, Colin
Very nice Colin, Good to see your work again. And you found a 300 Xenar :)
jan
Il poeta è tornato !Quote:
Originally Posted by Colin Graham
The poet is has returned !
Moments before a storm along I285 in Colorado.
http://ronmiller.smugmug.com/Landsca...4_TcWRv-X2.jpg
Many thanks for the generous comments, quite an honor.
A superb panoramic, Colin. I am especially drawn to the excellent detail in the foreground and the texture of the trees. It nicely complements the branches over the water.
Beautiful snow scene, Matus. The nearly silhouetted skiers balance the blacks from the trees. It really pulls my eye into the picture. Great snow texture. I like the way the snow in the foreground balances with the haze of the distant peaks.
Jim,Quote:
Originally Posted by jim kitchen
As I'm another admirer of the tonality you're getting for your clouds, I'm curious as to what method of calibration you're using to make TMY negs fit your to the 750? I have your well written pdf on xtol w/tmy...
Huang Shan, Chamonix 45N, Schenider 135/5,6, FP4
Dear mandoman,Quote:
Originally Posted by mandoman7
Thank you for your comments... :)
My negatives are not truly calibrated to the 750, since they are black and white negatives, other than what I achieved while recalibrating my TMY-2 dilutions with XTOL to produce lower densities that allowed me to reduce the inherent artefacts in the denser highlights, and where the thinner negatives allowed me to obviously extend the lower density capture.
I found that the Epson 750 and the 700 are surprisingly good digital devices with large format negatives, especially 8X10 negatives, but they still fail miserably with tricky delicate important shadow details, whether the negative is 8X10 or not. I have yet to see a well crafted drum scan fail with any shadow detail that may be present within my negatives. I am not a fan of blocked shadow details, and I cringe when I see large blocked shadows present in an image, and although their effect can be effectively reduced with the careful use of a rubber stamp tool method, as stated earlier by Ken Lee in a separate post, the effect happens to be only as good as the author's skill sets.
The reduced TMY-2 development times and the reduced XTOL solution strength opened several doors for me, and allowed me to explore and, or extend several darkroom techniques within Photoshop, where it seems that the Epson 700 series scanners enjoy the thinner negatives, and it seems that the Epson software does not become super saturated with a large dynamic range, which leads me to believe that the scanner's software is partially responsible for the annoying blocked shadow details, and the annoying artefacts within the highlights. I would liken the saturation level to a buffer overload, and the lack of warnings to that effect. I could be terribly wrong with my statement, but there was a significant reduction in blocked shadow details and highlighted artefacts going forward, while scanning the thinner negatives.
I should qualify that statement, because I also believe you are at the mercy of each scanner's inherent characteristics, and although they are different, you must adjust my earlier stated development TMY-2 and XTOL development times to accommodate your own equipment's natural characteristics.
There are a few excellent scanning techniques available on the net, and after scanning techniques that produce a grey scale image, but I decided to develop my own after scanning approach to mimic my learned darkroom techniques as taught by other master printers, while using the negative's captured information. I don't think my scanning approach is better, but the after scanning process that I use surely gets me to where I want to be with immediate effect, compared to not. The clouds that you speak to are handled effectively with proper masking and detailed isolated gamma control, where my digital approach to voluminous dramatic cloud cover is not different from my darkroom approach. The effect you see within the clouds happens to be what I would do in the darkroom, using various developer strength techniques, multiple developers, bleaching techniques, and good old fashioned dodging and burning, but I now apply various tools and procedures to mimic those darkroom techniques within Photoshop to achieve the same result, while using several controlled masking layers. I do not dodge and burn in Photoshop, and my files are always north of 10GB with the masking layers, and I save the files as Large Format Documents.
I hope this long winded comment helps...
jim k
Just blowing the dust off some negatives from the archives - this is from the Japanese northern alps;
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3207/...c9d7d491_b.jpg
Toyo 4x5, Fujinon 90mm, Ilford Delta 100 / PMK Pyro
In the same location, I'm not sure if I would take the same picture today - part of me thinks I might, another part thinks not.
Spring Evening, Garden of the Gods
http://www.ladewigs.com/Gallery/d/27...601_002_sm.jpg
Fuji 125-NW, Fuji Pro160C, f32, 1/8, 3 stop hard GND
Quote:
Originally Posted by jim kitchen
Thanks for taking the time to explain your methods, Jim. At the very least, you have offered confirmation that beautiful tonalities don't just happen by accident.:)
My take from your comments is that the scanner likes thinner negatives that have good shadow detail, and that a fair amount of masking is used in the highlight tones of the clouds, requiring an ability to work with large files (Not to mention a good working familiarity with your film/developer combination).
Its great to have the opportunity to see the work of a real craftsman, and to learn of his techniques like this.
Dear John,
I apologize for forgetting your name, and I thank you for your comments, again… :)
Yes, I do extract information stored in the negative, and I try to transfer this information to a digital file with effect and purpose, but I do not succeed as often and, or as well as I would like, because I am still learning to transfer a few of my previous darkroom skill sets into Photoshop. The negative's information is there to print, and I try to learn through trial and error how best to extract that information effectively, while making the image look as natural as possible. Again, sometimes I am nearly successful, and other times I am busted, and my total restarted images can be as exhaustive as Carter's liver pills.
Dragging information out of a well formed negative happens to be fun...
Making the image look natural happens to be a difficult task, and a task that many user's abandon if it becomes too difficult and, or they abandon the drama because they do not understand a specific darkroom technique, or comparative digital technique to minimize the obvious miscarriage within the image. I am in that group too...
I managed to attend a few workshops through the Owens Valley packages several years ago, and during those workshops I learned how to place important shadow detail information onto the negative, I observed minor "light bulb" details presented by the image makers to use later, and I learned how to selectively extract and apply the negative's information into the final print, while obviously working in the darkroom. Transferring that information into the digital environment was, and still happens to be a very difficult task for me, because I do not always know the digital tool's boundaries, embedded within Photoshop, nor the strength of the digital tool's effect. Acquiring minor, but effective boundary knowledge takes time to accomplish, and although I still learn better procedures, or more effective procedures every other week, I am always amazed at the wonderful detailed macro, or micro control a user has within the lightroom environment, compared to the numerous discarded prints I produced in the darkroom, and the prohibitive associated cost with wasted, or discarded near perfect darkroom prints beside the pile of homemade tools on the darkroom bench. A good digital negative seems as though I saved money.
As a side note, I am asked to review other folks technical work periodically, and although I am not a critic, nor would I ever claim to be one, nor do I like criticizing another artist's interpretation, I can quickly see however, that they do not understand the required darkroom mechanics to produce an effective image, for whatever reason, because they are led to believe that what they captured is what they print, not what they captured, allows them to make a print. I know in a heartbeat what I want the final image to look like, especially when I view a potentially positive scene, or developing scene through a viewing card, so I endeavour to quickly capture the negative's information with purpose, process the negative with purpose, and extract the negative's information with purpose, while using several layered masks that contains the darkroom effect within each mask. I try to carefully place these selective masks, complete with their embedded darkroom effect, into certain areas of the final image to enhance the image's balance or drama, just as if I were toying with the image in a darkroom, where I must admit I believe I am more successful in the lightroom now, compared to my darkroom's past.
That said, everyone can produce an excellent image, knowing that the information happens to be present within the negative and digitally captured with effect, while having the acquired darkroom knowledge, combined with good transferred digital skill sets, and where they should be able to produce that near perfect image, today.
Lastly, I am preparing a series of weekend workshops for next year, where the workshops will be held up against Alberta's southwest foothills and mountains, conveniently located on a working ranch, and a local artist's retreat. The daytime activities and pleasant surroundings might overwhelm a few of the participant's spouses, whether they attend the extracurricular activities or not, so be prepared to spend a few extra days in the local area if they do, and while you have fun too. My presentation should be ready by the end of the summer, but more likely the fall when all the associated costs are tabulated. Be prepared to ride on horseback and camp in the high mountain wilderness.
Again, thank you for your comments...
jim k
Definately count me in for your workshops Jim.
This is just excellent! Wonderful image.Quote:
Originally Posted by Colin Graham
I only wish I was on the right side of the Atlantic. :(Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott Walker
This is my 3rd attempt in the darkroom. Getting better I think.
TMY-2 1/8@f16 Caltar II-N 6.8/90mm HC110
Early morning just after sunrise, Michigan UP.
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...53/scan243.jpg
I posted this in the Alt photo thread, but thought I'd cover my bases by posting it here, also...
A carbon print I made yesterday...
Chilnualna Creek, Yosemite National Park, 1995
f22 at 15 seconds
Kodak Copy Film (ASA 25)
HC-110, Dil.B, 70F for 7 minutes
Light bleaching of the negative to boast contrast
Enjoying all the images here very much!
Vaughn
Great images everyone... :)
A recent image.
jim k
Cowboy Trail, Free Range, 264 St West and 434 Ave West, Alberta Canada, 2010
http://largeformatgroupimages.jimkit...s/10052301.jpg
Another winner Jim. I think I want to move to Alberta...
Black river?Quote:
Originally Posted by nray
Jon
No, the Menominee River, Piers Gorge. Separates Wis. and the UP.Quote:
Originally Posted by jon.oman
Dear Jim,Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Cole
Thank you for you kind words... :)
There happens to be plenty of room north of the 49th.
By the way, keep up your great images, too.
jim k
just a vacant lot that i photograph from time to time
when i get my oil changed ...
Really nice John, I like this a great deal.Quote:
Originally Posted by jnanian
thanks don
im glad you like it
- john
What a beautiful image; may I ask about some of the technical details, how it is printed, and how big the final print is?Quote:
Originally Posted by jnanian
hi david thanks for your nice comment ...
it is expired ilford delta 100 shot with a graflex slr.
i typically pull my film so this was over exposed probably by
4 or 5 stops, ( i shoot everything with this camera 1/15th + open ... this lens was @ 3.8 )
the film was processed in a strong caffenol c solution
cut with ansco 130 1:6 ... and i stand develop for about 20-30 mins
i haven't made the paper print yet but it will probably be barely enlarged,
or a contact print.
this is just a film scan, inverted.
the levels / contrast are barely tweaked ...
caffenol film tends to give great tonality and grain...
the film scans and prints with paper really nicely.
john
Great images everyone... :)
A recent image.
jim k
Cowboy Trail, Cloud Burst, North Northeast of Anchor D Ranch, Alberta, Canada, 2010
http://largeformatgroupimages.jimkit...s/10051510.jpg
Great image, Jim.
Do you enlarge these photos on enlarger and fiberbase photographic paper, or you just use scanner and inkjet prints?
Jim, those Cowboy Trail images are fantastic!
Joel, just wanted to echo the great feedback you've received on your "2009 - A Photographic Year in Review." First Light and Winter Shadows are two of the most compelling images I've seen this year. Simply wonderful work.Quote:
Originally Posted by Joel Truckenbrod
Leo
Dear Nana,Quote:
Originally Posted by Nana Sousa Dias
But first, gentlemen thank you for your comments... :)
My 8X10 negatives are scanned with either an Epson 750 and, or with a drum scanner, and where the drum scanner is put into service when the Epson fails to extract the shadow detail information properly from a keeper negative. I develop a digital negative from that file to produce a print, going forward...
I have three digital output processes that I use and that I trust, where the first happens to be a digital proof from an Epson printer that is in continuous service locally, and incorporates "ImagePrint" as the RIP. The second process is a Jon Cone print where Jon provided me with a fabulous curve to fit my images perfectly, and lastly through Bob Carnie at Elevator Digital, where we are now working together to produce a silver based image through his digital enlarger. The printed images are "what I see is what I get" when compared against my calibrated monitor. They process my digital negative file with great care, fabulous expertise, and without interruption.
As a side note, my darkroom disappeared a few years ago, once I made a decision to remove my family and myself from that environment with specific intent to remove my son from the minor effects it caused with his sensitive skin condition, and because I happen to have very limited ventilated space within my home.
jim k
Hanging arounda at the top of Castle Crags, California in October of 1998
Tachi 4x5 Field, Fujichrome Velvia.
http://www.samreevesphoto.com/posts/...1018_3post.jpg
Lake of the Clouds in the Michigan UP. Arca-Swiss 4x5 and Velvia
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4023/...4af30a4b72.jpg
Hi Darren,,Quote:
Originally Posted by Darren H
Nice shot. Porccupine mountains ,, I can almost see the glacier moving away