Deep focus

[Draganski]

Hello
I have just made my first large format (4x5) exposure with my Chamonix 045-N1, and i am quite happy with it. I really like the film tonality and the whole process. I already scouted the location before and knew what composition i wanted to achieve.

I was not able to achieve sufficient focus on the foreground and background and wanted to ask if this is possible at all, since the foreground is relatively close

Here is an example:


I think it might help if i could raise the camera more and tilt the camera axis more downwards? my tripod extends to chest height maximum, that was the limiting factor when i made the shot.

here is a comparison shot i made with my iphone (Hipstamatic app, very contrasty):


thank you for your help
dragan

[MDR]

There are several possibilities to achieve the effect you want. Really closing down the lens way past the optimum f-stop, using an ultra lf lens and cropping in post/printing stage and another one that might work is a split diopter. And again another one is to take a few steps back and crop in the darkroom or lightroom cropping is not an exotic disease but a very useful tool.

viel Glück

[Ken Lee]

The longer the lens, the harder it is to get adequate depth of field. People who shoot large format cameras often have to use f/64 or even f/128 to get it because they often shoot with very long lenses.

The wide-angle lens in your cell phone is probably around 5 mm, so it can give enormous depth of field at fairly wide apertures. A 5mm lens at f/2.8 has the same depth of field as a 10mm lens at f/5.6, a 20mm lens at f/11, a 40mm lens at f/22, an 80mm lens at f/45 and a 160mm lens at f/90 !

Therefore, use a small aperture and a small lens.

[Draganski]

thanks for your replies. I used a 150mm/5.6 Fujinon NW lens on my Chamonix, Aperture 22, 1/4 Second exposure time. There was not much light on that very overcast day for using a smaller aperture and keeping shutter speed fast enough for the trains. I will definitely reshoot in better light, after a rain would be perfect.

I also have a Rodenstock 75mm Grandagon and will give it a try soon.

[Peter Lewin]

Isn't this particular example a case where a little tilt on the front or rear standard will bring the foreground rail into focus?

[Draganski]

Isn't this particular example a case where a little tilt on the front or rear standard will bring the foreground rail into focus?

i already tilted forward a bit.
if i use f64, is it better to focus on the foreground or a bit further towards the rails?

[Jim Jones]

A split diopter filter works in some photos, but would give distracting out-of-focus areas here. While the Grandagon will have more Depth-of-Field, it will also include more of the rail, increasing the need for greater DoF. I can't tell if using it would include distracting elements near the edge of the photo. Using it and cropping to get the same composition will provide no gain over using the Symmar. On a subject like this where precise perspective isn't important, either front or back tilt can be used. A little swing might also help. Getting all of the rail in focus with this composition appears impossible. If there is a time of day when the rail is in a shadow, it might not be so distracting. Consider planting only two of the tripod legs on the ground and leaning them against the rail so you can perhaps eliminate most of the rail from the picture.

[Peter Lewin]

Since you have a zone of focus which extends both in front of, and behind, the actual plane of focus, the idea is to focus so that the foreground and background are sort of equally out of focus before you shut down your aperture to f32 or 64 (I rarely shut down beyond f32 on my 4x5, once in a while to f45). Mechanically, I put my thumb at "12 o clock" on the focus knob, focus on the near, then see where my thumb ends up (keeping it in place on the knob) when I focus on the far, and split the difference for the actual focus (I hope that makes sense, easier to do than describe). In your sample picture, my guess is that you would actually end up focusing on the brick wall to the right of the image, which is part way between the very near part of the rail, and your far-away buildings.

One other thought: in your image (which I like due to the variety of lines, it's slightly off-kilter geometry) that railing angles off to the viewer's right. Perhaps a slight bit of swing would have kept everything in focus at the aperture you used. But playing simultaneously with tilt and swing is something you have to try while watching the ground glass, I normally try to keep things simple and use only one of those movements at a time.

[Draganski]

Consider planting only two of the tripod legs on the ground and leaning them against the rail so you can perhaps eliminate most of the rail from the picture.

Yes, that is the perspective i used with the phone camera. I didn't want to risk everything for my first large format shot ever , but i will work on that.

[ic-racer]

The focal point and aperture selection were not suitable for what you were trying to achieve. Read this and consider other books or articles on how to use a view camera. You might want to consider a view camera workshop.http://www.largeformatphotography.info/fstop.html