Learning movements - How would you do this?

[Scott --]

Hi, all -

Ok, I have a 90mm coming, and I'm wanting to try shooting this building in 4x5:


Is there a way with front standard movements to keep the facade sharp, other'n stopping way down? Noob question, I know, but I gots ta learn it somehow.

Thanks.
Scott

[Ken Lee]

If you have a tripod whose head rotates, then level the head of the tripod first. Then, any subsequent movements of the camera will be level.

That being said, level the camera next/first - both front/back and side-to-side.

If you point the camera elsewhere, make sure it is level - again and again. In particular, the back of the camera has to be straight up and down.

In the photo above, the camera back is tilted ever so slightly. Thus, the walls are not parallel. (This can be fixed in Photoshop - just find one of the tutorials.)

If your ground glass has lines on it, you can more easily detect that the camera back is out of alignment.

As to focus, you will need to swing either the front or rear, so that the near and far corners of the building (along the road) are in focus. It's best to do that with the front, rather than the back, because the relationship of the back to the subject determines the convergence.

If this is hard to follow, bring along a teacher or friend who can show you. One moment of hands-on is worth hours of reading.

[Colin Graham]

Do you have swing on the front or rear standard on you camera?

[Scott --]

Thanks for the description, Ken. Colin, I'm using a Super Speed Graphic, which has 25 degrees of front swing. Have to figure out how to swing it...

The picture above was taken with a Zeiss Ikon folding Contina II, so it's more'n likely the camera wasn't parallel to the building. And it was just a snapshot, testing the camera out after I'd worked on it. But I'm drawn to this old mothballed mill; if I can work up the nerve to go set up a tripod on a sidewalk in town, I want to have a decent shot at getting the picture right.

Thanks for the help, guys.
Scott

[Eric James]

First off, I'm a novice; so better answers will certainly follow.

A bit of swing should help bring the right portion of this composition into critical focus. Perhaps you’re limited by your camera, but the swing could be achieved on either the front or back standard; likely you've chosen the front standard in order to eliminate the distortion inherent to rear swing (and tilt).

You will also have to determine the position of optimal focus, and your working f-stop; these factors will determine the degree (or range) of swing that will allow you to achieve your goal. You'll find great tutorials on the home page, particularly QT Luong’s articles on focus and f-stop selection.

You may want to begin by deciding how big your largest photo will be - the gymnastics that follow will depend on the print size. Others here will point out that there is an optimal camera configuration to achieve the largest print potential - but if your output is smaller, you'll be able to get away with less well-honed technique.

The best starting point is with dedicated tripod holes, and perfectly vertical and parallel front and rear standard. Have fun with it!

[Louie Powell]

Scott -

Interesting building. Where is it? (It looks like the place where I used to work.)

I would do two, and perhaps three things in photographing this building.

First, after leveling the camera in all directions, I would raise the front standards a bit to be able to include the very top of the building. There is area in the foreground at the bottom of the frame that doesn't contain useful information that could be eliminated.

Second, as others have noted, I would apply a bit of swing. I would probably apply front swing, rotating the front standard around its vertical axis with the left side moving toward the back of the camera, and the right side moving away. Then, as you stop down the lens, that should keep the facade of the building in focus.

The third thing is optional - I would consider trying to identify a time when I could photograph the building when the cars won't be parked in front of it. Don't have anything against cars, but they apply a definite time-stamp to the photograph. Without the cars, the image would be timeless and would be classic if printed in black and white on a warm-tone paper.

[Eric James]

Those are great points Louie: about the cars, about using front rise in order to view the top of the building (and minimize the foreground). All this may change when Scott's 90mm arrives, but that's very good compositional advice.

Will you be shooting it in color or B&W?

[Eric Leppanen]

This photograph is a nice, "real world" example of a complex subject which will require both camera movements and stopping down.

As previously noted, level the camera, then apply enough front rise to encompass the roof of the building as well as a suitable amount of sky. Then focus on the nearest corner of the building (roughly at the left third of the photograph), and apply enough swing (front swing is preferable to avoid distortion) to get the farthest (on the far right) portion of the building in simultaneous focus using the iterative process described in How to Focus the View Camera in the LF Photography home page. After several iterations, you should be able to get the near and far points of the building in simultaneous focus.

However, a complication from the swing movement will be that the cars in the right foreground will be pulled slightly out of focus. To correct for this, you'll have to stop down. Imagine the near and far points of the building (that you just simultaneously focused on) as defining the plane of focus, and look for the objects furthest in front (near point) or behind (far point) that plane. In this case, the cars in the right foreground are your near point, whereas your far point is probably the left edge of the building at the very left edge of the composition (normally infinity would be the farthest point, but the only visible infinity in your composition is along the line of the plane of focus on the far right (farthest point down the street), and is therefore already taken care of). Measure the focus spread (difference in bellows displacement measured in millimeters) between the near (cars) and far (left edge of building) points, set the bellows displacement to exactly the midpoint between the two, and look up the required f-stop in the table provided in the LF Home Page article on How to Select the F-Stop (e.g., if the difference in bellows displacement is 4mm then you will have to stop down to f/32.6). Now everything should be in focus and you are ready to take your shot!

This can seem complicated and a bit difficult to describe (I hope I didn't do too bad a job), but once you get the hang of it it is easy to do. The nice thing about this technique is that you maintain complete control of what is in and out of focus, which is not always possible with SLR's and other camera systems.

Good luck and have fun!

[poco]

Just to be a contrary cuss, I'll say I wouldn't use any movements except rise for this exact shot. If you lay the plane of focus along the receding building facade, you're going to have to stop way down to get that near car in focus -- easily to an fstop that would make a non-movement shot work. I'd focus on the second window, stop down and click.

[domenico Foschi]

I agree with both Loui Powell and poco, even though they take two different approaches.
The method of Loui is by the book, but in this case it's a bit overkill especially if you are using a 90 mm. Front rise seems to me a good choice in order to include the building's upper section and part of the sky.But again, if you are using this lens, you will need a lot of rising, I feel, since this lens will include much more street, and unless you are using a super angulon or similar lens( big coverage) you will probably have troubles with coverage, which can be solved by placing your camera highre than normal, that is why I have almost always a small ladder in my car.
I have always reservations using a 90 mm., because this lens will give me an unrealistic view of what I intend to photograph.
Looking at your image I think a 150 mm. could be enough and would preserve the proportions.
I would also bring with me really big insulated shears to get rid of the wires and post some "temporary no parking" signs for the day you are planning to shoot