Large Format Landscapes

[John Layton]

Speaking of crowds...anybody visit Antelope Canyon (either one) lately? A madhouse! But still, IMHO, worth a visit!

[Michael Roberts]

Wonderful, John!

[StoneNYC]

On Day 3 of my trip to Zion, I got away from the crowds by heading to some of the more remote parts of the park away from the main canyon. These were shot on 4x5 Velvia 50, HP5+, and Velvia 50 with the last one especially being an absolute joy to view on the light table! Thanks for looking and C&C always appreciated. If you want to see more about how I got these, here is my Day 3 video...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c7be3AlTPA

Amazing! The drama in the HP5+ shot is intense and shines! The last Velvia50 shot is also amazing, I'm also amazed at the lack of any blue in the shadows, I struggled with that when I shot at the Grand Canyon a few years back. I knew it would be there for some shots, but others, as the horizon started to light up, I still had shadows that were blue even when the mountaintop was a fiery orange.

Is there a secret to this?

Either way, excellent job!

[Andrew O'Neill]

Yup. Love and prefer the HP5 image.

[McCoy]

Swamp Abstraction
Chamonix 45n1, Voigtlander 21cm f/4.5 APO Lanthar, T-Max 100, FX-39

This great photo reminds me of the Ansel Adams print "Dawn, Autumn, Great Smoking Mountains National Park, Tennessee, 1948".

[Corran]

Thank you McCoy. I couldn't remember the exact title of that photograph, but I definitely had it in mind!

[skiers4life]

Thanks again to everyone for the kind words and thanks for checking out the videos! I've found that I'm really starting to enjoy putting these together and reliving my time in Utah.

Amazing! The drama in the HP5+ shot is intense and shines! The last Velvia50 shot is also amazing, I'm also amazed at the lack of any blue in the shadows, I struggled with that when I shot at the Grand Canyon a few years back. I knew it would be there for some shots, but others, as the horizon started to light up, I still had shadows that were blue even when the mountaintop was a fiery orange.

Is there a secret to this?

Either way, excellent job!

I honestly don't know about the shadows. This was a straight shot (no polarizer or other filters) so I didn't really do anything special. This scan is about as close as I can get it to the slide as well; the shadows seem to be pretty neutral under a loupe. One theory might be that it was actually pretty cloudy all around the scene. In fact, I was nervous the sun would be completely snuffed out. However, on the western horizon I kind of got lucky and the sun filtered through a slit in the clouds to illuminate the sandstone. I say all that to say that the shadows weren't receiving illumination from 100% blue sky. It was quite cloudy and the clouds could have mitigated some of that blue color in the shadows. Just a thought...

[Whir-Click]

Alan, thank you for the wonderful images, and the background information as well.

Could you please describe your scanning workflow? I'm impressed to see such shadow detail pulled out of the Velvia 50.

Thanks again.

[Chance2]

I just looked at your home page, Alan. You have some beautiful shots of Zion I don't recall seeing posted here. The first one that came up in the Zion gallery... truly outstanding.

[StoneNYC]

Thanks again to everyone for the kind words and thanks for checking out the videos! I've found that I'm really starting to enjoy putting these together and reliving my time in Utah.



I honestly don't know about the shadows. This was a straight shot (no polarizer or other filters) so I didn't really do anything special. This scan is about as close as I can get it to the slide as well; the shadows seem to be pretty neutral under a loupe. One theory might be that it was actually pretty cloudy all around the scene. In fact, I was nervous the sun would be completely snuffed out. However, on the western horizon I kind of got lucky and the sun filtered through a slit in the clouds to illuminate the sandstone. I say all that to say that the shadows weren't receiving illumination from 100% blue sky. It was quite cloudy and the clouds could have mitigated some of that blue color in the shadows. Just a thought...

Hmm, that makes a lot of sense with the clouds, that would diffuse the yellow/orange light and counteract any blue from the sky and shadows would be warmer.

I often use a polarizer, so now I'm wondering if that's my problem hah!

Sometimes I don't have the issue, and I'm clear that the brighter area of the shot is exposed properly of course.

Well, thanks again for the info!