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koraks
Registered: 06/02/03
Posts: 26,672
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Larger than life mushrooms (photography)
#22449216 - 10/29/15 01:16 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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I was pointed to the fascinating world of large format photography (i.e. using film with a size of 4x5 inches or bigger) by the user indica on this forum. Thanks to him, I got sort of bored with digital photography. Started with 4x5, then got a big old Sinar Norma 8x10 earlier this year. I haven't shot many mushrooms with this outfit, but sometimes I can't help myself. These two images were shot on 8x10" x-ray film, which is relatively cheap and coincidentally also a bitch when it comes to contrast control.
To give an impression why I typically shoot only 4 images on an afternoon out in the park: each shot takes a couple of minutes to set up, adjusting the tripod and all the movements of the camera. Exposure times are usually at least half a second for sunlit scenes, and around 4 seconds to a minute (or even two!) in the shade of the woods. Measure the light, set the f/stop on the lens, verify depth of field, close the shutter, put the film holder in, pull the dark slide, trip the shutter for the exposure (anything over a second I time manually by counting), close the shutter, put back the dark slide, take out the film holder, reset all the movements on the camera...and that's only taking the picture. Development is done one by one and takes between 4 and 12 minutes per sheet, not counting fixing and rinsing (which I do while developing the next image).
By that time I have a negative and I can decide how I want to process it further into a visible image. A real print costs hours to make, including the time spent on trying different processes and contrast adjustment (so several test prints or strips). Many hours of work and waiting for a good carbon transfer print. Scanning + photoshop is quicker; the image below were done the quick & dirty way, which also makes it the easiest to get all the detail out of the negatives.
Why all this work? I dunno man, it's a hobby I guess. But there's really nothing like making a contact print from a large format negative. It's something the web cannot convey; you have to experience it for it to make sense.
 Hypholoma fasciculare
 Armillaria mellea
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relic
of a bygone era


Registered: 10/14/14
Posts: 5,623
Loc: the right coast
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Re: Larger than life mushrooms (photography) [Re: koraks]
#22449250 - 10/29/15 01:25 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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interesting, thanks for posting.
doing things 'longhand' is sometimes a relaxing and gratifying (and alternately frustrating at times) hobby.
like the difference between buying eggs at the grocery or raising chicks from a day old and keeping a backyard flock. or making a bow by hand using mostly primitive tools and materials or buying a crossbow that shoots bolts at 300+ft/sec.
i find more satisfaction by doing things the more difficult and time consuming way sometimes.
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koraks
Registered: 06/02/03
Posts: 26,672
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Re: Larger than life mushrooms (photography) [Re: relic]
#22449279 - 10/29/15 01:33 PM (8 years, 3 months ago) |
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That's certainly a huge part of it! I could do this all in digital in a few minutes and on the Web, it would look more or less the same. But for me, it's completely different and the long wat home is just much more fun!
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