First Medium format B&W images

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First Medium format B&W images

Postby RocketMan » Mon May 23, 2011 9:49 am

Well I got my first roll of B&W film back, 400 ASA Kodak Professional, which is a fine grain moderately fast film with high tolerance zone for both over and under exposure and processing.

Note that I had no light meter with me as the one I had bought on flee-bay had not yet arrived so I was shooting pretty much from memory of the days when I was shooting film back in the 70’s and 80’s. While I am generally pleased with the results, and the level of detail in the negatives just blows me away (having never shot in medium format before) I see I still have a lot to (re)learn about shooting film.

A bit about the processes I used...
The negatives were all scanned at 3200 dpi on the V700 flat bed and which can go up as high as 9600 dpi (actually it can go as high as 120,000, but I think that is done in software) but that makes for huge image file so I stuck with 3200 dpi for now, though I will probably try some selected detail higher res scans as well once I get the process down better. I also played around a bit with other options of the scanner (there are too many to try all of them as yet) but found some basic settings that I am happy with for the moment. When I get my 2 rolls of color back, no doubt there will a bunch more options I’ll have to try.
I also experimented with using ZightZones ZoneMapper tool, which allows you to all select areas of similar luminosity or tonal valve thru the use of a graduated slide bar and graphical preview window that highlights them for ease of selection and can also do a reversal mask leaving those areas alone while manipulating all other areas. It is a very handy tool and the one I use most often in that program.

In choosing to shoot B&W film my intent was to look at and try to capture textures and patterns, the play of light and shadow and with a view to be “interpretive” or more artistic in nature rather than trying to capture an exact representation of the scene. I choose camera settings and did the post processing and scanning of the negatives with this intent in mind. For me this is where B&W really shines, by removing the colors and reducing the scene to a mere 256 shades of gray from some 16 million possible colors what you are left with is the detail and patterns of light and dark, surface texture and form. As such, I did quite a bit of post processing, just as I would have/did back in the days of shooting film before digital came out. The combination of the two has certainly opened up the possibilities for B&W as being even more interpretive than before and gives me the ability to do much more than I could before with much better (and certainly much more immediate) feed back. Some purist might say that using digital at all is a cheat in shooting film, but for the method(s) chosen are all equally valid artistic choices, just as one could not say that an impressionistic painting was done using the wrong technique and really should have been done with some other style of painting.

So accepting the idea that these are all shoot with that intent in mind here they are…


First shots were processed in LightZone (ignore the white lines, those should not have been included, somehow I accidently saved the images with the grid on in a few shots, will have to correct tonight.)
I also note that these appear darker on my monitor at work than at home, one of the problems with web images along with the fact that I have to reduce image resolution for web display which really does not do justice to the sharpness of the negatives. These were all shot with the 180mm lens, so some close ups have pretty narrow depth of field, even given I was using the smallest aperture possible and all were taken with the camera on a very sturdy tripod.
Note too, that you will probably have to zoom out some to see the whole image on some of these (use the CTL key and mouse wheel, CTL and + or - symbols) Not sure why our forum software doesn't provide a slide bar when the image is wider than the screen size like on most other forums and Internet Exploder won't fit the images even when zooming out. (See why I hate Wnderz???) :lol:

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and a detail of the same

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the same scene processed with Photoshop

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the same scene processed with LightZone


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the next two are of the same scene using 2 different processing methods

the first is with Gimp and is intentionally brighter both as shot and as processed, the white areas are purposely blown out since the sky was a dull overcast gray and I wanted to bring out the detail in the shadows and blowing out the sky helped the framing using the overhanging tree that forms an arch over the whole

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The second was shot with a smaller aperture to emphasize the contrast between the light and dark areas and details in surface of the water

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the next is a close-up of an old log protruding from the water, scanned and processed to make to the shadows of the overhanging trees on the water indistinct while keeping the detail in the surface and shadow of the log. I used mammal depth of field to try to soften the water’s surface as much as possible

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The next two are shots are attempts to capture the detail of the tree rings in the end of the cut log as well as some of the detail in the bark on the facing edge using LightZone for one image and Gimp for the other, note that the first again was shot with faster speed than the second

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and the one using LightZone with less contrast and more detail or really comparing the two different details seems to come forth.

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And finally a pano consisting of two images. These were both shot and processed to purposely blow out the overcast sky and place the emphasis on the patterns of the leaves the shadows in the lower part of the tree line and esp. the reflections on the water that seem almost to have been painted with a soft-broad brush

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Enjoy

RM
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Re: First Medium format B&W images

Postby Chiba » Mon May 23, 2011 10:55 am

Cool!! I think I see a flea on that duck's butt.

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Re: First Medium format B&W images

Postby Unity » Mon May 23, 2011 11:24 am

Very cool -- a whole new way to produce images. :D

I hope the meter you bought was a '30s-vintage Weston. :wink:

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That's what I learned with. I spent a lot of time just going around measuring light and memorizing relationships among f-stops, apertures, and film speeds.

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Re: First Medium format B&W images

Postby stevebmw » Mon May 23, 2011 2:02 pm

Unity wrote:I spent a lot of time just going around measuring light and memorizing relationships among f-stops, apertures, and film speeds.


If you don't have a meter, the general rule of thumb in bright sunlight is f/16 at shutter speed closest to 1/(ISO of film). If you were using 400 ISO film in bright sun, you'd use f/16 at 1/500, which was the closest back then to a 1/400 second shutter speed.

For a quick meter reading, meter your palm in the same light as your main subject, then open up one f/stop or the equivalent shutter speed. For example, meter your palm and get 1/250 second at f/8. Open up your lens to f/5.6 (one stop) or reduce your shutter speed to 1/125 second (also one stop) and you'll have a good basic exposure.
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Re: First Medium format B&W images

Postby RocketMan » Mon May 23, 2011 5:54 pm

Thanks for hints Steve and I did some reading about the f/16 rule and the meter that I got had some good hints for metering in its manual like when you can't get a reflected reading from a an object not convent to direct metering to find something close with similar reflectivity. The Mamiya lens only go to 1/400 but they do stop down quite a bit which i really prefer since that will give better depth of field and I will most likely always use a tripod.

Won the auction on Fleebay for a nice C series 65mm lens and am drolling over a nice 75mm tilt-shift lens for architectural shots though you can do that now in most good photo software.

Just got back my two rolls of color negatives (for which I did have a light meter) taken up at the Rippon Lodge historic site near me. We shall see....


RM
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Re: First Medium format B&W images

Postby DogHouse » Tue May 24, 2011 10:21 am

Yup, the 1/iso @ f16 is a good rule to start with. If it's overcast then open up a stop. If heavy overcast of really cloudy then 2 stops. Or if you're on the beach or in snow on a sunny day then close down one stop. Also on the RB67 there are a bunch of hash marks and lines on the bracket that extends as you focus closer. That's your BEF or Bellows Extension Factor. It'll let you know how much you need to compensate the exposure for close focus or a long lens.
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Re: First Medium format B&W images

Postby DogHouse » Tue May 24, 2011 10:22 am

Or just put it on auto exposure.



























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Re: First Medium format B&W images

Postby RocketMan » Tue May 24, 2011 11:04 am

DogHouse wrote:Yup, the 1/iso @ f16 is a good rule to start with. If it's overcast then open up a stop. If heavy overcast of really cloudy then 2 stops. Or if you're on the beach or in snow on a sunny day then close down one stop. Also on the RB67 there are a bunch of hash marks and lines on the bracket that extends as you focus closer. That's your BEF or Bellows Extension Factor. It'll let you know how much you need to compensate the exposure for close focus or a long lens.

Yeah, I got the manuals for the system on line and loaded them into my iphone.

Got the two rolls of color back from the local guy and am Not happy with the results, not of the shooting, but of the processing. Scratch marks, fingerprints, dust and chips in the emulsion and water marks from the drying that look like the result of the automatic developer due to lack of maintenance and just sloppy handling. The film, when I went to get it, was hanging in the open near the door (where I assume it picked up the dust as it dried) and had not been put in any sort of protective sleeve. Not using That shop again!

The pics came out nice, 'cept for the gouges and scratches in the film, close-ups of the flowers really pop, good color and detail. Haven't looked at the second roll yet but will tonight.

RM
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Re: First Medium format B&W images

Postby Chiba » Tue May 24, 2011 11:22 am

RocketMan wrote:Got the two rolls of color back from the local guy and am Not happy with the results, not of the shooting, but of the processing. Scratch marks, fingerprints, dust and chips in the emulsion and water marks from the drying that look like the result of the automatic developer due to lack of maintenance and just sloppy handling. The film, when I went to get it, was hanging in the open near the door (where I assume it picked up the dust as it dried) and had not been put in any sort of protective sleeve. Not using That shop again!

That's really quite unacceptable. If you don't mind, please PM me the name of the shop - I want to make sure I don't go there.

I put my 1st 3 rolls through the GW690 in for developing last night. I'm anxious to see how they turned out. I never did that much medium format anyway, mostly because of the weight/size of the camera, but this rangefinder is just about my style. The giant 6x9 negative... wow. I just can't wait to see it!

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Re: First Medium format B&W images

Postby RocketMan » Wed Jun 08, 2011 12:06 pm

some more B&W, these from the Cass rally and area around Cass WV.
mostly all taken with the 65mm lens....
Had to do some pretty intense contrast work on some due to either being a bit over-exposured (which I seem prone to do with the B&W) and/or the lighting during most of the shooting which was overcast and gray for the most part. Still a lot to (re)learn about how film handles light and I want to try some slower B&W film but this 400 has pretty good sharpness, I;m leaning toward the Kodak Pro films over the Ilford but still early and not knowing how its processed and what chemicals the lab uses...
the shot of the car was hand held, I should have used the 180mm lens instead of the 65mm....

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link to larger file Love the level of detail in these larger format negatives

http://roadrunes.com/photo/d/66352-1/fi ... od1-sm.jpg

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link to larger file

http://roadrunes.com/photo/d/66436-1/film016-mod-sm.jpg

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link to larger file

http://roadrunes.com/photo/d/66441-1/film022-lg.jpg

this image of the Shay Engine really came out well, the level of detail of the drive train is awesome!

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link to larger file

http://roadrunes.com/photo/d/66359-1/fi ... od-lgl.jpg

these are two taken of the same valley right by where I camp the first was taken using light meter setting the second taken one f-stop smaller

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link to larger file

http://roadrunes.com/photo/d/66368-1/film026-hic-lg.jpg


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link to larger file

http://roadrunes.com/photo/d/66376-1/film027-lc-lg.jpg

RM
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Re: First Medium format B&W images

Postby Unity » Wed Jun 08, 2011 12:52 pm

Letting Off Steam is a real grabber. :)

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