viva LF, viva mistakes

As some experienced photographers says medium format is too slow I decided to go into 4x5". 

For over a month I was waiting for new camera, finally this happy moment came true and I made first 3 pictures. As I am completly new to LF cameras all was bit strange, starting from the opening of the body. Possibilities that gives LF camera (tilts, shifts etc) are just overwhleming and of course I wanted to use them just now. So I did, maximal tilt, thanx which you may see the vigniete at the bottom and beautifully sharp..Staszek's hairs. Finally I went to darkroom and again faced some problems making there several heavy mistakes (too less developer in new tank, which was noticed like a minut later). It resulted with the darker horizontal stripes in the upper part and weeping on the wall. I won't even mention problems with drying the sheets...

The result you may see above, suppose to be tragic, but...I find it magic. It all came naturaly in the analogue proces (charged with mistakes), and I am sure some of those mistakes I will repeat in the future. 

Now imagine how much I'd sweat trying to make it in PS :)

Credits to Staszek, Ann Texter and Jeanne Wells

Ülmercott vs Kanon Mörk

This is the final test of the very rare Ülmercott Dr.t2 lens. You see the stairs leading down and a shady part of the wall in this picture taken with the good old ülmer. If I blow up the picture there will be some street art visible.

Ülmercott Dr.T2

Kanon 1Dr Mörk IV

These pictures show the difference between the ülmercott and the kanon mörk ( I shot excactly the same motif using Kanon 1Dr Mörk IV and zoomed the shady part of the wall). Interesting, isn't it?
/dr t

the ülmercott standard lens

This is of course the well known Ülmercott Dr.T4o lens. I just wanted to show you this, if you want to compare it to the picture taken with the rare Ülmercott Dr.T2 lens. What the picture is about? Hey, don´t try to get sophisticated with me! I am testing lenses!/ Dr.U

Lens test

I am testing the very rare Ülmercott DR.t2 lens. More pictures will come. I will also publish some huge enlargements of the dark parts of the picture just to show you how this quality lens manage to find details that nobody knew was there (and nobody cared about). Amazing stuff. So, stay tuned for more. /DR.u

Tri-X - anything else needed...?

Dateline 1940: “The fastest film in the world is the new Tri-X, with
twice the speed of Super-XX.” If you want the numbers, the British
Journal of Photography Almanac for 1940 (actually written in 1939)
reckoned it was 7000 H&D.

Tri-X processed in ID11 plus

Sometimes I am contemplating if any other film than Tri-X is needed?
The classic which was introduced as early as 1939-40 as sheet film,
and 1954 as roll film 135 and 120 formats. The most recent version
packs a few years and it is my impression that the grain has become
even more appealing, and that tonality has improved. Tri-X is fantastic.
It stretches the tonal curve in shadows like no other film.

Tri-X precessed in X-tol

Tri-X and D-76 is a well proven combination of film/developer, but now I have
begun using X-tol which works equally well, and in addition is less hazardous
to the environment. If however you want the smallest grain and maximum
resolution, it can be a good idea to make your own D76, and in this case
replace the metolen with fenidon, with the strength of 0,3 g/liter.

This will give you Ilfords late ID11 plus, which has been discontinued.
D76 and ID11 are known to be basically the same developers, only Ilford
made a special version named ID11 plus. More expensive, but by what I can
see from my Tri-X negatives from this time, it renders a clearly finer grain
and a delightful tone/resloution of detail. With this developer the following
question is brought to life:

Is there any need for more than Tri-X?
---
Pictures and text by Nils Bergqvist who kindly translated his article to English.
See the original text (in Swedish) here. -urbano

working with digital images - my recipy

We are introducing a new label called "tools and techniques" at The F Blog.
You are welcome to contribute with articles, short notes etc about the
process of making pictures. It´s an opportunity for those of you who
want to share something about cameras, dark room processing,
digital editing and so on. First article is by Tiberio Fanti, invited guest
February 17, 2007 (today). We are also placing articles published
earlier on at the blog under this label ( e.g. by Anders Blomqvist)

---
Working with digital images for almost one decade has made me settle
on a simplified “way of working” that characterizes at first glance, as
someone wrote me recently, the large majority of them. Today, most
of the images I’m publishing on the web are B&W but this doesn’t mean

I abhor colors. Indeed, I keep plenty of color images printed in my
drawers but, following the advices of many professionals I’ve been
able to put myself in touch - and, in some cases, in confidence -,
I opted to narrow the gamut of my offer. That’s why at present time
I’m described - and often introduce myself - as a B&W photographer.

photo: Tiberio Fanti

Beside this, I do believe that B&W still holds that special power on
influencing the beholder’s imagination that’s been almost lost in color
images after the advent of digital cameras. B&W to me better conveys
mood, volumes, space-time abstraction and some more I can’t explain.

My recipy

As I’ve written and said several times before, every starting image has
its own path to get to the final printed work. When I’m sitting in my
darkroom, i.e. with the hands on my PC, I don’t use a simple push-button
procedure. In my last ten years of work with the most spread image
manipulation tools I haven’t been able to find one that fits for the majority.

Rather, I have a recipy. Like my mother does in her kitchen, I know which
are the ingredients and the sequence of actions to perform but never make
the same cake. Usually, the first thing I do is to look for the image final cut.
It’s very important to do it early in the conversion process as we won’t be
influenced by those parts of the image that we deem unnecessary. Once
the image composition is adjusted, I make an attempt to balance the
brightness distribution curves, trying to enhance the chromatic contrast
of those parts which I deem valuable for the final result. This means that
sometimes I have to make several trials before getting a color image good
enough for B&W conversion. As a third step, I start evaluating the basic
three colors content and identify the zones requiring a specific B&W conversion.

Basic conversion is almost straightforward using the color channel mixing
features provided by almost every image processing tool. Once I have a
pure B&W image, I use to tone it, wishing to give it the right amount of
warmth a typical classic print conveys. To that purpose I use a simple
compound made of pure black and dark-brown tints, which are blended
according to my current taste and, obviously, mood.

At very last, I usually turn the image back in the RGB color space and add
a pinch of yellow before balancing the overall luminosity for the last time.
It’s not difficult,I guess. Like cooking, it’s only a matter of “being present”,
taking care of the process while it’s being applied. Never reduce everything
to pushing a procedure-button; never leave the turkey in the oven and go
out playing tennis. I’m from a large family holding some small hotels and
restaurants in southern Italy: I can witness I never saw good chefs cooking
their meals without tasting it!

---

la luz de la mañana - from contact sheet to print

The "la luz de la mañana" photograph was taken in Merida, a town located in the north of the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. It was taken from a museum building (with no glass windows). To be honest, I don't remember what the museum was all about. I was just staring down the street and enjoyed the perspective and the scenery. All together, I just exposed four frames from that location. Two of them were quite similar, with individuals just passing by. I felt that the one with the boy was worth printing, the composition was more balanced and I liked the white hat and that the car was more evident.

When printing this negative, I strived for dark shadows and a pitch black car. All in contrast to the white roof of the car and the white hat of the boy. I also felt that a high contrast print would make the road and the pavement more interresting. Furthermore, the early morning light would be more emphasised. Middle tones and blacks were obtained by printing at grade 4. To get a punch in the whites, the entire print was bleached until desired effect was achieved.

In a way, I must have had the photograph "fluteplayer" by Werner Bischofs unconsciously in my mind when I saw this scene in front of me. Perhaps, it's in the peacefullness, I see the resemblence. Sometimes telephone wires can ruin a good scene. Here, I'm grateful that they connect to the horizontal lines and make the image more alive.
Ansel Adams have said that the negative is the equivalent of the composer's score, and the print the performance. We'll see how I interpret the negative in couple of years from now...

Fuji GS645 (folder)
T-MAX 100 (EI 100) T-MAX developer
Fujimoto G70, Rodenstock Rodagon 105/5.6
Fomatone in Neutol WA, bleached

photos: abeku