James L Pearson
Yashica Mat on 5x4 - My 2nd Sheet
Graflex Speed Graphic 5x4 • Fomapan 100 • 100 ISO • 2 sec • f/8
Developed in HC-110 • Dil. H • 9 mins • 20 degrees C • Scanned with Epson V700
My second ever 5x4 sheet exposed! This was going to be the first subject, but I liked what the light was doing outside so I quickly changed my mind and shot the view from our bedroom first! Back to the still life... I intended to use flash to light the subject but the window light (although rapidly fading) looked nice and it was easier than setting up the flash gear. Checking the focus and depth of field on the ground glass I decided on f/8, which gave me about 4cm DOF. The exposure time was getting a little long - 2 seconds. I have very little experience with manual long exposures. Anything in the past has always been <30s and taken care of automatically by Canon electronics. But I decided to give it a try with a stop watch. My mistake? Reciprocity failure... I've heard all about it, but it's no where near the forefront of my mind that it didn't even occur to me to check it. I didn't realise I'd be shooting so slowly until shortly before doing so. With hindsight I should have shot 2x the exposure, so around 4 seconds.
Subsequently, when pulling the sheet out of the tank I could see really obvious highlights - they were really dark - and that was about it. I was sure it was a failure. It's AMAZING how much shadow detail film can retain, even with a low key scene like this and when underexposed. To the naked eye I can hardly see anything on the negative. The scanner, fortunately, saw a lot more!
Can't wait to shoot some more sheets now!
Yashica Mat on 5x4 - My 2nd Sheet
Graflex Speed Graphic 5x4 • Fomapan 100 • 100 ISO • 2 sec • f/8
Developed in HC-110 • Dil. H • 9 mins • 20 degrees C • Scanned with Epson V700
My second ever 5x4 sheet exposed! This was going to be the first subject, but I liked what the light was doing outside so I quickly changed my mind and shot the view from our bedroom first! Back to the still life... I intended to use flash to light the subject but the window light (although rapidly fading) looked nice and it was easier than setting up the flash gear. Checking the focus and depth of field on the ground glass I decided on f/8, which gave me about 4cm DOF. The exposure time was getting a little long - 2 seconds. I have very little experience with manual long exposures. Anything in the past has always been <30s and taken care of automatically by Canon electronics. But I decided to give it a try with a stop watch. My mistake? Reciprocity failure... I've heard all about it, but it's no where near the forefront of my mind that it didn't even occur to me to check it. I didn't realise I'd be shooting so slowly until shortly before doing so. With hindsight I should have shot 2x the exposure, so around 4 seconds.
Subsequently, when pulling the sheet out of the tank I could see really obvious highlights - they were really dark - and that was about it. I was sure it was a failure. It's AMAZING how much shadow detail film can retain, even with a low key scene like this and when underexposed. To the naked eye I can hardly see anything on the negative. The scanner, fortunately, saw a lot more!
Can't wait to shoot some more sheets now!