my turn in the barrell

mysteryscribe · May 18, 2007

probably if I was married to this image. I was actually testing a camera. So the image was secondary to its relivance to the camera I was testing. I'm going out tomorrow to shoot and image for its own sake. Not there though.

Alex_B · May 18, 2007

can only join in here with the public opinion.. the pano is the best option, but the sky is not the best. if it was a strong contrast between the roof and a blown out sky, no problem, but the way it is now it seems uneasy to the eye

mysteryscribe · May 18, 2007

Gray day alex but you are right not much interest in the sky. What I find amazing is that it never occured to me. It's pretty much the kind of day it was. Its alot like that shot of the horses on the mountain.

But now i can see it is boring to anyone looking

John_05 · May 18, 2007

mysteryscribe said:
Gray day alex but you are right not much interest in the sky. What I find amazing is that it never occured to me. It's pretty much the kind of day it was. Its alot like that shot of the horses on the mountain.

But now i can see it is boring to anyone looking

i might be crazy, but i dont think its boring at all.

i used to look for days that looked just like that to go fishing. i always seem to have the best luck on overcast days.

i can see where some may thing the sky is a problem, but i dont agree myself. if it were a color shot, it might, but being a B&W i think it fits well.

thats just my opinion. i dont know much about photograpic "rules" or anything else someone might have a gripe about with the shot. even if i did, i hate rules, so i would probably break them every chance i had. i just like the shot and would definitely put it on the wall above all my fishing gear.

nextse7en · May 18, 2007

I think his image would have benefited from a longer exposure and slower film, also, I may be off base here, but are you exposing for highlights? With black and white, it is useful to remember to expose for shadows.

A red filter may have been handy here. If you developed this in a darkroom, I would recommend going up half a filter, and decreasing paper exposure time.

Are you aware of the Zone system? A basic understanding of that can improve your black and white photography exponentially.

Nice image, nothing wrong with your composition, a little work on your technical, is all.

-Patrick

mysteryscribe · May 18, 2007

BoblyBill said:
That's exactly what I was going to say. I'm not a big fan of the bland white sky in this one. If you can go back, I'd wait for a day that has some interesting clouds just to give it that extra pop.

Now this is the best advice I got. See a red filter only works if there are clouds in the sky to produce a contrast to suppliment with the filter, there were none. It was a flat overcast day. Even a flat clear blue shy won't be helped a lot by a filter. Since I mostly shoot black and white a blue sky is the same as a overcast sky for contrast.

I was there to test a lens not really make images. I pointed the camera from the forties, fitted with a lens from the 1900's to see if it leaked light. Also of course to see if it was sharp and if the shutter was working. By the way the lens was almost new since the guy who bought the cam must have broken it the first week.

Okay there I am to test a lens and bingo, I shoot the 4x5 and off I go. I read the light with a classic averaging GE light meter from the forties. I carried the film holder home and loaded into a daylight tank, peanut butter jar actually with that famous black tape covering. I develped it in a hot shot developer just as they would have in a newspaper lab of the day.

I scanned the negative after I checked it for sharp which it was and for light leaks at the bellows. It had a slight one. So I learned from the camera and image what I wanted to learn.

But Bobly pointed out my failing.

I went out to shoot a test shot, and that's what I got. If I wanted to shoot a fine image, I should have gone out to shoot a fine image. I should have picked the right conditions. The blown out sky that bothers everyone else never bothers me at all. See I have a saying and a philosophy. Shoot it as it lays. But that doesn't mean you cant bring a filter or choose the most beneficial day. So I screwed up by confusing a test image with a classic image.

Thanks Bobly and i mean it... Sometimes I tend to get lazy and complacent.