Pistyll Rhaeadr (Waterfall), Berwyn Mountains, North Wales

Tim Tucker · Mar 29, 2015

Sorry about the number of posts from a new member here. This will end as I've run out of decent shots to share.
I've just got a new scanner so am running through some of my larger format negatives. Trouble is that I didn't take the camera out very often so when I did I was generally in a hurry to use it, and most of my stuff is in less than ideal light. Sometimes I was lucky though.
This is one taken with my Marion & Co Perfection Half plate (circa 1898-1901) and a 1910 uncoated Tessar. Shot about 10 years ago and all my crib sheet says is "Waterfall" in one corner, with a little diagram, and "N" in the other. But I do remember that it wastaken around sunset. The scene was not in direct light, but lit by diffuse light reflected from the overhead clouds. I managed to maintain some values in the shadows in part because of the lower DR of the late day light, and because of the overall flare of the uncoated lens which gave an base "flash" exposure of just below fog, effectively boosting the shadow values. It was a longer exposure and there was some movement in the trees, so I would have tried as large an f stop as I could get away with. Also I would have used a little forward tilt as the plane of focus runs from the near foreground to the top of the waterfall so the upper nearer trees on the left will be outside the acceptable Dof.
Also with typical genius, I have just noticed that the negative I scanned from the pair I took was the slightly less sharp one! Now redone with the correct one.