Ed Bray
TPF Noob!
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2011
- Messages
- 88
- Reaction score
- 8
- Location
- Plymouth, UK
- Can others edit my Photos
- Photos NOT OK to edit
My first exposed 4x5 photograph taken on my Toyo C Monorail Camera with a Schneider 90mm f8 Super Angulon Lens on Kodal Tri-X 320 and rated at ISO 640 the exposure was 1/15th Sec at f32. This was Semi-Stand processed in Caffenol CL (1.4g of KBr) @21 degrees C using the Taco Method of 4x 4x5 films in a Paterson Universal Tank with constand agitation for the 1st 30 seconds and 3 inversions of the tank after a following 2, 4, 8, 18 minutes with the Caffenol drained out after a further 40 minutes. After 4 tanks of water constantly agaitated the films were fixed with an Alkali fixer for 4 minutes. After washing the films for 8 minutes they were hung up to dry in my film dryer.
The film was then scanned using an Epson V750 scanner using the Epson dual 4x5 film holder and Silverfast 8 64 bit AI Studio. The films were scanned at 3200 dpi which gave a 16 bit, 340MB image (14912 x 11825). The image has been worked upon in Photoshop CS5 and also some localised processing using the control points in Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
I got the inspiration for this image when looking through Ansel Adam's The Camera (trying to make sense of how the monorail camera works) and seeing an image of 'Boards & Thistles' when I realised that I had something a little similar at the bottom of my garden (for garden read 'jungle').
Although this was my first developed 4 x 5 sheet of film (actually 1 of 4 but 1st exposed and safely stored), I have to confess that I had tried 2 previous exposures (both in the same film holder and both ruined) on this subject as I had managed to insert the films into the dark slide groove and after exposing the films could not get the dark slides back into their slot, a lesson learned. I have also learned how difficult it is to get the film out of a Fidelity Deluxe DDS whilst I had no trouble at all with the Fidelity Elite DDS.
The negative has a fantastic range of tones and I am really pleased that after my recent trials with the Caffenol CL and Semi-Stand development gave me the knowledge to expose this film rated at 1 stop higher than the box speed.
Using the monorail camera seems a steep learning curve even with my previous experience with my Canon Tilt/Shift lenses and my Fuji GX680 cameras. It engenders a much slower way of working and requires serious thought on the photographer of what he is trying to acheive, not least because each frame of Tri X costs over £1 (1.5ish euros/dollers).
Old Garage Window, Brambles and Boards by Ed Bray, on Flickr
The film was then scanned using an Epson V750 scanner using the Epson dual 4x5 film holder and Silverfast 8 64 bit AI Studio. The films were scanned at 3200 dpi which gave a 16 bit, 340MB image (14912 x 11825). The image has been worked upon in Photoshop CS5 and also some localised processing using the control points in Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
I got the inspiration for this image when looking through Ansel Adam's The Camera (trying to make sense of how the monorail camera works) and seeing an image of 'Boards & Thistles' when I realised that I had something a little similar at the bottom of my garden (for garden read 'jungle').
Although this was my first developed 4 x 5 sheet of film (actually 1 of 4 but 1st exposed and safely stored), I have to confess that I had tried 2 previous exposures (both in the same film holder and both ruined) on this subject as I had managed to insert the films into the dark slide groove and after exposing the films could not get the dark slides back into their slot, a lesson learned. I have also learned how difficult it is to get the film out of a Fidelity Deluxe DDS whilst I had no trouble at all with the Fidelity Elite DDS.
The negative has a fantastic range of tones and I am really pleased that after my recent trials with the Caffenol CL and Semi-Stand development gave me the knowledge to expose this film rated at 1 stop higher than the box speed.
Using the monorail camera seems a steep learning curve even with my previous experience with my Canon Tilt/Shift lenses and my Fuji GX680 cameras. It engenders a much slower way of working and requires serious thought on the photographer of what he is trying to acheive, not least because each frame of Tri X costs over £1 (1.5ish euros/dollers).
Old Garage Window, Brambles and Boards by Ed Bray, on Flickr
