The Glory of Our West: Part 4: The Photographers
This is the fourth in the series of photos from the 1952 booklet The Glory of Our West published by Standard Oil company. Here I talk about the photographers and how the film of the era probably influenced the style of color photographs they took.
The Glory of Our West had a stellar list of photographers from that era. Probably most recognized from the list is Ansel Adams but I also recognize Ray Atkeson and Josef Muench. The complete list is below. The most prolific in this collection are Ansel Adams, Esther Henderson, Ray Atkeson, Mike Roberts, and Fred Bond.
Out of interest I tried to figure out what the film speed was for some of these photos. My assumption was to take those scenes shot in bright sunlight and use the sunny 16 rule. Sunny 16 has an EV (exposure value) of 15. Using this and the exposure settings referenced for each photo I was able to compute the ISO the scene was exposed at. using the formula EV=log2(N2/t) where N is the aperture and t is the shutter speed. Then one can compute ISO S=EV^2*K/L where K= meter constant of 12.5 and L is luninence for the scene = 4096 cd/m^2. The table below shows the results.
The ISOs span quite a range from 3-16. A lot of this variation is probably due to either the light not being 'sunny 16' conditions, or the film available in differing speeds up to 1952.
As these were all pre-1952 Kodachrome film photos Wikipedia shows that Kodachrome Professional sheet film from 1938 to 1951 had a speed of ASA 8 for daylight film and ASA 10 for Type B which I assume was tungsten or indoor film. (another blog with reference to early Kodachrome says "Kodachrome indicated speeds of 8X10 Kodachrome sheet film, ASA 8 daylight, Type B Tungsten ASA 5"). So there may have been films with a range of ASAs from 5 to 10 available for photographers to make this 1952 edition.
The Point Lobos photo was shot with Type B Kodachrome and an 85B filter which is used to correct tungsten film for daylight usage confirming my suspicion.The filter probably has about 2/3 to 1 stop correction required so that would indicate ISO 10. Why shoot tungsten film outdoors? Perhaps it gave a better or different color rendition the photographer found preferable or maybe it was interchangeable with a color correction filter and they made a living from studio work as well.
San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge
MIKE ROBERTS, Berkeley. 5 x 7 Graflex camera ; 6-1/2" lens; Kodachrome film, daylight type; 8 seconds, f:8; sunset, November 10.
The Glory of Our West had a stellar list of photographers from that era. Probably most recognized from the list is Ansel Adams but I also recognize Ray Atkeson and Josef Muench. The complete list is below. The most prolific in this collection are Ansel Adams, Esther Henderson, Ray Atkeson, Mike Roberts, and Fred Bond.
- ANSEL ADAMS, San Francisco
- FRED BOND, Los Angeles
- CARI. JUNGHANS, Hollywood
- Ross A. Ross, San Francisco
- JOSEF MUENCH, Santa Barbara
- STAN KERSHAW, Cody, Wyoming
- RAY ATKESON, Portland
- GEORGE E. STONE, San Jose
- FERENZ FEDOR, Albuquerque
- WINTER PRATHER, Denver
- WALT DYKE, McMinnville, Oregon
- CHARLES D. DOWNEY, Scottsbluff, Nebraska
- WILLIAM EYMANN, Palo Alto, California
- ESTHER HENDERSON, Tucson
- MIKE ROBERTS, Berkeley
Film Characteristics and its Influences on Landscape Photography
What one is struck with is that these photos are not taken in 'golden hour' or 'blue hour' conditions associated with landscape photography today. Of the almost 50 images I can see that the following could be seen as happening in 'golden hour'.- Big Bend National Park, Ansel Adams, Ektachrome
- Shiprock, Winter Prather, Kodachrome
- Walpi Indian Village, Ansel Adams, Kodachrome
- Grand Canyon National Park, Esther Henderson, Kodachrome
- Big Bend National Park, Ansel Adams, Ektachrome
Out of interest I tried to figure out what the film speed was for some of these photos. My assumption was to take those scenes shot in bright sunlight and use the sunny 16 rule. Sunny 16 has an EV (exposure value) of 15. Using this and the exposure settings referenced for each photo I was able to compute the ISO the scene was exposed at. using the formula EV=log2(N2/t) where N is the aperture and t is the shutter speed. Then one can compute ISO S=EV^2*K/L where K= meter constant of 12.5 and L is luninence for the scene = 4096 cd/m^2. The table below shows the results.
| Shutter | Aperture | EV | ISO (calculated) | Filter? | |
| White Sands | 0.2 | 32 | 12 | 16 | |
| San Antonio | 0.1 | 11 | 10 | 4 | |
| Saguaro | 1 | 29 | 10 | 3 | |
| Colorado Nat Mon | 0.2 | 28 | 12 | 12 | Filter |
| Pikes Peak | 0.50 | 32 | 11 | 6 | |
| Rocky Mountain | 0.2 | 22 | 11 | 7 | |
| Jackson Hole | 0.5 | 40 | 12 | 10 | Filter |
| Point Lobos | 0.04 | 8 | 11 | 5 | Filter |
The ISOs span quite a range from 3-16. A lot of this variation is probably due to either the light not being 'sunny 16' conditions, or the film available in differing speeds up to 1952.
As these were all pre-1952 Kodachrome film photos Wikipedia shows that Kodachrome Professional sheet film from 1938 to 1951 had a speed of ASA 8 for daylight film and ASA 10 for Type B which I assume was tungsten or indoor film. (another blog with reference to early Kodachrome says "Kodachrome indicated speeds of 8X10 Kodachrome sheet film, ASA 8 daylight, Type B Tungsten ASA 5"). So there may have been films with a range of ASAs from 5 to 10 available for photographers to make this 1952 edition.
The Point Lobos photo was shot with Type B Kodachrome and an 85B filter which is used to correct tungsten film for daylight usage confirming my suspicion.The filter probably has about 2/3 to 1 stop correction required so that would indicate ISO 10. Why shoot tungsten film outdoors? Perhaps it gave a better or different color rendition the photographer found preferable or maybe it was interchangeable with a color correction filter and they made a living from studio work as well.
Golden Hour On Early Kodachrome
For golden hour exposures one might be at EV 9 or 10. At an ISO/ASA of between 5 and 10 as indicated above this could cause a 1 second exposure in sunny 16 light (EV 15) to go to 64 seconds or more without reciprocity compensation at the same aperture.
Below is a reciprocity table I have excerpted for more modern versions of Kodachrome. We can assume the early Kodachrome was similar but probably worse. The numbers are number of stops to increase the exposure by. This is either by opening the aperture or lengthening the exposure. Given these were large format cameras opening the aperture was likely to create depth of field problems. Most of these photographers would have been loath to open up the aperture too much. The lenses indicated in the notes are also probably quite soft at more open apertures.
So if we take Kodachrome 25 at 60 seconds this is 3-1/2 stops moving the exposure to 11 minutes, very long indeed. Another effect is color shift over long exposures. This is because beyond the normal operating range of the film each color may become exposed at a different rate from its counterparts. This will make the colors shift over longer exposures. Very often along with instructions for longer exposures for reciprocity failure there is the recommendation for color correcting filters which in turn will add to the exposure time.
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| Kodachrome Reciprocity |
It is also interesting to note that for 2 of the golden hour photos listed above that they are taken with Ektachrome film, and each of these (by Ansel Adams) have shutter speeds of 3 seconds while the longest Kodachrome shutter speed I could find was 1 second.
Looking up Ektachrome it is indeed a film more tolerant of long exposures. I found one reference to E1 Ektachrome from the early 1950's that indicates for 10 seconds a doubling of exposure time. (modern Ektachrome has no reciprocity failure out to 30 seconds. Unfortunately it is no longer available.)
One can begin to make out a trend in landscape photography that starts with bright daylight photographs and moves towards the current trend of use of golden hour or blue hour to extract more exotic colors and drama from scene. This follows from the availability of faster color films and ones more forgiving of long exposures.
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