Intrepid Mistakes
If I am to ever get good at this craft I need to practice. The surprisingly difficult part of this landscape stuff is I have to get up early, before sunrise. This time of year is easier the sun rises about 8:00am compared to 4:30am at the height of summer. So I managed this morning and a short drive to the neighboring town put me on the Ouse. There is not a lot that is spectacular around here, it is flat English countryside. Certainly not the landscapes I knew growing up in Arizona. A chance to learn to adapt.
I need to learn to photograph and to see what others (or I) cannot. I loaded up a film holder with Velvia 50 color transparency and one of Ilford FP4+ black and white film the night before. So an exercise in the morning. Weather forecast said clear skies so I could count on some light. So I drive the short distance to town, put on my pack and carry my tripod. I meet a couple of dog walkers with subdued 'good morning's as we probably wish we were really alone at this hour or had at least expected to be on a Sunday morning. Is this the first frost of the year?
I step across the tree line onto the meadow and head for the edge of the river. There are a couple of boats moored there I didn't expect. They block my planned view and I feel the need to respect their privacy. I move up the meadow. There is an old willow tree across the river. I cycle past here on my way to work and the tree is a constant vision through the seasons reflecting in the river. It is no different this morning. The sky is already brightening and I need to get on with it. There are hundreds of sheep in the meadow across the river.
The tripod goes up, camera mounted and setup. I will shoot the Velvia first, the color of the light is critical. Black and white can wait and pick up the dregs. I figure on my 210mm lens, back from the water's edge I am interested in the tree and sky. My 210 lens also allows use of my neutral density filter. I don't have the adapter for my 150mm lens yet.
The sky is brightening and the wisps of clouds are gathering color. I need to work fast and accurately. I mount the filter but the lens is loose on the lens board. What a pain, I must fix this later. Composed and focused I remember to close the shutter. Insert film holder. attach the cable release, damn that loose lens again. Take my first meter reading ASA50. I meter the sky remembering that transparency film wants the highlight metered to keep them from blowing them out. Place the EV in zone VII. Looks like f32 at 5 seconds, 6 seconds with reciprocity. I pull the dark slide set shutter to bulb. (Bulb or T how to choose!) the light is changing fast I check the meter again the bright cloud is brighter now f32 at 4 seconds (5 with reciprocity). Start timer and release shutter. It opens and closes (damn of course bulb setting) No worries do it again for 5 seconds, the shutter had hardly been open. Insert dark slide. Pull film holder and turn and insert for next shot.
Ok first image done. I meter the dark areas of the tree while I wait for the color of the light to change. Wow really dark for my settings, zone I or II. What? I have neutral density filter. Ahh yes my first mistake. My first time out with my spot meter I shot negative film. You don't need to worry about the highlights. So I metered the shadows, placed them in zone III or IV and knew the neutral density gradient filter and the film would take care of the brighter sky. Perfect! Now I should have been metering the sky through the filter or moved the EV down one stop or Zone.
I do this now. Here is the difficult thing about morning light. It is constantly changing. Will it get better or just wash out. Do I wait for the warm rays to strike the tree or will I lose all the sky color when it does. Time moves forward. I only have one more shot. The sky in the background gets better then starts to bleach with the sun's intensity as it crests the horizon over my left shoulder. I meter again, place in a higher zone (VIII) knowing the filter will place it safely in Zone VII. I close the aperture 2/3rd stop. again 5 seconds. Shutter on T this time. Click wait 5 seconds, click. Insert dark slide. The color, and urgency, is done.
Black and white time. What to shoot? I look upstream along the trees crowding the near shore. A little mist on the meadow in the distance. I nice line along the river draws the eye. Move the camera and tripod. Setup again. Compose and focus. Trees on right mean no gradient filter. Also set up a little swing on the lens to even out the focus foreground to background. This time meter the shadows, aim for zone III. Close shutter. Set the shutter speed for 1/2 second, remove darkslide, trip the shutter, insert darkslide. Then remember to set the aperture. Second mistake. This negative will be black. f5.6 is not even close to f22.
Final shot. Trees is nice reflected in the river. Move over closer. 210mm lens too narrow a view can't take in all the tree and reflection. Switch to 150mm. Compose and focus, much better. Give the lens a little rise to get the top of the tree in frame (forgot I should have tried portrait mistake 3). Nice. Close shutter, set aperture and shutter speed. Pull dark slide. Click, insert darkslide. Done.
Pack up and head back. A lovely morning with song birds and ducks noisily all about. The sun lighting up behind the church steeple. Only the sound of traffic on the roads to break the peace. The path is still riven with deep cracks from the dry hot summer this year. The frost on the grass a reminder the seasons are changing.
I go home develop the black and white film in HC-110 Dilution B in my Cibachrome tank. The Velvia I load into a light tight bag and box and package up to ship to the lab on Monday. After rinsing the FP4+ I am surprised to see the first shot I thought I had blown was dark but usable. Scanned and adjusted. Results below.
1) Make sure equipment is working well the lens that needed tightening made things needlessly frustrating.
2) Check aperture and shutter speed for each exposure. This needs to become habit.
3) Think portrait vs landscape. This not a problem when I use my other cameras.
4) Re-read how to meter transparency film with gradient ND filter.
I need to learn to photograph and to see what others (or I) cannot. I loaded up a film holder with Velvia 50 color transparency and one of Ilford FP4+ black and white film the night before. So an exercise in the morning. Weather forecast said clear skies so I could count on some light. So I drive the short distance to town, put on my pack and carry my tripod. I meet a couple of dog walkers with subdued 'good morning's as we probably wish we were really alone at this hour or had at least expected to be on a Sunday morning. Is this the first frost of the year?
I step across the tree line onto the meadow and head for the edge of the river. There are a couple of boats moored there I didn't expect. They block my planned view and I feel the need to respect their privacy. I move up the meadow. There is an old willow tree across the river. I cycle past here on my way to work and the tree is a constant vision through the seasons reflecting in the river. It is no different this morning. The sky is already brightening and I need to get on with it. There are hundreds of sheep in the meadow across the river.
The tripod goes up, camera mounted and setup. I will shoot the Velvia first, the color of the light is critical. Black and white can wait and pick up the dregs. I figure on my 210mm lens, back from the water's edge I am interested in the tree and sky. My 210 lens also allows use of my neutral density filter. I don't have the adapter for my 150mm lens yet.
The sky is brightening and the wisps of clouds are gathering color. I need to work fast and accurately. I mount the filter but the lens is loose on the lens board. What a pain, I must fix this later. Composed and focused I remember to close the shutter. Insert film holder. attach the cable release, damn that loose lens again. Take my first meter reading ASA50. I meter the sky remembering that transparency film wants the highlight metered to keep them from blowing them out. Place the EV in zone VII. Looks like f32 at 5 seconds, 6 seconds with reciprocity. I pull the dark slide set shutter to bulb. (Bulb or T how to choose!) the light is changing fast I check the meter again the bright cloud is brighter now f32 at 4 seconds (5 with reciprocity). Start timer and release shutter. It opens and closes (damn of course bulb setting) No worries do it again for 5 seconds, the shutter had hardly been open. Insert dark slide. Pull film holder and turn and insert for next shot.
Ok first image done. I meter the dark areas of the tree while I wait for the color of the light to change. Wow really dark for my settings, zone I or II. What? I have neutral density filter. Ahh yes my first mistake. My first time out with my spot meter I shot negative film. You don't need to worry about the highlights. So I metered the shadows, placed them in zone III or IV and knew the neutral density gradient filter and the film would take care of the brighter sky. Perfect! Now I should have been metering the sky through the filter or moved the EV down one stop or Zone.
I do this now. Here is the difficult thing about morning light. It is constantly changing. Will it get better or just wash out. Do I wait for the warm rays to strike the tree or will I lose all the sky color when it does. Time moves forward. I only have one more shot. The sky in the background gets better then starts to bleach with the sun's intensity as it crests the horizon over my left shoulder. I meter again, place in a higher zone (VIII) knowing the filter will place it safely in Zone VII. I close the aperture 2/3rd stop. again 5 seconds. Shutter on T this time. Click wait 5 seconds, click. Insert dark slide. The color, and urgency, is done.
Black and white time. What to shoot? I look upstream along the trees crowding the near shore. A little mist on the meadow in the distance. I nice line along the river draws the eye. Move the camera and tripod. Setup again. Compose and focus. Trees on right mean no gradient filter. Also set up a little swing on the lens to even out the focus foreground to background. This time meter the shadows, aim for zone III. Close shutter. Set the shutter speed for 1/2 second, remove darkslide, trip the shutter, insert darkslide. Then remember to set the aperture. Second mistake. This negative will be black. f5.6 is not even close to f22.
Final shot. Trees is nice reflected in the river. Move over closer. 210mm lens too narrow a view can't take in all the tree and reflection. Switch to 150mm. Compose and focus, much better. Give the lens a little rise to get the top of the tree in frame (forgot I should have tried portrait mistake 3). Nice. Close shutter, set aperture and shutter speed. Pull dark slide. Click, insert darkslide. Done.
Pack up and head back. A lovely morning with song birds and ducks noisily all about. The sun lighting up behind the church steeple. Only the sound of traffic on the roads to break the peace. The path is still riven with deep cracks from the dry hot summer this year. The frost on the grass a reminder the seasons are changing.
I go home develop the black and white film in HC-110 Dilution B in my Cibachrome tank. The Velvia I load into a light tight bag and box and package up to ship to the lab on Monday. After rinsing the FP4+ I am surprised to see the first shot I thought I had blown was dark but usable. Scanned and adjusted. Results below.
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| My Mistaken Exposure Turns Out OK. (Intrepid 4x5 Mk3 210mm lens f5.6 with swing) |
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| Reflected Willow (Intrepid 4x5 Mk3 150 mm lens f22 with rise) |
Retrospective
A nice quick morning out. Reflection on mistakes. I need to be more in the photographing moment. The challenge seems to be to draw ones attention inward towards the technical and outwards towards the environment. The competition for attention can be distracting. Interesting I made fewer mistakes with the Velvia and that was a metering mistake. The black and white had 2 mistakes though the pace should have been slower as the color of the light was not as critical. I should have also considered a yellow filter though there were few clouds to highlight. My lessons are...1) Make sure equipment is working well the lens that needed tightening made things needlessly frustrating.
2) Check aperture and shutter speed for each exposure. This needs to become habit.
3) Think portrait vs landscape. This not a problem when I use my other cameras.
4) Re-read how to meter transparency film with gradient ND filter.
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