Panoramic Intimate Landscapes: Part III

Last September I made a couple of posts about using my Fuji G617 panoramic camera for intimate landscapes. Part of this was to try and defeat the summer photography blues. I got some rather good results. 

Now I am facing another photography drought and Spring has arrived, and I have never really known what to do with Spring photography. Indeed, Spring and Summer are the worst seasons for me. Fall has color, Winter has forms, and both have frost and fog. Right now, we are at peak bluebell season. I find photographing flowers generally unsatisfying, and bluebells are a bit of a cliche even though they are amazing to walk amongst this time of year. Don't get me wrong they really are spectacular, but I really haven't gotten an image of them that makes me say 'wow'. 

And so, I find myself out on a brilliant and cool spring morning that quickly warmed as the sun rose. The bluebells are spectacular right now in Monk's wood and are accompanied by Wood Anemones, Celandines, and Early Purple Orchid. 

I started out on a promising slope where peace and quiet descended as I set up the camera while Mollie explored the surrounding woods. It was nice to get back into the rhythm of photography with the 4x5. The sun rising, the bird song and some isolation. Mollie suddenly stopped her sniffing and I looked up from my work and two water deer had wandered into the clearing about 30 feet from us. They stood stock-still as we noticed each other. Mollie then charged after them and they let out their great alarm bark as they leapt away continuing to bark as they went. The first bark halted Mollie's charge and she ran back to me. She hates dogs barking terribly and is often distressed by water deer and muntjac barking as well. She had to console herself with their rapid retreat to the deeper woodlands as their diminishing barks echoed amongst the trees. And with that I got perhaps the best image of the day. 

75mm f4.5 Velvia 100 6x12

The early light and color suits the film well. Velvia has a natural saturation that needs no enhancement and in some cases I had to tone down the scans for saturation or removal of some blue.

The next two images exhibit my struggles to find compositions. I made the same scene with the 75mm and 150mm lens in an attempt to convey the rich lushness of the forest floor in spring. 

150mm f5.6 Velvia 100 6x12

75mm f4.5 Velvia 100 6x12

In each case I shot these at f32 for good depth of field. The wider angle was a bit of a challenge as the brightness of the top of the image I struggled to keep in the range of the film. I am not sure if these work or me however. They are well executed but don't evoke much feeling for me.

75mm f4.5 Velvia 100 6x12

The photo above I tried to capture the crossing shadows which it does but doesn't seem to do much else. The shadows are quite deep and get lost in Velvia's small dynamic range. As the sun rose, I was surprised how well I could hold shadows and highlights. The forest canopy is not fully formed yet so there is little to soften the direct sunlight. 

The next series is in the stream bottom. It is a complex scene and I wanted to capture the meander of the small creek or catch the reflection of water. On the ground glass the image could not be recomposed in my brain the way I was seeing it. I made a few images from various locations and at different exposures reflecting again the challenges of the variable light. 

75mm f4.5 Velvia 100 6x12

This one above is the best of the set. The slip of blue sky reflected in the water and line of trees flowing down the center makes it work. The exposure of the highlights keeps them lush, and the deep shadows don't hide the desired detail. 

150mm f5.6 Velvia 100 6x9

This one above I cropped to 6x9 to exclude distractions and focus on the bend in the stream. 

This next one is definitely a flower picture. An apple blossom suspended in mid-air seemed irresistible. It framed well, surprisingly, with the 75mm lens and as a 6x6 image. The breeze had picked up and this made me wait for it to die. It was slightly underexposed probably because I did not compensate for bellows extension but also because I was careful to keep the bright petals from being blown out. I chose f8 to keep the background clutter out of focus but I neglected to notice the bright area in the background near the target flower. This really screws up the isolation. I really need to keep paying attention to the background when making these photos. Otherwise, I am pleased with the focus and exposure. 

75mm f4.5 Velvia 100 6x6

150mm f5.6 Velvia 100 6x6

These Wood Anemones looked really nice. Kind of a blah image. 

 

Early Purple Orchid Amongst the Bluebells

The better of the two at f11 for shorter depth of field

f32

These last two are different depth of field versions. The composition gets a good mix of light and shadow and different textures.

Some Technical Discussion

I wanted to shoot my Lomograflock but first thing it started spewing all its film again. I did not think it was cold enough for this to happen but clearly, I was wrong. My alternative was the SINAR Zoom roll-film holder. 

I haven't used the Sinar Zoom back in about 2 years. It is very versatile and can make up to a 6x12cm panorama in addition to 6x6, 6x7, and 6x9 images on one roll of film. I brought along a couple of rolls of Velvia 100 as I thought the blues would render well. I didn't notice but these were actually 220 rolls which have twice and much film as 120 films. Fortunately, the Zoom handles 220 fine. This is my first time using 220 film. I think it will be useful in these panorama formats where the number of images for 1220 film is limited to 6 in 6x12 and 4 in 6x17.

I focused my work on a couple of hillsides in a deep stream valley. The flowers are plentiful, and the elevation helps get a larger field in view. The trouble with flower photos is finding other elements of the forest that are interesting. The dappled light of the late spring understory seemed to keep the dynamic range close to slide film's small range. 

I used my new 75mm f4.5 Nikon lens and my 150mm f5.6 Nikon lens. I tried the 210mm but it didn't seem to suit the wide film format. The 75mm is a joy to use with the recessed lens board that makes all the controls accessible. With roll-film you also do not notice the limited front standard fall range and potential interference with the lens stage. 

I stuck mostly with 6x12 but did use 6x9 when I wanted to crop out annoying elements and even 6x6 when working on small subjects. I captured an apple blossom with 6x6 and the 75mm lens and it intrigues me as to how it will turn out. 

I metered everything with my Pentax spot meter at box speed of ISO 100. The panoramic composition can be challenging especially when I was shooting around the stream bed. I am not sure I captured them well. The composition on the ground glass was especially difficult for some reason. I think due to the visual complexity I could not distinguish all elements well.