Panoramic Intimate Landscapes: Part I

After a lull in my photo taking I have decided to explore the idea of intimate landscape using a panoramic camera. I have a few possibilities in my camera stable. The smallest is the Fuji GSW 690 which gives me a 65mm lens on a 6x9 negative. I also have 6x12 filmback for my Intrepid 4x5 camera which I can coupled with my 90, 150, and 240mmm lenses. Finally the widest is the Fuji G617 which gives a 6x17 negative couple with a 105mm lens. 

I made this overlay to show the difference between the G617 and the GSW 690 that while the GSW has a much wider lens 65mm vs 105mm the G617 still wins in terms of wideness. 

6x17 (Portra 400) vs 6x9 (Portra 160) formats. (same tripod location)
Moon moved due to different times when photo was taken.

The challenges with the G617 are many. First it has a center filter to reduce vignetting due to the wide angle. This removes about 1 stop (2x darker as marked on lens). This means ISO 100 film needs to be metered at ISO 50 for instance. 

Next is that the short distance focal range is limited to 3 meters. At f32/45 you can get this down to 2  meters through improved depth of field. Since there is only a viewfinder and no way of seeing a focused image getting good focus on closeup and foreground subjects requires lots of care. This also means you work stopped down and that leads to long exposures. Taking into account the center filter and if I use a polarizer I could be working with ISO 25.  A viewfinder also means parallax when taking closer subjects. 

I decided to try this in Holme Fen. We are nearing the end of summer and what I call the 'tyranny of green'  the trees are fully leafed out and the forest floor in most places is carpeted in shoulder high bracken. The most relief from this is the silver birch tree trunks. Fortunately Holme Fen has a number of different areas that alter slightly the range of vegetation. I went to one area in particular where I have taken 4 or 5 of my favorite images there. This area is only a few hundred yards across. 

Here I had earlier noticed the patch of heather that grows here was in bloom. This would add some color as does some of the bracken that is starting to die and fade already. For compositions I am not sure what I have in mind. The field of view is very wide so finding a subject interesting enough across the field of view is a challenge. Still I am here to learn and try out some new ideas. 

My first set of image I chose Fuji Provia on an overcast day. It has been quite windy recently and this would not make long exposures easy. 

One thing I have learned in woodland photography especially in areas where the scene is open to the sky such as openings in the canopy or winder with no leaf cover is that there is a lot more light from the sky than one imagines and that a graduated ND filter (GND) might be helpful. I used a two stop GND filter. 

I metered for highlights (essential for slide film) and set my zone VII exposure 2 stops lower than this to compensate for the 2 stops in the GND. I wanted to maximize depth of field and had set up the tripod so the nearest vegetation was more than 2 meters away and set my aperture to f45 which left me at 1 second exposure. I then waited for the wind to pass. I made additional exposures with a polarizer. 

I managed to forget the center filter exposure factor so the first 3 exposures were all underexposed and virtually unrecoverable. Here is what I could recover. 

First (underexposed) Attempt

It lacks shadow detail for obvious reasons. The composition does not wow. A start however.

For the final image on the roll I opted for a closer shot of the vegetation. This meant a longer exposure of about 8 seconds which I somehow got wrong and overexposed by enough to compensate for the center filter I neglected to compensate for. A happy accident. 

This is better as it captures the range of colors and vegetation. It lacks a focus for the eye so I added a simple vignette focused on the fern in the foreground. 

Vignette added

More to follow when I return from holidays...