MorseBlog

I ventured out today with Mollie after a hectic week of drinking, eating, and celebrating with friends and family over the holidays. It was all very enjoyable but I think both of us needed to get out in the woods for a while. For her part Mollie had a great time in Holme Fen. It rained so hard this morning when we got up she declined our daily morning walk and so by noon was ready for a romp. She quickly got up to her old tricks of jumping, spyhopping, exploring and chasing about the bracken and fallen logs.   Blog Post Cover Image For me this was more about some experimentation which I will get to shortly. The day was not really made for photography and the light incredibly variable with almost clear skies when we arrived to overcast to some clearing and intermittent clouds during the 3 hours or so we were out.  I wanted to have a good demonstration of what box speed on a film means and how this may not always be the best way to shoot film. This came up as a question on ...

My commute by bicycle takes me through the RSPB refuge at Fen Drayton. Along an old railway line it passes through the old gravel pits converted to a number of lakes. I have written of this place before as it is close to home and so when I am looking for a few hours away photographing I head there. This past Spring has been unusual. It has been relatively dry though still cold, as a result the mornings have been foggy. My experience of the past several years is that Fall is the time of foggy mornings and I have kicked myself a number of times for not taking the time to use this change as a chance to take some different photos. My wake-up call came again one morning as I rode through the foggy morning and saw a number of subjects to photograph. I resolved the next time to take a camera. A week later my chance arrived. I loaded up some Ilford HP5+ 400 speed film and a fresh spare roll and packed my Fuji GSWiii 690 camera as something relatively compact. I stopped at several places on...

Introduction I want to start fresh on my Black and White photography. This is part of my effort improve in all areas of my photography.  In this post I want to concentrate on large format film exposure and developing. I want to follow a zone based system of exposure and development that utilizes my spot meter (as that is the meter I will mostly use) my choice of medium speed Black and White film (Ilford FP4+) and single shot developer (Kodak HC-110). My rationale for single shot developer and choice of HC-110 is laid out in this  previous pos t. First I need to create a zone-based test pattern. I reasoned that if I could do this all in camera it would be cheaper and easier than using a specific target. The methodology I figured out on my own though I doubt I am the first to think of it. The methodology is to aim the camera on an artificially lit uniform surface of uniform brightness. I then use the darkslide to progressively expose the entire sheet of film. I do this u...

I am always on a quest to improve my photography. Recently I have been watching YouTube videos from the likes of Justin Lowery or Nick Carver . Young guys who cut their teeth on digital and found film; landscape photography in particular. Working in medium and large format and they put their experience and knowledge on video. The area I wanted to explore more is getting good exposures in difficult situations. Typically this involves some adaptation of Ansel Adams’ Zone System.  This article is a summary of what I have learned in researching the topic and my limited application so far. One should not hold this as authoritative by any means but it might be a helpful resource to introduce the subject. I have attempted to synthesize some sensible summary from the various sources I have researched. At the end I list some additional resources.   Zone System Having read in the past about the Zone System as promoted by Ansel Adams it seemed inaccessible to those working...