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Medium Format Fuji Neopan 100 Acros
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 6:33 pm    Post subject: Medium Format Fuji Neopan 100 Acros Reply with quote
Very detailed film but very hard to scan (and unfortunately being medium format I can't use a digital camera with bellow Sad ).

I'm not very sure how much I like the first two shots, so your opinion is pretty important because I have mixed feelings about these ones.







PostPosted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 6:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I very much like all of these, Alessandro! The second one could be a shot
taken in my home area of northern Idaho. Made me kind of homesick. I
think the first one works better with lower contrast than the other two, nice
job!

Bill


PostPosted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 6:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks Bill.

A bit of needed information.

The shots were all taken with Pentacon Six and Flek 50. The first one is near Castello of Romena, Pratovecchio. The second one is in the National Park of Casentino. The third one is the Sanctuary of La Verna, the monastery where Saint Francis received the stigmata.

The first one has a different contrast because it was afternoon with a very strong sun peeking out of the clouds, so there's a bit of light flare I guess.


PostPosted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 7:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
For some reason I think real B/W on film often beats PS conversions to B/W.
I like them all but mostly #3
Could #1 perhaps be cropped to take away the light part on the right hand side. Could perhaps center the interest on the road and the opening between the threes.


PostPosted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 7:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
A couple more shots.

Casentino Woods



Bologna, via Zamboni (the sort of tazebao you see are of university students that search/offer rooms)



PostPosted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 7:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I like them all except the first who is low contrast for my taste

Quote:
unfortunately being medium format I can't use a digital camera with bellow

why ?
do you really need 120MBytes of data for every shot
imagine a scan in 1/200s


PostPosted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 7:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Sven wrote:
For some reason I think real B/W on film often beats PS conversions to B/W.


Film just looks different from digital, better - worse . . who knows . . but different . . yes.

Jules


PostPosted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 7:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
poilu wrote:
I like them all except the first who is low contrast for my taste

Quote:
unfortunately being medium format I can't use a digital camera with bellow

why ?
do you really need 120MBytes of data for every shot
imagine a scan in 1/200s


Laughing It's not the 120 mb the reason, it's the size of the film. I should try with a 55 or 60 macro lens because I can't use a bellow, medium format film is too huge. I tried the system with some detail and the results were impressive though!


PostPosted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 7:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
A G Photography wrote:
poilu wrote:
I like them all except the first who is low contrast for my taste

Quote:
unfortunately being medium format I can't use a digital camera with bellow

why ?
do you really need 120MBytes of data for every shot
imagine a scan in 1/200s


Laughing It's not the 120 mb the reason, it's the size of the film. I should try with a 55 or 60 macro lens because I can't use a bellow, medium format film is too huge. I tried the system with some detail and the results were impressive though!


Actually we should be able to use bellows. All the Mamiya 3xx TLRs and the RBs also have bellows built in.

Jules


PostPosted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 7:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
lulalake wrote:
A G Photography wrote:
poilu wrote:
I like them all except the first who is low contrast for my taste

Quote:
unfortunately being medium format I can't use a digital camera with bellow

why ?
do you really need 120MBytes of data for every shot
imagine a scan in 1/200s


Laughing It's not the 120 mb the reason, it's the size of the film. I should try with a 55 or 60 macro lens because I can't use a bellow, medium format film is too huge. I tried the system with some detail and the results were impressive though!


Actually we should be able to use bellows. All the Mamiya 3xx TLRs and the RBs also have bellows built in.

Jules


Poliu and I were talking about using a DSLR to "scan" the film, not using a bellow on a medium format camera.


PostPosted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 8:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Quote:
I can't use a bellow, medium format film is too huge

In fact the problem when you scan a 35mm negative with bellow is that you work at 1:1 & you need really good lens to get good result
If you scan a 6x6, you will work at 1:2 and you can obtain good result with more lens
You don't need a dslr MF to scan MF, you can scan it even with a p&s
If you have a macro lens who can go to 1:2, you even don't need bellow


PostPosted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 8:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
A G Photography wrote:
lulalake wrote:
A G Photography wrote:
poilu wrote:
I like them all except the first who is low contrast for my taste

Quote:
unfortunately being medium format I can't use a digital camera with bellow

why ?
do you really need 120MBytes of data for every shot
imagine a scan in 1/200s


Laughing It's not the 120 mb the reason, it's the size of the film. I should try with a 55 or 60 macro lens because I can't use a bellow, medium format film is too huge. I tried the system with some detail and the results were impressive though!


Actually we should be able to use bellows. All the Mamiya 3xx TLRs and the RBs also have bellows built in.

Jules


Poliu and I were talking about using a DSLR to "scan" the film, not using a bellow on a medium format camera.


Hmmm, I'll wake up in a few hours Shocked


PostPosted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 8:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Sven wrote:
For some reason I think real B/W on film often beats PS conversions to B/W.


That's true for most cases, except some people who are extremely good in photoshopping.
For me even the C41 BW films are great.

Gerd


PostPosted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 9:08 pm    Post subject: Re: Medium Format Fuji Neopan 100 Acros Reply with quote
A G Photography wrote:
Very detailed film but very hard to scan (and unfortunately being medium format I can't use a digital camera with bellow Sad ).

I'm not very sure how much I like the first two shots, so your opinion is pretty important because I have mixed feelings about these ones.



In my opinion these are will be better in color.


PostPosted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 9:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Alessandro:

#1 does not particularly appeal to me. I am the "opposite" in that I really prefer higher contrast images in black and white.
This one seems muddy to my eyes.

#2 is higher in contrast, and the composition comes into play here as a pleasing mix of masses.
I wish the film could have pulled more out of the shadows, but I realize that with this type of
huge contrast range in the woods, that you can only expect a compromise.

#3 is really a fine image! Contrast is good, I love the balance with the stairs on the left and the
textured wall on the right. Both of those lead me into the depth of the image and that wonderful
tree and mortared wall, along with the exceedingly nice arch. The top doesn't add much, so if
it was me, I would crop somewhere a little above the stairs to take away some of that large
white sky. This is a NICE piece of work, and it's nice that you have so much "real estate" in the
large negative from the medium format film!

#4 (Casentino Woods) shows promise, with finely delineated textures and good detail. I think it
might be tilted to the counterclockwise direction though.

#5 (Bologna, with the tazebao) is a great exercise in tonality and contrast, especially so in the
papers that are affixed to the tazebao. The whites are beautiful, and the arches behind the lighter
colored tazebao really add depth to the image.

If I was "sorting" these for keepers, and I was trying to be brutal about my choices, I would keep #3 and #5. Not a bad percentage!! Smile
Just my opinion, hope this helps.

Larry


PostPosted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 9:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Laurence wrote:


If I was "sorting" these for keepers, and I was trying to be brutal about my choices, I would keep #3 and #5. Not a bad percentage!! Smile
Just my opinion, hope this helps.

Larry


Exactly my choices and, very strangely Laughing, the shots I'm more accostumed to take. I'm not a great nature or landscape photographer.
For this very reason I need even more feedback on the others: what's wrong in them for you? Advices?


PostPosted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 11:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
A G Photography wrote:
Laurence wrote:


If I was "sorting" these for keepers, and I was trying to be brutal about my choices, I would keep #3 and #5. Not a bad percentage!! Smile
Just my opinion, hope this helps.

Larry


Exactly my choices and, very strangely Laughing, the shots I'm more accostumed to take. I'm not a great nature or landscape photographer.
For this very reason I need even more feedback on the others: what's wrong in them for you? Advices?


Alessandro, if I may be so bold as to answer your question, here is the way I would personally "think" about those landscapes that might not make the cut:

#1: As mentioned before, I don't particularly get excited by low contrast in landscapes (that's just ME of course). If anything, this particular landscape might have been helped by leaving out the sky on the right hand side, and possibly centering the lines of trees toward the middle. This composition cries out for symmetry for me. I see that you were taking advantage of the long shadows of a low sun, but this image has so much darkness that maybe you would have better results with a higher sun in this case? Finally, if it was me, I would have closed the distance in order to not show the wider aspects of the road in the foreground. This would result in minimizing the overall composition, and when I minimize the composition seems to be better.

#2: I like the rather obtuse nature of the upturned log waiting to be picked up to a mill! However, it seems to be in the center of the image and my eye always goes just to that element of the image. I think it could have been a better composition if you had stepped to the right and backed up a little, so as to make the logs a bastion of the left side of the image frame, and the beautiful bank on the right side. Then, perhaps you could have shown the road making the curve, and out of sight to the right, which would add dynamicism to the overall scene. Exposure-wise, I don't see that you could do much better with this high-contrast subject, I would leave the exposure the way it is.

#4 Casentino Woods: Aside from the tilting of the image, I think I would have tried to utilize only a portion of the beautiful root structure as a foreground element - perhaps that nice horizontal branch on the right side of the root ball - and use it as a "lead-in" to the more distant landscape elements. From that position, it might be possible to have the road cutting diagonally into the image from lower left to upper right, adding interest in the form of tension. The geometry of the road at a diagonal aspect, coupled with the leaf structures, would show that tension in view of the almost Mandelbrot system of leaves coupled with the solid horizontal geometry of the foreground branch. I would also try to include the larger tree in the background in the right hand side of the frame to add mass and balance that would offset the large amount of leaves and the road to the left (from that aspect of positioning).

I hope this is good advice. One never knows, because there are a myriad of opportunities, and we each have different approaches to landscape solutions. So, certainly take my suggestions with the grain of salt, knowing that others' approaches could also be productive. That is what makes it all so fun!


PostPosted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 11:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks a lot Laurence, advices taken. I think that I'll return there a weekend just to shot the forest in autumn colors (ok, Velvia will do the job not B&W).


PostPosted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 7:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Great... especially the first one Smile
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