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Flow
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This picture was taken during a studio session with a model I had previously used on the photographing people course. At the beginning of the project I had pre-visualised this image and so I am very pleased to have been able to capture it. The contact print on the left clearly shows the jumper that Helen is wearing. I wanted to remove the jumper as I felt it distracted from the basic image. For this reason, I used a piece of cardboard with a hole to burn it in with an extra 2 stops of exposure. I used the cardboard close to the lens because I needed to get a sharp edge in order to avoid burning in Helen's hair. Lighting was provided by a single studio flash at 45 Degrees left and above the subject firing through a white brolly diffuser. However, to achieve the soft face and hair I split grade printed, with the face and hair on grade 00 and remainder of the image on grade 5. (see research section in the workbook for the step-by-step process) Overall, this is my favourite picture of the project. It exhibits several of the qualities, which I personally strive to achieve - Simplicity, an engaging subject and a lot of black(!). It was quite difficult to print as the grade 5 process required some careful dodging but I am very pleased with the result.
Technical Details
| Camera |
6x7 |
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Enlarger |
Durst M670VC |
| Shutter |
1/250s |
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Enlarger lens |
Nikon EL-Nikkor 105mm f5.6 |
| Aperture |
f11 |
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Height |
70cm |
| Lens |
80mm |
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Aperture |
f11 |
| Film |
TMAX 100 |
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Basic Exposure |
6.8s grade 00, 19s grade 5, burning jumper +2 stops |
| Film developer |
TMAX |
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Grade |
00 & 5 |
| Lighting |
Single Solarpro flash |
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Paper |
Ilford Multigrade IV - RC Glossy |
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Paper developer |
Ilford Multigrade (1.5 minutes) |
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Stop bath |
Ilford odourless stop (15 seconds) |
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Fixer |
Ilford Hypam rapid fixer (1minute) |
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I knew from the beginning of the project that I would need a waterfall to compliment the shot opposite. However, I found it difficult to find exactly the right thing during this project. I had taken some colour slides of good examples before the project in Ingleton, but I was not able to return. Then, whilst reviewing the photos I had taken, it occurred to me that a cropped version of the contact print above, taken on Exemore, might work. Indeed, with my enlarger as high as I could get it, I found the right image. I had this idea at the end of a lith printing session, which is why the developer is lith. The film is APX25, which has produced fairly flat imaged previously, but the lith developer may have helped achieve higher contrast. In order to complete the image, I burnt the top by an extra +2 stops and the bottom by +1 stop. This was necessary because there were bright patches on the rocks top and bottom, which were very distracting. Overall, I am pleased with this image. Again, it is simple and graphic. It compliments the picture opposite but stands as a picture in its own right. It is not the image I had pre-visualised, but so what? Sometimes surprises like this make it all worth while.
Technical Details
| Camera |
6x7 |
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Enlarger |
Durst M670VC |
| Shutter |
4s |
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Enlarger lens |
Nikon EL-Nikkor 105mm f5.6 |
| Aperture |
f22 |
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Height |
98cm |
| Lens |
150mm |
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Aperture |
f5.6 |
| Film |
Agfa APX25 |
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Basic Exposure |
8.1s |
| Film developer |
Patterson FX-39 |
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Grade |
3 |
| Lighting |
Natural |
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Paper |
Ilford Multigrade IV - RC Glossy |
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Paper developer |
Photospeed Lith 1+12 (1.5 minutes) |
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Stop bath |
Ilford odourless stop (15 seconds) |
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Fixer |
Ilford Hypam rapid fixer (1minute) |
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The Dark Side
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I had originally considered a pair of pictures using a moon and straight on portrait with hard lighting to the right. I had produced a similar portrait image before. However, during this studio session I experimented with some more abstract ideas and ended the session with this "The dark side…" picture. During printing I burnt the top left from Sue's right hand shoulder across her chest with an extra +6 stops. The reason was to emphasise the bone structure, but also to create a "Dark side" in the image. The original image has most of the skin well lit and this didn't work as well for me. Unfortunately, I have lost some nice background silk detail at the top. If I were taking this picture again, I would consider using a diffuser to soften the skin, split grade or possibly lith print. In order to get the range of tones I needed, I used a low grade which left little to soften the skin with at print time. However, I am most pleased with this picture from the compositional point of view.
Technical Details
| Camera |
35mm |
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Enlarger |
Durst M670VC |
| Shutter |
1/200s |
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Enlarger lens |
Nikon EL-Nikkor 50mm f2.8 |
| Aperture |
f16 |
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Height |
47cm |
| Lens |
70-300mm @ 70 |
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Aperture |
f4 |
| Film |
Ilford Delta 100 |
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Basic Exposure |
10.3s |
| Film developer |
TMAX |
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Grade |
0.5 |
| Lighting |
Single Solarpro flash, top-right |
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Paper |
Ilford Multigrade IV - RC Glossy |
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Paper developer |
Ilford Multigrade (1.5m) |
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Stop bath |
Ilford odourless stop (15s) |
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Fixer |
Ilford Hypam rapid fixer (1m) |
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I had to wait for a good night where there was a partial moon. Using a sturdy tripod, and my longest lens, I took a roll of film at various shutters and apertures. In the end I chose this image which used a short shutter as the longer exposures seemed less sharp. This may have been due to camera movement or even the moon's movement. I was surprised how small the moon was even at 300mm. When I came to print, I realised I would not achieve a large enough image printing to the baseboard. So I rotated the enlarger head and projected across the bathroom. It was difficult to achieve focus and alignment at 2 meters but after about 30 minutes I made this print. Even at this level of magnification the detail in the surface is clearly visible. I am pleased with this picture as it posed a new challenge in the darkroom. I am surprised at the detail in the moon's surface and the resolving power of the 35mm film.
Technical Details
| Camera |
35mm |
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Enlarger |
Durst M670VC |
| Shutter |
¼s |
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Enlarger lens |
Nikon EL-Nikkor 50mm f2.8 |
| Aperture |
f5.6 |
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Height |
2m approx. (projected across the bathroom) |
| Lens |
Lens 70-300mm @ 300mm |
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Aperture |
f2.8 |
| Film |
Ilford FP4 (ISO125) |
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Basic Exposure |
226s |
| Film developer |
TMAX |
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Grade |
5 |
| Lighting |
Natural |
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Paper |
Ilford Multigrade IV - RC Glossy |
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Paper developer |
Ilford Multigrade (1.5m) |
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Stop bath |
Ilford odourless stop (15s) |
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Fixer |
Ilford Hypam rapid fixer (1m) |
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Wind Swept
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I wanted a panoramic image which would capture the wind swept feeling of the tree following. I had several ideas, including ballerinas posing appropriately, however, this was beyond my organizational limits! Instead, I was able to try several positions with Helen which yielded possibilities. This one was achieved with Helen's mother providing balance while Helen's hair was left to flow behind her. I angled the camera to frame the shot as above. The image has been mirrored from the basic negative as I felt it balanced the tree better this way. Several people have commented that the opposite looks better, but to my mind, I prefer this version. If I were printing again, I would move her face further left and perhaps lighten the skin a little. This picture is taken from a 35mm negative. The negative is filled with the image of Helen, the space created either side of her was beyond the end of the film. In order to create this picture I had to make a mask to fit into my 6x7 holder. This provided the width of image to burn in the left an right but the 50mm lens droped off significantly at each end. Therefore an extra 4 stops of burning was needed to hide the edges of the negative and create an even blackness to the edge of the print.
Technical Details
| Camera |
35mm |
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Enlarger |
Durst M670VC |
| Shutter |
1/200s |
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Enlarger lens |
Nikon EL-Nikkor 50mm f2.8 - using 6x7 mask |
| Aperture |
f11 |
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Height |
43cm |
| Lens |
70-300mm @ 70mm |
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Aperture |
f4 |
| Film |
TMAX 100 |
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Basic Exposure |
2.4s with +4stops burning left & right |
| Film developer |
TMAX |
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Grade |
3.5 |
| Lighting |
Single Solarpro flash |
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Paper |
Ilford Multigrade IV - RC Glossy |
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Paper developer |
Ilford Multigrade (1.5 minutes) |
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Stop bath |
Ilford odourless stop (15 seconds) |
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Fixer |
Ilford Hypam rapid fixer (1minute) |
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This tree is an old favorite. I first came across it on the landscape module and immediately felt it would make a good subject for this module. In my mind, the beauty is that it is so remote from anything else. A single solitary wind weary tree in the middle of Exmoor. I took several rolls of film from different angles and with exposures to emphasize the tree or sky, but in the end, this view is my favorite. The image was created from an original 6x7 full frame negative (shown right). At the time I took this photo, I wanted a panoramic image and so framed the tree to allow this at the printing stage. The sky was very flat and grey so I tried several burning-in ideas, but kept returning to a dramatic interpretation rather than a realistic one. The image shown above shows some spots during processing which have been spotted out of the panel version. I have never really tried panoramic pictures before this. I think with the right subject they can be very striking. I would have liked a more interesting natural sky, but the burned-in version is a reasonable alternative.
Technical Details
| Camera |
6x7 |
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Enlarger |
Durst M670VC |
| Shutter |
1/30s |
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Enlarger lens |
Nikon EL-Nikkor 105mm f5.6 |
| Aperture |
f22 |
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Height |
92cm |
| Lens |
43mm |
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Aperture |
f8 |
| Film |
TMAX 100 |
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Basic Exposure |
6.8s burnt +2 stops left and right |
| Film developer |
TMAX |
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Grade |
5 |
| Lighting |
Miserable grey sky |
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Paper |
Ilford Multigrade IV - RC Glossy |
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Paper developer |
Ilford Multigrade (1.5 minutes) |
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Stop bath |
Ilford odourless stop (15 seconds) |
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Fixer |
Ilford Hypam rapid fixer (1minute) |
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Feet
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This is the image which started the project off. The combination of a foot and Hay Tor was the inspiration for the Human Nature idea. Having said that, reviewing the planning you can see that I struggled to find a picture of a foot which stood on its own (no pun intended!). I tried several very direct and simple ideas, but all of them looked as though they belonged in a chiropodists waiting room rather than an art project. Finally I decided to widen the image scope, it still needed to have a foot centre stage, but more background was needed. I think this image is the best I was able to create, cropping quite tightly and still with a very simple, uncluttered feel. I have considered other ideas since; toe nail painting or with props like big boots in the picture, but that will have to wait for another time. I burned in the left and right quite a lot as the overall image was well lit. The right needed 6 stops and the left 2. Unfortunately I lost some nice curves top left which were the victim of the burning. Given this proved to be the most challenging compositional subject, I am fairly pleased with the result. I think some more props would improve the appeal.
Technical Details
| Camera |
35mm |
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Enlarger |
Durst M670VC |
| Shutter |
1/200s |
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Enlarger lens |
Nikon EL-Nikkor 50mm f2.8 |
| Aperture |
f5.6 |
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Height |
54.5cm |
| Lens |
70-300mm @ 70mm |
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Aperture |
f5.6 |
| Film |
Ilford Delta 100 |
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Basic Exposure |
10.3s Burnt left foot +2 stops, right hand side +4 stops |
| Film developer |
TMAX |
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Grade |
2 |
| Lighting |
Single Solarpro flash |
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Paper |
Ilford Multigrade IV - RC Glossy |
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Paper developer |
Ilford Multigrade (1.5 minutes) |
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Stop bath |
Ilford odourless stop (15 seconds) |
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Fixer |
Ilford Hypam rapid fixer (1minute) |
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As can be seen from the contact print, the conditions when I arrived to photograph Hay Tor could not have been much poorer. As I approached there was low cloud and at one point the rock disappeared beneath it (you can see some of this in my planning contact sheets). I decided, therefore, to take pictures biased either towards the sky or the rock. I anticipated adding a sky later at the printing stage (see negative sandwich in research). I took several pictures at different angles and using different lenses, but this one, using a wide angle lens and capturing some light in the foreground appealed to me most. At print time I was surprised to find that there was detail in the sky after all, but it required quite a lot of coaxing out. The burning here is very severe and extremely obvious, but does create a dramatic feel, much more as I have always remembered it. There is still some nice detail in the rock surface which rewards close inspection. That is something I like to see, it provides two levels of image, the basic graphic silhouette and the close-up detail. There were some rocks in the foreground which were picking up the light very strongly and looked like spots. Although they were natural, I spotted them down as they were distracting. It would have been nice to capture the image with a dramatic sky above, however, this unnatural rendition fits well with my mental image and I am fairly pleased with the result. On reflection, it may benefit the image to lift the foreground rocks by reducing the exposure a little.
Technical Details
| Camera |
6x7 |
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Enlarger |
Durst M670VC |
| Shutter |
1/8s |
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Enlarger lens |
Nikon EL-Nikkor 105mm f5.6 |
| Aperture |
f22 |
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Height |
61cm |
| Lens |
43mm |
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Aperture |
f11 |
| Film |
Agfa APX25 |
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Basic Exposure |
6.1s Burnt sky 6 stops |
| Film developer |
Patterson FX-39 |
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Grade |
5 |
| Lighting |
Natural grey sky |
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Paper |
Ilford Multigrade IV - RC Glossy |
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Paper developer |
Ilford Multigrade (1.5 minutes) |
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Stop bath |
Ilford odourless stop (15 seconds) |
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Fixer |
Ilford Hypam rapid fixer (1minute) |
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See-Weed
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I had previously found the seaweed which looked to me like an eyebrow. I took several shots of eyebrows over several sessions and this is my favourite. It has a very shallow depth of field due to the macro lens and wide aperture. The eyebrow curves in a similar way to the seaweed but because of the shallow depth-of-field, is only sharp at the half way point. My main concern about this image is that the eye is usually the object always in focus, here it is not. I think that is slightly distracting. I'm not sure if the eyeball should have been dodged to reduce its 'weight' or not. I like it as an image, very much, but at the same time I'm aware of an unease. I used this picture in some toning experiments I was conducting and felt it added something to the basic black & white image. In fact, I have noticed that blue is often used to good effect in people pictures, so I decided to use it as a panel shot.
Technical Details
| Camera |
35mm |
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Enlarger |
Durst M670VC |
| Shutter |
1/200s |
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Enlarger lens |
Nikon EL-Nikkor 50mm f2.8 |
| Aperture |
f5.6 |
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Height |
46cm |
| Lens |
70-300mm @ 300mm 1:2 Macro |
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Aperture |
f5.6 |
| Film |
Ilford PanF |
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Basic Exposure |
4s |
| Film developer |
Patterson FX-39 |
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Grade |
5 |
| Lighting |
Single SolarPro |
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Paper |
Ilford Multigrade IV - RC Glossy |
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Paper developer |
Ilford Multigrade (1.5 minutes) |
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Stop bath |
Ilford odourless stop (15 seconds) |
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Fixer |
Ilford Hypam rapid fixer (1minute) |
Toning
3 minutes in blue bath 30s wash 1 minute salt solution 2 minutes final wash Toner Photospeed Palette toner kit : Comprises 4 colour single bath toners, intensifier and activator. |
This piece of seaweed was lying on the beach at Saunton Sands in North Devon. I was looking for other images at the time when I stumbled across it. I used my long lens and framed the weed across the corners. The image is wonderfully detailed on close inspection. I decided to tone it in order to compliment the eye picture and used a vanadium yellow to masquerade as sand. Because the toner only affects the areas of the print where the paper has changed from base white, it has not affected the feather. It is only a subtle detail, but it really makes the picture for me. When toning with this yellow, I found the toner reduced the density of the print quite a large amount. I had to print with an extra ½ stop in order to compensate for this effect. Overall I like the basic graphic quality, the feather and the way it compliments the eye picture. The framing could be improved and there is a slightly anoying line in the sand which is distracting.
Technical Details
| Camera |
6x7 |
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Enlarger |
Durst M670VC |
| Shutter |
1s |
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Enlarger lens |
Nikon EL-Nikkor 105mm f5.6 |
| Aperture |
f32 |
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Height |
61cm |
| Lens |
150mm |
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Aperture |
f8 |
| Film |
Agfa APX25 |
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Basic Exposure |
3s Burnt 1/2 stop top left and bottom right |
| Film developer |
Patterson FX-39 |
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Grade |
5 |
| Lighting |
Natural |
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Paper |
Ilford Multigrade IV - RC Glossy |
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Paper developer |
Ilford Multigrade (1.5 minutes) |
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Stop bath |
Ilford odourless stop (15 seconds) |
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Fixer |
Ilford Hypam rapid fixer (1minute) |
Toning
2 minutes in Vanadium yellow bath 30s wash 1 minute salt solution 2 minutes final wash Toner Photospeed Palette toner kit |
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