Weight

Weight, originally uploaded by M0n0chrom3.

This is my first ever attempt at macro photography with the Bronica. It's actually a photo I've wanted to take for a long time -- these brass weights used to belong to my aunt, and were used in her corner shop for many years. They are roughly 100 years old, as best I can find out.

I had some difficulty with the shiny nature of the polished brass -- initially I had problems with the highlights blowing out. I managed to get around this by making two exposures a few stops apart, then aligning them in Photoshop and fiddling with mixing the layers to get the right look. There was a fairly tricky bit of fiddling done in curves, but the image is otherwise unretouched -- I didn't feel a need to dodge and burn it because it basically had the right kind of balance already.


[Edit: Umm, I printed it, then decided it *did* need dodging and burning, and I needed to blur some of the detail on the large weight just on the edge of shot on the left. I also cloned out some of the scratches in the centre of the small 1/4oz weight that looked too much like dirt. I think I prefer the new version, but to borrow a Joe Decker term, I need to let it bake for a few days. I have kept the low-key look though, which comes out gorgeous and very 3D-looking in a toned print.]


OK for a first attempt, I suppose!

I should probably say that this is toward the low end of magnification you can get with the bellows -- my flash sync cable (essential to fire the back) is too short to let me focus very close, so a trip to the camera shop to pick up a longer one is going to have to happen soon. I'm very pleased with the combination of the 100mm macro and the bellows (which I just picked up on eBay, hence this photo) -- I tried a few other lenses on the bellows, but the macro lens just works *so* much better -- more depth of field, really sharp results, nice bright viewfinder image that doesn't screw up the split image prism, etc. They were pretty obviously designed to work together -- I'd never really used that lens before because on its own it actually doesn't focus very close, so it really needs the bellows to be able to do its thing. But yes, very impressed.

I have to say, over time, I'm becoming more and more of a Bronica fan. Their gear is just gorgeous -- it *really* works.