Large Format Images

Split Rock, Joshua Tree National Monument

Super Angulon 90mm, f/16, Cambo Legend 4x5, Better Light Super-6K with infrared low pass filter. The monorail was set level, no tilts, with some horizontal and vertical shifts for framing and perspective control.

I had originally intended to shoot with the medium format system at Joshua Tree National Monument again, but I failed to get the back to work properly. I managed to fire a couple of frames, then had a series of shutter errors. I eventually gave up and got the large format gear out. As is not untypical when shooting large format, I found a nice place and didn't really move more than 20 or 30 feet from that position all afternoon -- with medium format, I can set up, shoot a few frames, change lenses, shoot a few more, then knock everything down ready for the next location all within about 15 minutes or so. Large format is a wholly different undertaking -- it's necessary to be really quite careful about everything, and it takes quite a while just to set up the camera, level everything and to zero all the movements. Typically, it's about 30 minutes from arriving to being able to shoot the first frame. As an example, in roughly three hours I shot 20 frames -- this is actually quite productive, and the result of (subjectively) working relatively quickly.

Large format shooting is a different experience than smaller formats. You have to take a longer-term view of things (no pun intended, but I'll roll with it anyway!). I tend to find myself spending a lot longer over finding the right shot -- if you're going to spend so much time on it, you might as well make sure you get the results. I'm also more likely to set up and 'wait for the light' -- the above image is an example of exactly that, where I actually waited for quite a long time for the sun to start setting directly behind the boulder. The raw image had a huge contrast range that would have been impossible to deal with if I'd been using film, or even a more conventional digital camera with 8 bits of resolution. I captured the image at 14-bit depth, making sure I didn't under- or over-expose anything in the frame. Back home, I loaded it into Photoshop, then created quite a complicated rig that processed the different contrast ranges of various parts of the image separately. I rather like the result -- it's not actually real in the strictest sense of the word, but it's actually that unreality in the lighting that makes the image work strongly, I think.

Mount Improbable, Joshua Tree National Monument

Super Angulon 90mm, f/16, Cambo Legend 4x5, Better Light Super-6K with infrared low pass filter. In this case, the monorail was tilted back slightly to help emphasise scale, small shifts for framing only, no tilts were needed.

With apologies to Professor Dawkins. This isn't a mountain, it's actually a house-sized boulder, but the thing that attracted me to it was its rather alpine double-peak, coupled with the shape that the late evening setting sun made across the front face.

Nose Rock, Joshua Tree National Monument

Nikkor-W 150mm, f/16, Cambo Legend 4x5, Better Light Super-6K with infrared low pass filter. Camera set parallel, framing achieved by tilting rail slightly.

Yes, I made up the name for this one, too. I think it looks like it's got a nose. Hence the name.

Rocks, Joshua Tree National Monument

Caltar 210mm, f/16, Cambo Legend 4x5, Better Light Super-6K with infrared low pass filter. Camera set horizontal, no tilts, framing achieved by slight shifts.

The sky was doing just the right kind of thing at the right kind of time here -- it's entirely real, I've not faked it in any way. As with the other images, the black sky is a consequence of very low reflectance at near-infrared wavelengths, creating a stark contrast to the brilliant white (brilliant near-IR?) clouds. The effect is very similar to that of a deep red filter, perhaps unsurprisingly, though unusual effects on vegetation appear in the infrared that are not present in visible red.

I should probably add one more thing -- since focussing is always manual, it can be a bit of a challenge to focus correctly for infrared shooting. My approach is to focus visually first using my usual combination of sticking my head under a dark cloth and peering through a x10 loupe, then put the back in and use the Better Light's focus meter facility. This basically moves the linear CCD to your position of choice, then displays a continuous (numeric and bargraph) representation of the amount of sharpness at the relevant point. It can be quite tricky to use -- the Cambo's gearing is a little fast for my taste, so it's necessary to have an extremely light touch on the focus knobs, but when you get it right, it's really right -- dead-on, pin-sharp.

Medium format images

As promised, here are a few sneak previews of medium format images from the trip. All were shot with a Bronica ETRS and the Megavision 16 Megapixel E4 Monochrome back. I'm very pleased with the results -- I can't wait to get back home so I can put together properly finished versions ready for printing.

Joshua Tree

These trees are very strange indeed. I'm quite pleased with this image -- having no background detail other than sky with quite stark lighting has resulted in an extremely sharp result that should print very well. Shot with a 45-90 zoom with a deep red filter in Joshua Tree National Park, California.

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Boulder and Joshua Tree

45-90 zoom, deep red filter, also in Joshua Tree National Park. Again, this gives the impression of being sharp down to the grain-of-sand level and should yield a nice print when I get the chance.

Off Route 66

The road you can see in the distance is actually Interstate 40, which occupies the track of the original Route 66. Again, 45-90 zoom, deep red filter, near the Petrified Forest National Monument in Arizona.

... and the next day, I did it again

I made it to Albuquerque by 6pm after an exactly 600 mile (as the GPS flies) trip. I chose not to stop for photographic purposes on the way, because the extra 2 - 3 hours necessitated by the more southerly route would have meant my risking having to do the last bit of the trip (the most likely to be snowy) in the dark. As it happened, I got to Albuquerque just as it became dark, a little after sunset. It's Really Cold here, but there is not any snow. Luckily. About 100 miles south of Albuquerque I went through a fairly mountainous area (about 5000 feet altitude I think), where it was raining heavily but only just below the snow line. I think I made the right navigational decision, somehow.

I have photos to upload, so I'll probably do that on and off over the next couple of days. I'm at a conference currently (an AFRL workshop on reconfigurable systems), so don't expect more updates here until Friday.

Cold feet

It's now about 11pm, Sunday night, in Goleta. Some of my plans seem a bit unravelly at the moment -- it appears that I40 has snow forecast for tomorrow and the day after around the Grand Canyon and further east. This is (was?) my intended route. I am currently seriously considering a change of plan and taking a more southerly, lower altitude route that would take me through Phoenix, AZ instead. Though it buggers up my chances of photographing the Grand Canyon, it's probably better to be alive. I've just arranged to stay over with friends in Phoenix, so it's all good. I don't need to be there until quite late, so I have time for a photo-stop along the way. The obvious place on the route is Joshua Tree National Park, but I'd already intended to go there at the end of the week, so I might go and take a look at the Salton Sea instead. Or something. We shall see.

T-3 hours and counting

Packing is happening. Camera stuff is charged (modulo minor OQO issue, which I'll come on to) and in its cases ready to go. I am up, though not entirely ready myself yet (I'm a terrible bath robe lurker in mornings). As promised, I took a few photos of the packing progress:

Camera bags

These are my three camera bags. The closest is the huge Pelican case with the Cambo in it, then the Bronica gear, then at the far side it's the smaller Pelican case with the BetterLight system in it. The blank area of foam is usually where my laptop sits when I'm on location.

OQO

This is the OQO I use with the medium format system. Currently, I'm having problems with 2 of the 3 batteries I have for it -- the working battery is currently attached to the computer, and the two dead ones are on the table next to it. The one that's facing down shows the clip that Megavision add so you can clip the OQO either to the back or to the battery pack -- there is a narrow air gap between the clip's back plate and the battery, which I fear is probably acting as a thermal insulator, so I suspect that the two dead batteries bought it through overheating. I'll have to attempt to get OQO to replace them under warranty, but I somehow doubt I'll get very far with that. I'll mention it to Megavision, and suggest that in future they glue the clip directly to the battery pack so it will just conduct the heat rather than insulate it.

Clothes for packing

Clothes and other stuff ready to be packed once I manage to find my rucksack. Which is, apparently, definitely here, but just, er, somewhere.