goneMOAB Photography - Redux

[OdiN]

Okay I wanted to make an "official" thread regarding this.

Anyone who is interested in doing some photography in Arches NP or nearby areas, please post up and let's figure out some where/when.

I think the only thing that is certain is that I will be doing sunset on Wednesday at Delicate Arch. This is a 3 mile round trip hike, some of it a bit strenuous - 500ish elevation gain. Most of this is in the final mile. Here's a profile:

http://media.activetrails.com/content/elevationProfile/trail55profile.png


Also, I will probably be going to the park for sunrise and either just shooting what I happen upon, or scouting the area for shooting on Saturday or Sunday. But most of Wednesday I will be checking out the park and other areas. Even afternoon lighting will probably yield some interesting shots.

I'll also probably do some Sunset photos Monday evening, since there are no goneMOAB social events.

[hbdesert]

Having been up there a number of times the biggest issue you will have is not the light, but all folks swarming around the arch looking to have their photo taken. While it's well worth going up there, be patient and expect to shoot a number of exposures because other folks will walk into the frame.
I get around this because I can shoot at f256 (and smaller apertures) and add 3 stops of ND, a red 29 filter (3 stops), and a polarizer (3 more stops). On top of all that add in 1 more stop for resoprosity failure. So if my exposure is f256 for 2 secs (based on rating the film at 100 ASA and working off the "Sunny f16") and I add in all the filtration I end up with an exposure of 16 min! Folks can walk in out out of the frame the whole time and you will never see them.

Fun stuff photography.

See you in Moab,

Doug

[OdiN]

I can do it because I will just yell real loud at people and say hey - can you please not walk over there for like 30 seconds?

Really though if I'm nice I figure people will give me a bit to take a few photos. I can setup my shots with people in them - I don't care - and actually a few like that will give a sense of scale.

By the way - I got ahold of a 4x5 view camera which I am thinking of bringing. I have to play around with it and one of the shutters needs to be repaired - otherwise I will have to self time some shots. But got a killer deal on it.

With digital - anything more than say f/16 (less depending on lens and setup) you start to run into diffraction issues.

[Creek]

I can do it because I will just yell real loud at people and say hey - can you please not walk over there for like 30 seconds?

I hope you speak Japanese and French (Canadians) ;)

[OdiN]

I hope you speak Japanese and French (Canadians) ;)

1 - Yell Godzilla. They will all scatter.

2 - Toss some beer back down the trail. That will take care of the 2nd group.



But I hear ya - lots of them in Yosemite when I would go there.

[hbdesert]

By the way - I got ahold of a 4x5 view camera which I am thinking of bringing. I have to play around with it and one of the shutters needs to be repaired - otherwise I will have to self time some shots. But got a killer deal on it.


Cool deal on the 4x5. Did you get a field camera or a studio camera?

I'll have my 4x5 Ebony, 12x20 Ritter and my "little" Nikon D2x. I'm going to bring 400 TMax for both cameras, my 120 back with color trans loaded, as well as some very coveted Type 55 Polaroid.

I don't know if you have any experience with shooting large format. If you want any advice let me know, otherwise I'll assume that you have everything you need and leave you alone.:)

See you in Moab,

Doug

[OdiN]

It's a Toyo 4x5 Field Camera. I got it, a 90mm Fujinon and a 210mm Schneider for $350. Also 10 double sided film holders, a polaroid back, and a 6-shot cartridge. And I know the guy and I can just pay him here and there since he knows I'm strapped for a bit due to the moab trip.

It's not the greatest field camera, but hey.

And no I've never shot large format before - so it's going to be a learning experience. I do have a Sekonic L-558 meter, so that's covered, and of course the understanding of exposure, etc.

But any tips are welcome - never shot these before and the last film camera I used was a Canon Elan 7 which was really only for a film course so I could learn about developing.

[hbdesert]

That's a very nice meter. Whole lot of bells and whistles, make sure you have the manual for that one.

I would start off getting used to how the camera works from a opening, closing, adjustments, etc...

Maybe I'll hold a quick clinic on the zone system one afternoon after a trail run if anyone is interested.

See you in Moab,

Doug

[OdiN]

I just did a whole presentation on black and white landscape photography and the zone system at my phtography club last week.

It is definitely a nice meter - really too much meter, but I wanted the good spot meter. I mostly just use it for that, however, I do use it to fire off my strobes for portraits from time to time since I have pocket wizards and that is one super handy feature.

[hbdesert]

I just did a whole presentation on black and white landscape photography and the zone system at my phtography club last week.


Did you do this based on a digital workflow? Who's post image capture workflow did you present?
I have yet to see a convincing implementation to consistently account for + and - development times in a digital workflow. I've seen a number of folks try to sell a set of shitty Photoshop curves and call that + and - time equivalents, but it's total crap. All digital cameras work off a RGB to some kind of grayscale conversion, hell most just tag a RAW file with a grayscale script that you don't have any control how it was done. Even in Photoshop unless you understand what is going on with mapping from device RGB to LAB into device grayscale you are blindly throwing darts at a wall.
I would like to see someone who has put together a real solid methodology. They could make a ton of cash selling it to the education market place.

See you in Moab,

Doug

[OdiN]

It wasn't specifically digital B&W workflow w/ Zone - more two parts, but tied together. And not so much a workflow, but just methods and trying to convey how to look at a scene in color and determine how it will look in B&W before taking the shot.

Basically using the Zone System to pre-visualize a scene. Not necessarily to use it totally for a digital workflow, but to determine if a scene has proper tonal range to make a good B&W image. And then I went over some of the methods of converting images to B&W and enhancing with various methods such as dodging and burning tools, contrast enhancement using unsharp mask, curves, etc.

A lot of times I will either use filters or multiple exposures to get the dynamic range I need out of a scene - so blend with masks or brushing something back in, etc. vs. just trying to take one single exposure - there are many that a digital camera alone can't capture in a single exposure without other tools.

I haven't seen these curves being sold, etc. and I have been doing only digital so I know Photoshop, but don't know as much about darkroom development. I know "how" to develop film and prints, but I haven't spent any sort of significant time in actually getting any good at it. So I'm sure you're much more familiar with pushing and pulling film and which are good for what, etc. I have no clue, since it hasn't been my focus at all.

EDIT - I should say it's not the whole Zone system - it leaves off anything to do with negative development, printing, paper, etc. It's basically the simplified system. So it doesn't go that far into the full system, but then nobody there does film anyway so it wouldn't be much good going over that.