Large Format Photography Australia

Sapling and Shadow, Soft Focus
Gelatin-silver photograph on Fomabrom Variant 111 VC FB, image area 24.7cm X 19.6cm, from a Fomapan 200 negative exposed in a Tachihara 810HD 8x10 triple extension field view camera fitted with a 400mm f11 single meniscus lens and a #25 red filter.

Soft focus photography is a beguiling and wasteful process suited to optimists. Maybe the next negative will be better, or perhaps the one after that.

Nevertheless thus image has its own beguiling quality. I wouldn't be too hard on yourself, Maris. But who am I to talk? I'm currently reviewing transparencies I made in the 80s and am rejecting over 90 percent of them.

Maris, that looks better than what one would normally get from a soft focus lens with the maximum soft focus slot in place.

Perfectly placed background dark matter, which allows the myriad of little suns to shine brightly without competition. The shadow on the ground is a bonus, albeit, something you no doubt worked on.

The fact that it makes one pause for a longer look, is a success, I say.

Thank you Barry Kirsten and Mick Fagan for your encouraging comments.

My soft focus lens is a 2.5 dioptre spectacle blank grafted onto the back of a Copal #3 shutter. The red filter takes out the blue rays that I can't focus well but the film is very sensitive to.
Light subjects against dark backgrounds, back-lit things, specular highlights, rim-lighting, all work well to lend sparkle to spherical aberration based soft focus photography.
The image effects are critically influenced by lens aperture: f11, f12, f13, etc ... are distinctly different. And the ground glass seems not to tell all; more like a "serving suggestion".
But it's all good optical fun.