Large Format Photography Australia

Platinotypes and palladiotypes are always matte finish. One reason is that the image lies in the paper rather than on the paper. The paper texture continues to be visible. Another reason is that paper choice is critical to the success of the process. Of the wide range of premium art papers only very...

I use thin black aluminium frames that assemble from lengths of chopped moulding. They screw together at the corners and include springs, hangers, front glass, and backing boards. Changing displayed work is a easy as taking one side off the frame and slipping the old picture out, the new one in, and...

I was a the Queensland Centre of Photography on Saturday (Feb 23) evening and saw the "Granite" exhibition of 11x14 platinum/palladiotypes by Julian Pearce. Julian was there and much in demand for conversation but I got a fairly extended interview with him. It turns out that he has been ma...

Fixer can definitely be re-used. For film I keep a 1.5 litre bottle of rapix fixer diluted to working strength (1+4, concentrate + water) with a strip of masking tape stuck across it. On the tape I record the accumulated total of the number of films fixed. When the total gets to 40 I discard the use...

Without getting too boring, you have some rhodopsin molecules becoming “bleached” in your eyes' rod photoreceptors. Put simply, you have an after-image. It should reduce in a few minutes… If you're worried about light leak, leave a film holder half open in the room for an extended period of time. O...

I beg your indulgence re this ramble of philosophising. It's been raining for days and I can't get out to expose film. And RoganJosh's comments open minds and provoke thought. That was a good read Maris - and mostly agreeable.. except for this part. The work flow is all mine. No part of it is down t...

The chemical basis for N minus development becomes obvious if you have ever had the uncommon experience of watching sheet film develop. I don't have an infrared viewer so I've never seen panchromatic film in the developer but orthochromatic and blue sensitive films work in the same way and can be ob...

Years ago when I decided that I really was going to dedicate long term effort to photographic work on paper I went through the "which trimmer" dilemna. I finally decided on an IDEAL precision safety guillotine. It was expensive even second hand but has now operated flawlessly for two decad...

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8098/8472484812_8c37c2ff36_b.jpg Blizzard, Charlotte Pass. Gelatin-silver photograph on Ultrafine Silver Eagle VC FB photographic paper, image size 16.3cm X 21.3cm, from a 4x5 Arista Edu Ultra 400 negative exposed in a Tachihara 45GF double extension field view camera ...

The link is to someone else's Bender but mine looked just like it. Getting the sliders right is important especially if it is a push-pull and lock system rather than a rack and pinion mechanism. With the right balance between friction and stiction focussing within a fraction of a millimetre is easy ...