Cork oaks morning

John Power
Posts: 94
Joined: 26 May 2021, 10:18

Cork oaks morning

Postby John Power » 20 Sep 2021, 09:25

The harvested lower trunks of these trees really do bring to mind an army. Not sure how smart it was to shoot directly into the sun here... I guess a darkslide could get a bit warm/holey melty?

In other news, this is the first load of 4x5 ilford ortho that I've shot. I like it, though I've also switched up to Rodinal for development this week, so there are a couple of variables moving around. I might give it a run through HC-110.

ImageArmy of oaks by J P, on Flickr

I'm having some issues with my current laptop screen setting... The other images I took and uploaded to flickr yesterday are fine there, but on this screen are so dark and waaaaay too contrasty. Highly relevant to Walter's post, 'Which"... it all comes back to printing as the finished product, but it'd be nice to be able to show you guys what I'm trying to achieve :)

Ortho and Rodinal aren't the big news of my photo week, though. The old (1953 or so?) Super Fujica 6 that I picked up last week has been superb. I've sot more medium format in the past week than I had in a month or more with my press camera.

User avatar
Maris
Posts: 882
Joined: 27 Jul 2012, 16:02
Location: Noosa

Re: Cork oaks morning

Postby Maris » 20 Sep 2021, 11:25

An excellent example of photography made difficult. Everything is biassed against success: shadowed black and grey tree trunks, intense backlighting, and the sun itself in the picture. But it works!
Is your Fuji wide angle lens the one with the EBC coating and the notable flare resistance?
Maybe the blue-green sensitivity of the Ortho film matched well with the blue-green light under a forest canopy to keep shadow detail remarkably open.

Don't worry about melting a darkslide with the sun in the picture. The shutter is already closed and cocked before the film holder goes into the camera. But there is real danger of camera damage when focussing at maximum aperture with the sun just out of the picture. The sun's image then falls on a fold in the bellows near the back of the camera and can burn a hole straight through. I've done it and alarmingly the camera fills with smoke.

Walter Glover
Posts: 1270
Joined: 31 Jul 2012, 22:31
Location: Leichhardt, NSW

Re: Cork oaks morning

Postby Walter Glover » 20 Sep 2021, 23:56

Which rendition do you prefer John,

Flickr or LFPA? I have a preference but it's not about me, it's about YOU and your intent as author.

I'll soon add some data that might be helpful on the "Which" thread.

Cheers,
Walter Glover

"We see things not as they are. We see them as we are."
Emanuel Kant

John Power
Posts: 94
Joined: 26 May 2021, 10:18

Re: Cork oaks morning

Postby John Power » 21 Sep 2021, 16:25

Maris, thanks for that, I feel better about the image knowing that I was up against it a bit :)
My fuji is not an EBC version, and I'm yet to take delivery of a filter (I usually use cheap Hoya UV filters as "always on" filters) for this lens, so this is purely its performance against flaring. And yes, I remember now in your horror story that the sun was just out of shot.... I need to keep that in mind! I really quite like shooting into the sun, especially portraits.

Walter, yes, the issue is that when I'm sliding my curves sliders here (I use GIMP for post processing), I get to an image with contrast and brightness that I like, down size it so it can be moved aorund and then upload. For this image it is about right on flickr (and here) but for the other cork oak images on flickr they are a lot darker and higher in contrast than what I see on my final version in GIMP. I hope it was just me uploading the wrong version :)
I'm looking forward to your update on Which!

I should also add, that zooming around in this image, I think I counted 80 trees the other day... its one of my favourites to view at higher res.


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