lf-photo.org.uk

Hi, Everyone

The site looks very interesting I was introduced to the site from a nother member. I am very interested in landscape and wild deer photography. I often find myself out early in the morning on a reserve next to where I live. I often take people out on a one to one photography stalk to photograph wild Red, Sika, & Roe deer.

I have decided to pursue photography even further and make even more of my time available to producing large prints. I started after being introduced to photography from my brother a few years ago, I currently use a Canon D20 & D30 looking at a Ds Mk3 and a move into large format, a few telephoto lenses and wide angle lenses. I have not undertaken any training apart form reading information and then practicing in the field.

I find the hobby addictive and very interesting, fine art photography is what I am trying to achieve.

I am looking forward to engaging with the forum.

Regards Roscoe

Welcome Roscoe

Well, you could have a lot of fun trying to get your deer to stand still long enough for an LF exposure

Seriously though, let me try and make you feel at home by asking you a couple of questions :

What kind of images were you thinking of using LF cameras for?

And what kind of images do you feel qualify as fine art?

Joanna

Hi Joanna

I guess my answer to your question not having a wide technical knowledge is, some times whilst out in the morning and evening for that matter, I find myself in areas where one of those rare moments occur when everything comes together and creates that perfect photographic opportunity. Something like a still morning with the mist in a wooded opening, and for a short time being able to capture the emerald coloured leaves of the hardwood trees and show how they are illuminated by the soft diffused light and the differing shades of the bark. These moment don't come often but they are out there.

I would also used a polarizing filter to reduce some of the glare caused by the water on the leaves, this however would mean I would have to increased my ISO to 400 on my present cameras to ensure the sharpness and to bring my shutter speed down. This can be done, but I feel from what I have researched, this sort of scene is good for large Format, and I would hang them in my house as fine art.

Regards Roscoe.

Roscoe wrote:I guess my answer to your question not having a wide technical knowledge is, some times whilst out in the morning and evening for that matter, I find myself in areas where one of those rare moments occur when everything comes together and creates that perfect photographic opportunity. Something like a still morning with the mist in a wooded opening, and for a short time being able to capture the emerald coloured leaves of the hardwood trees and show how they are illuminated by the soft diffused light and the differing shades of the bark. These moment don't come often but they are out there.

Hmmm, you do realise that it can take around half an hour, when you know what you are doing, to set up an LF camera for a shot?

What with having no zoom, no autofocus, no TTL metering; all these things can take a lot longer than with an SLR. Magical, fleeting moments can be hard to capture unless you are prepared to visit a place regularly and wait for serendipity to pass your way

Nonetheless, such moments are possible, as long as you are prepared to be patient and to possibly, almost, live in a location. The "banner" picture on my website http://grandes-images.com was a result of, at least, five visits to Ribblehead, surveying the land, watching where the light was at a particular time of day, and then, when we had set up to make a picture of the viaduct with the rocks in the foreground, serendipity sent us a steam train to complete the image

You will also find that, due to the cost of film/processing, you will change from someone who might take lots of shots on a digital, hoping that one would be good, to someone who would rather not bother to take any shots at all because there will always be another day when the image will be just that little bit better.

Roscoe wrote:I would also used a polarizing filter to reduce some of the glare caused by the water on the leaves, this however would mean I would have to increased my ISO to 400 on my present cameras to ensure the sharpness and to bring my shutter speed down. This can be done, but I feel from what I have researched, this sort of scene is good for large Format, and I would hang them in my house as fine art.

You will have no problem bringing shutter speeds down on an LF camera In fact, you will often end up wishing that your speeds could be faster than the usual average of around half a second.

Sharpness is less of a problem with LF as it is possible to use the movements on the camera to bring absolutley everything into focus, even at relatively large apertures. By large, I mean that average f/stops tend to be around the f/32 mark, large being f/11 or so.

You will have to get in touch with someone from the forum who lives locally and see if you can arrange a day out, just to get a feel of what is involved.

With your vision of what you want to achieve, LF is certainly capable of producing the goods, all you need to do is set to work finding out how to achieve that vision

I wish you every success and look forwards to seeing your resulting images.

Thanks Joanna for your question & response, It tends to focus the mind also.

A good idea regarding the day out, Il keep the vision and maybe try out the LF.

Regards Roscoe.