Photo Critique and Edit Thread

[gfroman]

"Prehistoric Mushroom Field?"
This was from our camping trip to the Bisti Badlands - New Mexico.
The hoodoos, which are common in this area are the geological outcome from a process called differential erosion.
Typically a small cap of the resistant layer remains, and protects a cone of the underlying softer layer from erosion, resulting in a mushroom or fairy tower formation.

 

[Albertporter]

Benz Micro ad, Musical Surroundings. Lukaschek PP1 phono.

Sinar 4X5 with 210MM Rodenstock, Kodak transparency film.

 

[Albertporter]

Image for Big Book of Cars. Nikon F series, Kodachrome 25 transparency film.

 

[Albertporter]

Annual Report image for Sunshine Mining. Cambo 4X5 camera, Schneider 210MM lens, Kodak transparency film.

 

[accwai]

No, it was a standard Rodenstock 210MM I purchased in Switzerland from Sinar.

For this magnification it required two sets of bellows but otherwise no problems. I used a Broncolor Hazy Light bi-tube and with 4K of flash power it produced F90 at 1 meter so no problem with depth of field.

I take it that's a Sinar DB mounted lens then. In any case, I figure just because one has power and resolution to burn doesn't mean one should push hard. This is 1.2× on Canon 65mm MP-E:



EXIF says aperture was f/8 but effective aperture is much smaller at around f/18. So it's already borderline diffraction limited. Going beyond that, things start to soften across the frame real fast. The flip side though is this is a 12 frame focus stack. Without stacking, at this kind of magnificant one can't possibly get enough DOF at f/8. And it gets much worst from here. Macro is always a walk down the tight rope...

As for Broncolor, if I had more money than I know what to do with, I would certainly go for a small Para and light to drive it. Right now, an Elinchrom Deep Octabox does well enough:



Lens was Leica 60mm Macro-Elmarit-R on Canon EOS adapter.

 

[gfroman]

Remembering Paris, 25 years ago.....

 

[vindixon]

A campaign that I shot for the Red Cross in Vietnam & Zimbawbe last year. It just picked up a Graphite Pencil at the D&AD awards.

 

[Albertporter]

I take it that's a Sinar DB mounted lens then. In any case, I figure just because one has power and resolution to burn doesn't mean one should push hard. This is 1.2× on Canon 65mm MP-E:



EXIF says aperture was f/8 but effective aperture is much smaller at around f/18. So it's already borderline diffraction limited. Going beyond that, things start to soften across the frame real fast. The flip side though is this is a 12 frame focus stack. Without stacking, at this kind of magnificant one can't possibly get enough DOF at f/8. And it gets much worst from here. Macro is always a walk down the tight rope...

As for Broncolor, if I had more money than I know what to do with, I would certainly go for a small Para and light to drive it. Right now, an Elinchrom Deep Octabox does well enough:



Lens was Leica 60mm Macro-Elmarit-R on Canon EOS adapter.

I take it that's a Sinar DB mounted lens then. In any case, I figure just because one has power and resolution to burn doesn't mean one should push hard. This is 1.2× on Canon 65mm MP-E:



EXIF says aperture was f/8 but effective aperture is much smaller at around f/18. So it's already borderline diffraction limited. Going beyond that, things start to soften across the frame real fast. The flip side though is this is a 12 frame focus stack. Without stacking, at this kind of magnificant one can't possibly get enough DOF at f/8. And it gets much worst from here. Macro is always a walk down the tight rope...

As for Broncolor, if I had more money than I know what to do with, I would certainly go for a small Para and light to drive it. Right now, an Elinchrom Deep Octabox does well enough:



Lens was Leica 60mm Macro-Elmarit-R on Canon EOS adapter.

Yes, Sinar DB mount, I bought a matched set of Rodenstock 75MM, 90MM, 150MM, 210MM and 305MM from the factory. I wrote them a few months in advance and when my wife and I visited we picked them up.

When that shot was made there was no digital, at least not being used in commercial work and 4X5 and 8x10 were pretty much required to give printing house enough material to work with for best color and resolution.

The Bronclolor was bought for it’s splendid color accuracy and it’s ability to produce almost perfectly even light, typically within a fourth of an f stop.

So even though I could have used my Nikon, Leica or Hasselblad it was accepted that well paid jobs were expected to be delivered as large format.

An exception to that was when I did freelance work for Southwest Airlines, that 9 year period most of the magazine shots were either 35MM or Hasselblad since I was on location, doing pictures to tempt flyers to buy vacation packages from SWA.

The hardest part was not capturing images, but getting signed releases for both property and people that appeared in images.

 

[accwai]

Yes, Sinar DB mount, I bought a matched set of Rodenstock 75MM, 90MM, 150MM, 210MM and 305MM from the factory. I wrote them a few months in advance and when my wife and I visited we picked them up.

305mm is almost always interesting. The length is related to imperial unit so it's usually old design, like process lens or antique like this:



Yes, that's bi-pole sync connection

 

[gfroman]

Balanced Rock - Big Bend National Park.

We hiked to this site before sunset, and waited for the stars to come out (this area is one of the Darkest areas in the USA).
Hiking back with our headlamps on, we saw 1000's of beautiful green sparkles reflecting back at us along the dark trail.
Closer observation revealed they were the eyes of 1000's of small spiders, reflecting back from the light.
The spiders hatch this time of year!!
What a spooky night.....

 

[Tango]

Big Bend National Park - Texas

Wow!This is real? It does not seem natural and no realism.

 

[gfroman]

It's real!
Taken at Balanced Rock at Big Bend.
I had my wife pose under the rock, while I added a little more light from my cell phone.
Foreground exposure was about 14 seconds at 1000ISO, Sky exposure was about 20 seconds at 5000ISO.

 

[Tango]

It's real!
Taken at Balanced Rock at Big Bend.
I had my wife pose under the rock, while I added a little more light from my cell phone.
Foreground exposure was about 14 seconds at 1000ISO, Sky exposure was about 20 seconds at 5000ISO.

All the credit to your wife. No kidding. She multiplies the interesting ness of the picture by 100.

 

[gfroman]

Remembering Antelope Canyon....
(Another with my wife)

 

[gfroman]

"Stairway to Heaven" -
Another view from Antelope Canyon.

 

[gfroman]

Another from Antelope Canyon....

 

[DSkip]

 

[gfroman]

"And I want to sleep with you in the desert tonight, with a billion stars all around....." - Eagles.
Big Bend National Park
One of the darkest places in the USA.

 

[gfroman]

Remembering magical Meteora!
Centuries old monasteries in Central Greece.
The area of Meteora was originally settled by monks who lived in caves within the rocks during the 11th Century.
But as the times became more unsure during an age of Turkish occupation and lawlessness, they climbed higher and higher up the rock face until they were living on the inaccessable peaks where they were able to build by bringing material and people up with ladders and baskets and build the first monasteries.

 

[gfroman]

"Dawn at Dead Horse Canyon"