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Loading the Graflex ’23’ Graphic film back
The Graflex “23” 6×9 film back seems rather confusing when you first encounter it, but after a bit of practice it is easy enough to use. However, I recommend sacrificing one roll of film to practice...
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Bellows extension, exposure correction and diffraction
USING bellows or extension tubes for close-up photography moves the iris of the lens away from the camera reducing the amount of light reaching the film or the sensor. Quite literally, the further away...
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Flash as a substitute shutter
MY CROWN Graphic 5×4 camera arrived with three shutters – 135mm, 150mm and 180mm – all of which have questionable speed ratings. It’s not that old-time shutters were desperately inaccurate, it’s just...
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The city at night
IT’S NOT just the kit that gets bigger in large format, practical difficulties can be magnified, too. This was driven home to me while I was checking some night shots I took with the 6×9 film back on...
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Discovering caffenol
FOLLOW-UP: Since writing what follows, I have tested this recipe on four more films, none of which turned out as well as the first despite my efforts to replicate the conditions exactly. I’m forced to...
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HDR with film
A HARSH, blown-out sky can make a real mess of a photo but in some lighting situations it is unavoidable. With digital, ways around this – taking multiple shots and merging them, or making different...
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Three sunsets in one
You don’t take a photo, you make it – Ansel Adams You don’t take a photo, you fake it – Paul Cowan I THINK my version is probably more apposite today. Everybody likes a good sunset, don’t they? Just as...
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Shooting lightning
I WAS in Greece for a month from mid-October and I was lucky to have fabulous weather while I was there. There was a real “Indian summer” right through the islands for the first week and though it got...
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Stitching up wide-angle
EVER wanted a perfect, distortion free, 10mm lens with a camera that delivers 70MP images? Well, if you’ve got a half-decent DSLR and a reasonable standard or short telephoto lens, then you have all...
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Scan size and quality surprise (Epson V500)
I’VE ALWAYS ASSUMED that the quality you get from making a large scan and then downsizing it is going to be much the same as just making a small scan to start with. I now know that it isn’t. As it...
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