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Archive 2014 · Grotto Falls GSMNP (BW 4x5)
  
 
Alan Brock
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Grotto Falls GSMNP (BW 4x5)


Time for this week's dose of old-school photography; I can feel everyone's excitement! However, I'm not really that active a member of any film forums so I'll post them here. I will again apologize in advance if these aren't your cup of tea.

Made the trip up to Great Smoky Mountains National Park last weekend. It's about an hour and a half drive, but I had to leave at 4:30 a.m. to beat the crowds, because I was hiking to Grotto Falls...one of the most popular falls in the park. The falls are unique in that the trail actually goes behind them. I was the first one there and took 3 different compositions, the large format equivalent of spray-and-pray! All are Ilford Delta 100 4x5, souped in Ilfosol-3, 4:15 at 68F, using BTZS tubes (my first time using these and I'm absolutely sold on them!). Scanned using an Epson V700. C&C welcome and appreciated!
May 11, 2014 at 09:50 PM
dalongfellow
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Grotto Falls GSMNP (BW 4x5)


Nicely done. All of them seem very well exposed. I like the little cairn tucked into the first shot. The shutter speeds in all must be pretty slow, which is a bit of a negative for me, especially in the last shot, since there's not much texture in the water. Otherwise, I enjoyed seeing the set, and looking into the nicely open shadows, etc.

Dave
May 11, 2014 at 10:10 PM
Ben Horne
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Grotto Falls GSMNP (BW 4x5)


These turned out great Alan. Great tones and the comp works for me. I think your shutter speeds are great for the water. Though it's certainly a trend right now to try and show detail in the water, I'm not sure how long that will last. We might look back on this era of photography (Overdone Milky Way shots, extreme shadow detail, HDR, in your face shots with perfectly impossible exposures) just like how we now regard selective color, soft focus, etc. I'm a fan of the soft water look since it gives images a very calm feeling instead of the in your face hyper real feeling.


May 11, 2014 at 11:02 PM
killersnowman
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Grotto Falls GSMNP (BW 4x5)


Nicely done Alan! I really like the longer shutter speeds on these. the smooth water really adds to sense of calm and mystery in the images. the dark tones, still leaves, and smooth water really make them quite magical and mysterious.

well done
May 11, 2014 at 11:46 PM
JimFox
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Grotto Falls GSMNP (BW 4x5)


Hey Alan,

Pretty good work here. I like the genuine B&W feel here. #2 is my favorite. In all of them I do wish a faster shutter speed could have been used, but knowing there are limitations of lower ISO's with film I think they look great.

Jim
May 12, 2014 at 01:41 AM
stanparker
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Grotto Falls GSMNP (BW 4x5)


I love waterfalls at any shutter speed, and I think these are great. Love the comps. It has been more than 50 years since I shot 4x5 B&W, but I still appreciate the detail it gives you. Nice work on these.
May 12, 2014 at 07:30 AM
dswiger
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Grotto Falls GSMNP (BW 4x5)


Alan,
Nice to see another LF guy posting!
Like all three of these. I think your Ilford seems to have better mid-tone contrast then the TMax I am working with. While the shutter speed isn't what I normally would like, I think it works great here & besides, that's a taste thing anyway.

BTW, I will look over my notes on the Tmax shots (if I can read them) & let you know

Thanks for posting
Dan
May 12, 2014 at 12:48 PM
elitefroggy
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Grotto Falls GSMNP (BW 4x5)


Very well done in both exposure and processing. I like the first two the best. Dave
May 12, 2014 at 02:19 PM
Alan Brock
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Grotto Falls GSMNP (BW 4x5)


dalongfellow wrote:
Nicely done. All of them seem very well exposed. I like the little cairn tucked into the first shot. The shutter speeds in all must be pretty slow, which is a bit of a negative for me, especially in the last shot, since there's not much texture in the water. Otherwise, I enjoyed seeing the set, and looking into the nicely open shadows, etc.

Dave

Thanks Dave! Never could figure out the purpose of the cairn. The trail makes a hairpin turn here with the falls being the center of the hairpin. The trail is literally about 20 feet to the right and left of the cairn...route finding is not really an issue.

I have grown to accept and even enjoy the look of longer shutter speeds and waterfalls. I agree with you about the pool of water in #3. I realized this when I was composing the image and attempted to add some life to it by backing off my polarizer a bit. I was hoping to add a bit of life by showing some reflections. Obviously that was a mistake as it's just a solid sheet of middle gray. I should've just gone full polarization to at least show the rocks beneath the surface (as in #2). #3 as shown here is actually cropped a little off the lower right to minimize that pool as much as possible.
May 12, 2014 at 07:33 PM
Alan Brock
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Grotto Falls GSMNP (BW 4x5)


Ben Horne wrote:
These turned out great Alan. Great tones and the comp works for me. I think your shutter speeds are great for the water. Though it's certainly a trend right now to try and show detail in the water, I'm not sure how long that will last. We might look back on this era of photography (Overdone Milky Way shots, extreme shadow detail, HDR, in your face shots with perfectly impossible exposures) just like how we now regard selective color, soft focus, etc. I'm a fan of the soft water look since it gives images a very calm feeling instead...Show more →

Thanks Ben, I really appreciate that! I have found that I enjoy and even need the limitations of large format photography. When shooting digital, I find myself getting stressed out over the seemingly limitless options available. "Should I bracket this? Should I take more images for focus stacking? Would a new Photoshop technique take my image to the next level?"

I'm definitely not bashing these techniques, or the photographers who use them. Just the opposite, I really admire and see the beauty in these works of art! However, with the way my mind works, I need the boundaries imposed by this format. If the light is good and within the range of the film, I'll get the shot. If not, I'll move on to something else or wait until the light changes. I actually find it peaceful and, weirdly enough, much easier to shoot this way.
May 12, 2014 at 07:44 PM
sachman
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Grotto Falls GSMNP (BW 4x5)


Love the tones, beautifully done!
May 12, 2014 at 07:47 PM
Alan Brock
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Grotto Falls GSMNP (BW 4x5)


Thanks everyone for the kind words!

dswiger wrote:
Alan,
Nice to see another LF guy posting!
Like all three of these. I think your Ilford seems to have better mid-tone contrast then the TMax I am working with. While the shutter speed isn't what I normally would like, I think it works great here & besides, that's a taste thing anyway.

BTW, I will look over my notes on the Tmax shots (if I can read them) & let you know

Thanks for posting
Dan

I enjoy the really long exposure look of water, but I also enjoy the 1/8s exposure of your Yosemite photo. Has the look and feel of the way Ansel Adams shot waterfalls. I really enjoy Ilford and I'm really starting to get a good feel for the way it is exposed and developed; I'll probably stick with it for a while but would like to try TMax and other stocks one day. I will say this about Delta 100 though, its reciprocity failure is atrocious! It's one reason my waterfalls look the way they do!

Hope to see more of your LF work on here. Have to do what we can to keep to the film manufacturers in business!


Edited on May 14, 2014 at 10:32 AM · View previous versions
May 12, 2014 at 07:52 PM
Evan Baines
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Grotto Falls GSMNP (BW 4x5)


These make me wistful for my Shen Hao.

Its interesting that each of these are more or less centered compositions, but for the most part I find them well balanced. (slightly less the 2nd).

Very nice overall.
May 12, 2014 at 08:06 PM
kmunroe
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Grotto Falls GSMNP (BW 4x5)


beautiful set Alan
May 14, 2014 at 04:42 AM
Scott Kroeker
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Grotto Falls GSMNP (BW 4x5)


Nice series Alan. I too don't mind the longer shutter speed in the last image. Well done!
May 14, 2014 at 03:32 PM
Jeffrey
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Grotto Falls GSMNP (BW 4x5)


Nice 4x5 work, Alan. Good comps. The shutter speed is a bit long for me....
May 14, 2014 at 10:53 PM
Kee Woo Rhee
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Grotto Falls GSMNP (BW 4x5)


These great shots of waterfalls are my standing ground... for my trip to the waterfalls in PA this weekend.
Thanks for sharing.
May 15, 2014 at 08:23 PM





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