p.5 #4 · Best digital setup to shoot square format
bobby350z wrote:
What size print?
Hard to say exactly and they were different sizes, but this was a major exhibit in the most important art museum in Austria and I’d say a lot of prints were five or six feet at the long horizontal end. I had never seen anything like that detail.
But this guy literally uses a movie crew and lighting to set up his shots. I’m sure the same amount of effort goes into the rest of the production.
p.5 #5 · Best digital setup to shoot square format
johnvanr wrote:
Hard to say exactly and they were different sizes, but this was a major exhibit in the most important art museum in Austria and I’d say a lot of prints were five or six feet at the long horizontal end. I had never seen anything like that detail.
But this guy literally uses a movie crew and lighting to set up his shots. I’m sure the same amount of effort goes into the rest of the production.
p.5 #6 · Best digital setup to shoot square format
bobby350z wrote:
How do you guys see the detail? Some place I can look at the full res shots?
Saw an exhibit in in person in Manhattan some years back. His popularity has grown over the years, so there are more and more images of his all over the web, and search engines are terrible now and therefore there are many low res images to sort through to find the better high res reproductions. I'd try image search by size or match.
To be honest, though, the details and tonality are apparent even on a phone or tablet screen although a 4K HDR color calibrated monitor will be better.
Another thing is that I suspect his prints are from a Durst Lambda or Océ LightJet to preserve the details. This is, alas, another obstacle, as it's very hard to find a Lambda or LightJet service bureau in 2024. Things come and go.
p.5 #7 · Best digital setup to shoot square format
So, to come back to the original quandary. I'm now in Holland and went out to shoot this morning what for me would be the key bunker in my project, the one in front of the house my mother grew up in. As often in Holland, the weather is grayish and so is the bunker.
I shot with both the Mamiya 6 filled with HP5 (and of course haven't seen those results yet) and with the Fuji GFX 50R with the 63mm, the only lens I have for it.
Shooting-wise, a couple of things struck me:
- I really loved the ability to play with the EV on the Fuji and see the results of it right away, since the light is really challenging in those circumstances;
- while I love the handling of the Mamiya and the amazing mechanics of it, the reality is that the Fuji feels quite similar and that the Mamiya forces me to shoot with glasses, which I do not enjoy;
- I also found that I felt much more comfortable shooting quite a bit with the Fuji as opposed to the idea of shooting a roll of film and the cost of that;
- I liked that on the Fuji, I could switch easily from square to panorama;
- I'm not sure I need IBIS on the camera and I'm not sure I need more MP (since I'd crop to square or panorama);
- I'm pretty sure I'm gonna reserve my 'film' kick for my Bronica SQ setup and sell my Mamiya kit and keep the Fuji;
- I need to add a zoom to the Fuji kit, but don't know what reach I need (here in Holland, the bunkers can be pretty far into the field, but the flak towers in Vienna are right there and enormous).
Finally, I have no clue whether this project as any chance of yielding something worthwhile, but I do think I enjoy the undertaking. I also don't know if B&W or color is better.
GFX 50RGF63mmF2.8 R WR lens63mmf/5.61/170s100 ISO+0.7 EV
GFX 50RGF63mmF2.8 R WR lens63mmf/8.01/150s100 ISO0.0 EV
p.5 #8 · Best digital setup to shoot square format
johnvanr wrote:
So, to come back to the original quandary. I'm now in Holland and went out to shoot this morning what for me would be the key bunker in my project, the one in front of the house my mother grew up in. As often in Holland, the weather is grayish and so is the bunker.
I shot with both the Mamiya 6 filled with HP5 (and of course haven't seen those results yet) and with the Fuji GFX 50R with the 63mm, the only lens I have for it.
Shooting-wise, a couple of things struck me:
- I really loved the ability to play with the EV on the Fuji and see the results of it right away, since the light is really challenging in those circumstances;
- while I love the handling of the Mamiya and the amazing mechanics of it, the reality is that the Fuji feels quite similar and that the Mamiya forces me to shoot with glasses, which I do not enjoy;
- I also found that I felt much more comfortable shooting quite a bit with the Fuji as opposed to the idea of shooting a roll of film and the cost of that;
- I liked that on the Fuji, I could switch easily from square to panorama;
- I'm not sure I need IBIS on the camera and I'm not sure I need more MP (since I'd crop to square or panorama);
- I'm pretty sure I'm gonna reserve my 'film' kick for my Bronica SQ setup and sell my Mamiya kit and keep the Fuji;
- I need to add a zoom to the Fuji kit, but don't know what reach I need (here in Holland, the bunkers can be pretty far into the field, but the flak towers in Vienna are right there and enormous).
Finally, I have no clue whether this project as any chance of yielding something worthwhile, but I do think I enjoy the undertaking. I also don't know if B&W or color is better.
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I would have immediately said B&W would be the way to go. However seeing your 3-image sample above, I prefer the color mainly for the added separation of elements. In the final project, probably some of both, IDK, but here the color image evokes more feelings. My .02 FWIW.
p.5 #9 · Best digital setup to shoot square format
gear-nut wrote:
I would have immediately said B&W would be the way to go. However seeing your 3-image sample above, I prefer the color mainly for the added separation of elements. In the final project, probably some of both, IDK, but here the color image evokes more feelings. My .02 FWIW.
Thanks for the feedback. With the project, I’d want to show these structures in their current context. While my own feeling was also that B&W would work best, the fact is that since these bunkers are always grey, the color of their current surroundings actually show my intentions better.
But some images are stronger in B&W.
It’s not in these examples because I didn’t have the reach and I didn’t yet want to ask the owner for permission, but there is one bunker on a farmer’s yard against which they had built a birdhouse. I took an image from the street. In black and white, it’s a mush of greytones but in color the elements stand out better.
Of course, with digital I can make the choices later.
