A large format photo walk around Munich with a fellow large format photographer sees lots of experiments with different apertures, tilt & shift movements, and general good old large format geekiness. Join me for some interesting results!
A recent walk around Munich with my large format camera mate Ricky (check out his work here), sees me experimenting with different ways of using my Linhof camera as we search for some good light and interesting compositions.
I always enjoy going on photo walks with other photographers, it is a great way to geek out about photography and also learn a thing or two. In this case, I learned a lot about how to push my Linhof camera (not to the limit, but certainly more than I have done previously). I experimented with tilt & shift movements and shooting wide open, leading to some very interesting, and quite unexpected, results.
What’s all this tilting playground you are talking about?
There are quite a few technical terms associated with large format cameras, ‘tilt & shift’ is one that you will hear a lot. I won’t try to replicate what has already been written around camera movements, and will make sure to link to useful resources that can explain it better than I can. However, in a nutshell, my 4x5 camera moves, a lot. This means I can move the lens board in multiple ways: vertically, horizontally, and even laterally. This is very helpful to create different ‘effects’ (for example, creating ‘miniature’ shots), but more importantly to control depth of field focus. Once you get into the subject, it gets very technical very quickly (including with extensive mathematics for those are are so inclined). Thankfully, I am more one to try things out in the field than go crazy researching them, so I took Ricky’s lead and general philosophy of the day which was along the lines of “if your camera has these movements designed into it, go ahead and give it a try, you’ll enjoy the results, oh - and shoot wide open”.
To find about more about large format photography and the various movements accommodated by these cameras you can read an excellent article here.
‘Tilting playground’ was what we termed should be the title of this post as we were taking the Linhof through its paces and seeing what kind of movements and effects we could achieve.
More about the shots
We didn’t have any theme or compositions in mind, just a good old photowalk around Munich. Of course, doing such a ‘walk’ with a 4x5 camera means stopping a lot, unpacking all the gear, setting it up, taking multiple exposure measurements, talking to strangers on the street who wonder what the hell you are doing, taking more measurements, discussing the composition endlessly, moving the camera around a bit, then deciding you didn’t want the shot in the first place and packing it all up and moving on (true story).
All black & white shots taken on Ilford FP4+ sheet film (camera and gear setup shot on iPhone).
My Linhof camera and Ricky’s legendary Speed Graphic camera (over 60 years old!).
A decent place to hold a bowler hat.
Setting up to take a portrait of Ricky with his cherished Speed Graphic camera.
I have not done much (none, actually) portrait photography with my large format camera. One thing I forget is how large the 4x5 negative is, I think you have to get really close to get a proper head or body shot.
Luckily you can crop until your heart’s desire…so I managed to create a fine portrait below (mind you, if you look closely the Speed Graphic is in focus and not Ricky…).
Large format negatives are, well, LARGE!
A busy composition to say the least.
A really cropped in shot, you can just about read the letters ‘Speed Graphic’ on the camera.
Setting up the composition.
My Linhof has both front and back tilt, as far as I understand it that is pretty special for a large format camera. I look forward to learning more and experimenting with this, especially for architecture and portrait shots.
(Although next time I might not shoot so wide open!).
Through the viewfinder shot.
The final shot.
I suppose the extended movements and shooting this wide open created some pretty aggressive vignetting and general chaos in blurriness through the frame. I still like the composition though, with the horse right in the middle of the frame. And for my first (and quite aggressive) tilting experiment, I must say I was quite happy anything came out!
I had also never shot a large format lens wide open (they’re not really designed for that), but glad I did as now I know what it looks like.
A cropped shot, more what I had in mind when I took the shot (as I had not appreciated how out of focus so much of the composition would be).
Ricky wasted no time in diving (literally) for the prime spot.
All setup and waiting for a decent moment where I “think” I have the main surfer in frame (note: figuring that out looking through the ground glass at an image that is both backwards and upside down, is, well, very challenging!)
“That is some funky blur”.
I know I can hear someone saying that after looking at this shot, and I would tend to agree with them. Whilst the “miniature look” is cool, I’m not convinced you’re getting the best out of the large format glass on offer here. That being said, it is still a fun shot!
More miniature shots. Of course, very hard to get anything in focus with sports and a large format camera.
A cropped in shot, you can see how hard it is to nail focus using this method. The only thing that is in focus seems to the the feet of the waiting surfers!
Overall observations
I certainly learned a lot during this photowalk, it was also useful to discuss the finer details of 4x5 photography with a fellow large format photographer in the field. I am still learning how to use my Linhof camera, and I am glad I was convinced to both shoot wide open and try such extensive camera movements. I can’t say the extreme miniature look would be my go-to technique, but it is pretty cool to know it exists. You’ve also got to remember there is no digital effect applied to this, what you see is a result of camera and lens movements and the resulting shot taken on 4x5 sheet film - that’s pretty cool. There is certainly more experimenting I want to do, especially in the field of portraiture.
We also got quite a lot of attention, I suppose it is not everyday you see two 4x5 photographers roaming the streets looking for compositions. I mean wouldn’t you be interested if you saw these two cameras out and about…
By the way, my Linhof camera (left) is by no means small, it is amazing how big the Speed Graphic actually is. More on this legendary camera here.
I hope you enjoyed reading up about my 4x5 experiments as much as I enjoyed doing them!
See you next time!
Neil
