Shooting 4 x 5! Amazing Results with a Big Piece of Film!
If you’ve been around a while, or have attended any of our workshops, you have probably heard Melissa and myself profess our love for analog capture. My first experiences with really applying thought and purpose to photography were on black and white film, and it was with this medium that I learned and practiced proper exposure, composition, printing, and started to apply pre-visualization to my images. There is a lot to be said for a digital workflow, and it makes a ton of sense for a lot of clients to work in digital. We’ve seen a lot of changes in the industry in the past decade, but one thing that has more or less always been a part of digital workflows is some people’s desire to imitate the ‘look’ of film in their results. Due to the completely different nature of the two mediums, this has always been very hard to do. I won’t get too far into it, but there is a look or feel that film has, that a lot of people appreciate. There are also a lot of options in both film stocks, processing, and film size. If you are someone who likes grain, for instance, that is something that can be fairly well replicated on digital. However, if you do want to shoot film and having visible grain is important to you, then you are probably going to stick to smaller formats, like 35mm or 120. If you are someone who likes to make a lot of exposures as you photograph a subject, you will also likely stick to those same formats, and the same goes for people who don’t process their own film at home. There are other interesting things to play with though, including view cameras and the movements that they allow. Most view cameras will require shooting large format sheet film, which, if scanned properly can also give you both the feel of film, and a level of detail that is still unmatched with digital capture.
If you have ever thought about working in large format, one of the biggest changes (aside from having to compose your image while it’s upside down and backward) is the overall slow workflow. In this video, I walk you through shooting a portrait of Lambo during our St. Louis workshop. It is a lot of work for 2 frames, but it is my new favorite way to work, and really forces you to focus, and decide if the frame you are composing is really worth it. Check out the process in the video below, and some sample images from the workshop, and some other frames from my journey creating a workflow for my 4x5 photography.
document.body.style.visibility="hidden";
https://cdn.membershipworks.com/mfl.js
Lambo @ Mfore models, sienna @ mfore models, Kyle jameson in central oregon, and north east city details
all images were shot on ilford hp5+ and developed in stearman press sp76ec
