Making IQ180 work for me - huge image

[tashley]

I did the upgrade from my P65+ to see if the IQ180 could break the block I was having with MF, whereby all the art went out of my work when I used it as, a result of the laborious technicalities of doing so sapping my creative juices. So I set out to make an image for a charity auction that would have real impact and be a real seller. I so rarely get serious long-term 'keepers' from MF that I was close to giving up.

I decided to head for Brighton and shoot the West Pier, a burned out wreck of a structure that hovers just offshore, its umbilical cord to dry land having been cut some time back. Now this is a really, truly, cliched subject and has been shot millions of times but in my head I had one of those Victorian architectural drawings of the crystal palace at the Great Exhibition. But I wanted it also to capture the ghostly mood of the place, and to be representative of my fine art style, which tends towards the moody and the painterly. No mean target.

So this is the SK 110 LS on a Cube/Manfrotto CF combo with the DF body. 1/3rd of a second at f20, ISO 35. Tripod (and my!) feet were in the water.

This file was developed in C1 and then exported as 16bit TIFF to LR, from whence it had various round trips into Silver Effex and Photoshop. It was cropped and then upresed to 200% for printing to my Canon iPf6300 on Canson Platine at 64 inches (163cm) wide.

The print looks bloody amazing. Close to exactly what I want. I will tweak some very subtle details for the final print but ten people saw the first run print over the weekend and it got a very strong positive reaction. More importantly for me, it is almost exactly what I had in mind, and finally I was able to get the gear to do what I wanted.

A link to the 92% jpeg file at original resolution:
http://tashley1.zenfolio.com/img/v25/p37680770.jpg

A smaller version is posted here for in-line viewing (the version I printed is over 18000 pixels wide so I haven't posted that...)

Thanks for looking

Tim

 

[Terry]

The detail down to the individual rivets (in the linked version) is pretty amazing. Congrats on your "breakthrough".



By the way how will you mount this? Aluminum open or face mount or fully framed (way huge)


.

 

[engel001]

A very beautiful image, I agree it evokes the delicacy of the period architecture. There is some noise in the shadows, did you bracket for HDR? - Christopher

 

[Terry]

There is some noise in the shadows, did you bracket for HDR? - Christopher

I assumed that was all added in Silver Effex

 

[danlindberg]

Excellent! Very well done :salute:

 

[tashley]

Thanks guys n gals, yup I added the noise: it lacked atmosphere too 'clean'...

Terry, the charity I do these for usually does the mounting before their auction but I will suggest aluminium and that is exactly how I will do it for use in my own home, floating off the wall on batons.

 

[jlm]

tim:
nice to see you glowing with your gear, love the shot!

 

[baxter]

This is really good Tim. Great visualisation and you have produced something very original.

The detail in the large version is incredible. One could audit the barnacles from it, given the inclination!

You must have been very patient to put a file this size through Silver Efex even once. Well worth it though. I hope that the charity are fully appreciative of your work.

I'm finding MF offering lots of creative opportunities that weren't there using 5x4, permitting me to take risks with waves etc. Glad that you've worked out how to make it sing the tune you want so quickly.

 

[malmac]

Tim

I love this type of image. I am also working on getting the best out of my IQ180 using both my Cambo WDS and the 645DF.

Having the gear is one thing, getting the best out of it, like you have done, is another thing entirely.

Fantastic.


Mal

 

[GrahamWelland]

Tim, that's a fabulous image. You totally nailed the "Crystal Palace" architectural diagram look! I'm sure that it looks absolutely stunning printed up large.

(it almost makes me homesick for Blighty btw ... I was born in Hassocks, just outside Brighton myself)

 

[PeterA]

Very nice work - I like the drafting quality you have achieved in this and I ma sure it will look great mounted and hung - an impresive example of the use of the resolving power of that back thats for sure - begs the quesiton - who needs wide angle if you just stand back and use the megapixels? :thumbup:

 

[Chris Barrett]

That **** is awesome. Tashley kicks it.

 

[tashley]

Thanks Baxter! I must say that this was pretty snappy in Silver Effex but then I was mildly lazy (the end effect needs to be a bit impressionistic anyway) and I processed the Silver Effex bit before doing the upres. On a Mac Pro with 8 cores and 8 gig of memory, as long as you exit Safari first, it's pretty quick really! As for the detail, well, the original had so much more but I actively chose to throw some away!

This is really good Tim. Great visualisation and you have produced something very original.

The detail in the large version is incredible. One could audit the barnacles from it, given the inclination!

You must have been very patient to put a file this size through Silver Efex even once. Well worth it though. I hope that the charity are fully appreciative of your work.

I'm finding MF offering lots of creative opportunities that weren't there using 5x4, permitting me to take risks with waves etc. Glad that you've worked out how to make it sing the tune you want so quickly.

 

[tashley]

Tim

I love this type of image. I am also working on getting the best out of my IQ180 using both my Cambo WDS and the 645DF.

Having the gear is one thing, getting the best out of it, like you have done, is another thing entirely.

Fantastic.


Mal

We're using pretty much ditto gear as each other so the challenges are the same. Nice thing is that with a good tripod and MUP, you can still get sharp exposures even with the extra resolution, with quite long exposures.

 

[tashley]

Tim, that's a fabulous image. You totally nailed the "Crystal Palace" architectural diagram look! I'm sure that it looks absolutely stunning printed up large.

(it almost makes me homesick for Blighty btw ... I was born in Hassocks, just outside Brighton myself)

Well Buddy, I can bet you one thing: that the weather is better where you are than it has been in Brighton this summer!

I'm from Lewes originally and still live in Sussex so, greetings from the 'hood!

 

[tashley]

Very nice work - I like the drafting quality you have achieved in this and I ma sure it will look great mounted and hung - an impresive example of the use of the resolving power of that back thats for sure - begs the quesiton - who needs wide angle if you just stand back and use the megapixels? :thumbup:

Thank you! The fun thing about this was using a longer lens to get the perspective I wanted. My kneee jerk was to use the Cambo/Schneider 35XL combination but actually the right choice was the longer lens.

 

[tashley]

That **** is awesome. Tashley kicks it.

You're very kind.... good job I didn't kick the tripod harder than I accidentally did, since it was in six inches of water... not sure my insurance company would have understood that one!
:bugeyes:

 

[jlm]

as i said, I love the shot, and as Tim said, he reduced detail and added noise, so I don't think this is a fair representation of what that 180 back can do, great shot notwithstanding

 

[David K]

Very nicely done... you had a wonderful vision for this shot and captured it perfectly. And if the new kit got you kick started to do it... so much the better.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

You DON'T need a tech cam to get quality images. Just thought I would throw that out there since the obsession lately is about tech cams. These schnieders are freaking awesome lenses. One reason I have not jumped yet on a tech cam but will maybe when I get home from vacation. Big gig done on vacation now. Lol

I could get used to this vacation stuff real easy. In CT heading for west coast this weekend. Okay off to lake. Lol