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Fun with MF images - ARCHIVED - FOR VIEWING ONLY

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evgeny

Member
Re: Fun with MF images - Part 3

Nice image, curious why you used the flash stand in the composition.

The crop of her head is amazing. Great clarity and perfect detail.
I shot this image while I teached photographers in my studio, the stand happened to be the frame :D
 

Stuart Richardson

Active member
Re: Fun with MF images - Part 3

I had insomnia the other day (24 hours of light...), so I drove out into the countryside at 5am. I found a beautiful valley of lava rocks and dormant (I hope) volcanoes. I climbed one of them and took these shots -- I still can't get the colors right -- something with digital medium format and color does not work well for me. I think I need to figure out how to make custom white shading files...something seems off with mine. The colors should be more or less spot on right out of the box, but they just aren't. I just cannot seem to get it right. This would have been helped by a neutral grad, but I do not own one. These were with the Hy6 and E54LV and 40mm and 110mm lenses. Anyway, it was an incredibly beautiful place and time -- just one of those perfect days. I look forward to seeing how they came out on film too...

You can see my car down in the bottom right:




And a black and white version that I think works better:


These were taken around 7am I guess...though sunrise is at 3:30am...
 

PeterA

Well-known member
Re: Fun with MF images - Part 3

I can see what you are saying Stuart ( well as much as a screen view can show anyway) - beautful sceneray - I dont know looks like the light is a tad dark ..

btw I prefer the colour by far.

pete
 

Terry

New member
Re: Fun with MF images - Part 3

Stuart - I like the color version better as well. I particularly like the first one with the meandering stream.
 

etrump

Well-known member
Re: Fun with MF images - Part 3

I think I need to figure out how to make custom white shading files...something seems off with mine. The colors should be more or less spot on right out of the box, but they just aren't.
Stuart,

These images are really rubbing in my disappointment at not being able to come up this year.

I had real issues with WB/color with my DB. I now do a custom white balance shooting through an LCC white reference or expo disk and make an exposure holding a white/grey/black reference card at arms length into the frame. Between the two I can almost always get color as I saw it.

Sometimes when the scene is a majority of one color (green foliage or blue sky) the custom WB shooting through the LCC plate or expo disk can skew the balance which is why I make an image with reflected grey reference.

Regards,
Ed
 

carstenw

Active member
Re: Fun with MF images - Part 3

Stuart, very nice shots.

Could you go into a bit more detail about how the colours are wrong, and what your workflow and setup is, including colour profiling? That is the first I have heard of something like this.
 

jlm

Workshop Member
Re: Fun with MF images - Part 3

stuart: nice shots. i find with the 6008 and same lenses and P20 set to daylight that the colors are almost perfect when they come up in C1. When using the 205/CFV and Phocus, I had always to correct kelvin and tint a bit, usually the same way
 

Stuart Richardson

Active member
Re: Fun with MF images - Part 3

Thanks everyone for the comments.

Ed -- I was trying to make the insomnia work for me -- I wanted to get an idea of when the shooting light was good for you. Basically, on June 1st there was good shooting light from around 6:30pm until 11, then again from 4am until 9 or 10. Of course it can be good outside of these times, but it is more "daylight". The light should be similar on July 12th, which is 21 days after the solstice. As you get further from the solstice, things get later (in the morning) and earlier (in the evening) by a total of about 6-7 minutes a day.

I have to go to work soon, but a few things that I think are at play here in terms of the color -- I think flare is playing a role in desaturating. The 40mm flares a bit into the light, and I do not have a shade, so I had to use my hand. Not ideal. The colors in the telephoto one are better and closer to accurate. Two -- there is something about the moss that covers the lava that tends to defy accurate color balance. I have never really found a camera that can photograph it the way it looks to the eye. I am wondering if it is an IR effect or something, but it does the same thing with the M8 and IR filters. I will try a polarizer.

As for my color management -- I basically shoot it at the daylight setting on the back. I bring the photos into Exposure to be converted to DNG's, then I edit them in Capture One. My monitor is calibrated with an XRite system, and it is an Eizo Color Edge monitor.

I will see if I can answer more later as well as edit some more photos.

Thanks again!
 

Paratom

Well-known member
Re: Fun with MF images - Part 3

Which profile you use in c1 since there is no specific profile for the Sinar back.
For this reason I try to use the Exposure software as much as I can also for converting the dng.
I found some color shift in some images I took in high altitude (around 2500m) and harsh light with snow with the 40mm.
I guess inextreme light it can make sense to shoot and use LCC. (I never do though)


Thanks everyone for the comments.

Ed -- I was trying to make the insomnia work for me -- I wanted to get an idea of when the shooting light was good for you. Basically, on June 1st there was good shooting light from around 6:30pm until 11, then again from 4am until 9 or 10. Of course it can be good outside of these times, but it is more "daylight". The light should be similar on July 12th, which is 21 days after the solstice. As you get further from the solstice, things get later (in the morning) and earlier (in the evening) by a total of about 6-7 minutes a day.

I have to go to work soon, but a few things that I think are at play here in terms of the color -- I think flare is playing a role in desaturating. The 40mm flares a bit into the light, and I do not have a shade, so I had to use my hand. Not ideal. The colors in the telephoto one are better and closer to accurate. Two -- there is something about the moss that covers the lava that tends to defy accurate color balance. I have never really found a camera that can photograph it the way it looks to the eye. I am wondering if it is an IR effect or something, but it does the same thing with the M8 and IR filters. I will try a polarizer.

As for my color management -- I basically shoot it at the daylight setting on the back. I bring the photos into Exposure to be converted to DNG's, then I edit them in Capture One. My monitor is calibrated with an XRite system, and it is an Eizo Color Edge monitor.

I will see if I can answer more later as well as edit some more photos.

Thanks again!
 

Stuart Richardson

Active member
Re: Fun with MF images - Part 3

Edit: I'll get to this later.

Graham -- Sometimes I can get a decent white balance in eXposure, but I find the program to be very very poor, so I avoid it as much as I can.

In all programs, the standard daylight white balance is way off. The back's standard daylight balance is listed 4843 +47 magenta tint. It should be 5500 +10. The presets in eXposure are also very odd. Tungsten is 6000 and 0? Flash is 6400 +4? Tungsten should be 3800 or so. Again, this is not critical, but the overall workflow in eXposure just makes it unwieldy, and I try to just get the RAW files turned into DNG's and then get into a better program. Sadly, the better the program's workflow, the worse it seems to be as an actual converter. eXposure probably does the best job, but it is terrible to use. Capture One does a good job, but is not all that enjoyable to use. Lightroom is a breeze to use, but does not give particularly good results. Anyway....
 
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Stuart Richardson

Active member
Re: Fun with MF images - Part 3

Ok, here are the film shots. Digital certainly has the better dynamic range, though the slides look much better than these scans. It is very difficult to replicate the contrast range and color that slides have in a scan, particularly in these extremely contrasty lighting conditions. That said, these colors look a bit more "right" to me. I have not had time to edit the digital colors to more closely mimic the film. Neither is "right" though. These shots are velvia 100, which I just happened to have on hand. Astia or E100G would have been much better for the lighting conditions.





And from a rusted out car nearby:


And some black and whites:



 

evgeny

Member
Re: Fun with MF images - Part 3

Try to guess where I shot this image. Contax 645 with Aptus 65.
Processed with an OldPhoto and Sharpener plugins.

 

JimCollum

Member
Re: Fun with MF images - Part 3

aptus 75s, horseman swdII, 55mm lens (all images from full range rise and shift... then some cropped appropriately)

San Francisco














 
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evgeny

Member
Re: Fun with MF images - Part 3

The building in the background is in Ukiah, California. However, that looks like it is a print with a small motorbike model in front of it so it could have been shot anywhere. Your living room? :)
Exactly! :D
 

ptomsu

Workshop Member
Re: Fun with MF images - Part 3

Ok, here are the film shots. Digital certainly has the better dynamic range, though the slides look much better than these scans. It is very difficult to replicate the contrast range and color that slides have in a scan, particularly in these extremely contrasty lighting conditions. That said, these colors look a bit more "right" to me. I have not had time to edit the digital colors to more closely mimic the film. Neither is "right" though. These shots are velvia 100, which I just happened to have on hand. Astia or E100G would have been much better for the lighting conditions.
Stuart,

are you still using film today or are these "old" shots.

If you are using film, which camera do you have? And which scanner do you use?

I cannot get rid of the idea to do some work again in film as I have now the Hasselblad Flextight X5 as scanner and currently scanning all my old 6x6 and 645 material - a wonderful machine! And the magic of a good 6x6 scan is something where even the best of today's MFDBs are miles away :cool:

I could easily buy a Hasselblad 503 with 3 lenses and 2 film backs for €3000.- and just continue with 6x6. It will take years (maybe decades) before 6x6 digital backs will be available for a reasonable price and maybe that would never happen ....

Thanks for your thoughts ....
 
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