Level 5 Advanced Techniques Journal

At the university we have three types of scanner. We have flat bed scanner, a drum scanner and a imacon scanner. Flat Bed - 'Epson V750 Pro' The flat bed scanner is reasonably easy to use.  The top half of the scanner is what scans the film.  It can scan 35mm, medium format, 5x4 and 10x8 film reflective and transparency scanning Quality of scan for 5x4 is near enough the same as the imacon, but not as good for 35mm and medium format Has a CCD sensor (Charged Couple Device) that interprets the colour based on the sensor chip. This should be calibrated for the best scan. The scanner sensor make a pass over / under a fixed object and contains mirrors and/or lenses to reflect the beam to the analogue/digital converter. The optical path of the sensor is impure and a degree of interpretation is made by the sensor. The optical path is more of a criss cross action rather than straight down. has anti newton rings glass - the pro version such as this has better glass (only ...

I was quite nervous about developing my film because I would finally see how my image turned out and whether I worked the large format camera well! We developed our film using tray development because it gives a much more even development than a tank. A huge benefit of this way of developing is that the sheets you can develop an unlimited number of film sheets using the same chemicals, which will reduce costs when you bulk develop as chemicals can get very expensive! First, we set everything up in preparation as we have to develop in pitch black and won't be able to do this if we can't see! So we set everything up first, and take the film out last when the lights are out. Set up the water bath - this is just a tray full of water that must be 20°C. Set up the developer tray - at the university we use ID-11, a fine grain film formula. It must be mixed 1:1 with water, and the overall temperature must also be 20°C. You can assure this by first measuring out the developer ...

Shooting on Large Format Cameras Shooting on large format cameras isn't the easiest thing to ever be done. There's always so much you need to remember to do, or your whole image could be ruined. My  first experience luckily turned out well. First, you must obviously set up the camera; open tripod and make everything level Screw in the camera holder to the tripod base plate and click it in place add the plastic protectors on to the camera holder Place the camera on the camera holder and tighten until it can't go further Get your lens board; remove the rear lens cap and place the board into the camera by using the tabs to unlock and relock the board into place. remove the front lens cap screw in the cable release at the bottom of the lens Now that's set up, you can get ready to shoot; Find your subject (probably should do this before you set the camera up) ensure the back is vertical; remember the back controls perspective compose your image. You c...

The Scheimpful rule is a type of movement that helps get more of an image in focus. Simply, it's when you move the lens plane to be no longer parallel with the film plane. Remember that the front standard changes focus and the rear standard changes perspective. In the words of Trenholm.org ; "..state that three fundamental planes must converge along a common line. For the Scheimpflug Rule, the three planes are the film plane. the lens plane and the plane of sharp focus. The plane of sharp focus is the plane on which the camera is focused. In order for the camera to be in focus, these three planes must converge along a single line: the Scheimpflug Line." So, normally when your camera has the film plane and the lens plane parallel your plane of focus will be as follows; However, when you apply the The Scheimpflug Rule by tilting the lens plane, you can get more of the foreground subjects in focus. Say there's a dog in front of my tree and I want them both i...

Reciprocity Usually, exposure time and the amount of light have a pretty stable relationship, and your lightmeter can tell you that relationship helping you get the best exposure for your image. However, this all goes out the window when your exposure time goes above one second. You can no longer go by the time given on your light meter and have to figure out another exposure time. The only trouble is, there's no relationship anymore. There's no correlation or formula between the amount of light and the exposure time and so it's damn near impossible to work out how much time you need, and each film reacts differently. Luckily, there are apps you can use to help with this. You can input your film type and what you lightmeter is telling you do do, and it will work out your new exposure time. The app is simply called 'reciprocity' and is available for both android and apple. When you've applied reciprocity, you should develop your film at N-1 as the light tone...

The Zone System is a way to measure the tonal range in an image. It's important to note this is the tonal range in the print rather than the negative. Recorded in roman numerals, the system runs along from 0 to X, 0 being completely black and X being pure white. Zone I : first tonal appearance in the blacks Zone II : first shadow detail in the blacks Zone III : full shadow before detail Zone IV, V, VI : Mid tones Zone VII : Light area has mid detail Zone VIII: The light part of the print has light detail Zone IX: Mostly grey, no detail Place and Fall when you take a light meter reading, it reads the light as a mid grey. So if you take a reading from a highlighted area, it still thinks you're taking a reading from the mid grey in the image. So if you took the photos on the settings it tells you to at this point, everything will be over exposed, as the mid grey is no longer at V, but maybe VIII. This then moves the zone of the shadows up, because the whole image ...

To load your film holders, you must first obviously have film. Open the flaps at the bottom (or the right side when oriented with the dark slides to the left). This allows the film to enter the holder. You'll be able to see two sets of tramlines. Before you turn off the lights in the room, make sure the white or silver top of the dark slide is facing outwards, as when the film is used you'll be able to switch it over and show the black side, letting you know which sides have been exposed. In a blackened out room (this must be light tight or your film will become exposed) open your box of film. If it is new, it will come with protective card. For now, remove these and put them aside. Get all of your film out, or simply prop it up and make sure you know where it is. Take you film holder, and make sure the dark slides are semi pulled out and are to the left of the holder. If you run your fingers along the edge of a piece of film, you'll feel some notches. These must be pla...

The lens is what allows light to enter your camera and hit the film. Technically, a lens is not necessary and a pinhole would work to do this same job, but with a lens you have much more control over the image produced. A lens allows more light to enter over a larger area than a pinhole, which means the exposure time can be significantly reduced, which is far more practical. A lens also allows you to focus the image; with a pinhole there is no defined focal length and cannot focus at all. A lens gives you so much more control in that sense, allowing you to compose the image with many more options. The physics behind focusing When the lights rays pass through one medium into a different medium, in this example air and glass, the speed of the light waves change at the point at the second medium. So when light enters through glass, the speed the light travels at changes when it hits the glass. If the glass is at a certain angle, the light will follow that and change direction. This ...