Still learning – paper negatives

The sky looked promising for clouds above the old Birnbeck Pier, so I took my 1900s Thornton Pickard Imperial camera (Image size 8.5×6.5 inches) loaded with Ilford RC IV paper. So the first image here is an exposure of 3 seconds on F16. The paper behaving as ISO 2.

I wanted to blur the motion of the estuary water as it rushed under the pier on the tide. To do this I thought I’d use a “stopper” ND1000 filter. I metered for the light through the filter and exposed accordingly. However the image came out very under exposed so the filter is dramatically stopping the UV/Blue light needed to darken the othorchromatic photographic paper. The image below uses a graduated ND filter, but shows some strange light leaks – this needs investigation!

My Favourite Images

Here are my favourite images from past few weeks – some digital – some paper negatives, x-ray film etc..

It’s good to take time and look back over your work to see what really stands out – grabs you – I have done this a number of times. And each time I have weeded out a few images from my “Best images” folder. I have also looked back over images not in the “best” folder and promoted a few. Leaving a break from the editing process I find some images look better than at first I had thought. Sometimes – especially the colour images – they jar and I have to go back and tone things down or brighten them up as needs be.

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Glass dry plate – poured emulsion

Self portrait- These are my first attempts at pouring liquid silver gelatine emulsion (Foma from Silverprint) onto a glass plate to make my own glass negatives. Some practice still needed – but some areas show very good detail and tones.

2 second exposure F45. Developed in standard Ilford chemistry at recommended dilutions. Photographed and inverted in Photoshop.
Camera is a Lancaster Instantograph c1900.

 

My new book – Old Parson’s Fruit ‘n’ Veg

Old Parson’s Fruit ‘n’ Veg is the title, Fruit-‘n’-Veg through old glass – is the content of my new Blurb book. created at the suggestion of a friend who recommended I produce a book to show what I do.

A celebration of the everyday – seen through the old eye of a 100-year-old plate camera. Each image has been created as a negative on a piece of photographic paper making the objects look quite different – yet familiar. Some have been “developed” to positive images in “Photoshop” where this helps highlight specific characteristics that intrigue me, or I find beautiful.

It took a long time to look through the images produced in the last 15 months and select 90 of the best and most representative images.

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Looking to the stars with an old eye

I love making star-trail images with my DSLR, but wanted to see what I could achieve with my 100 year old camera (Thornton Pickard Imperial 8.5×6.5)and 80 year old lens (Dallmeyer Pentac F11).  Two nights ago I tried a paper negative exposed for 1 hr – but only a few of the brightest stars in Ursa major left any mark on the paper – even with the lens wide open at f2.9. So last night I used some Fomopan 100ISo film I had.

Here is the result – which I am pretty pleased with.

Enhanced and inverted to a positive in Photoshop I got this.

This is what I get with my Fuji mirrorless cameras set to take an image for 15s every 30s for 190 minutes (until the battery runs out).

Exploring old cameras

Having started with the Victorian bellows cameras I thought I’d explore some other old cameras and see if I could use them with paper negatives. I found that local general auctions often had collections of cameras for sale so started there.

I started by seeing if/how they worked, cleaning them, and, if within my limited skill set, repairing them to a point where I can try them with film, x-ray film or paper negatives. When I have satisfied my curiosity I have sold them on and bought some more!

Along the way I have saved a few to add to my collection – but only those which help produce images that I find interesting and/or beautiful.

Lovely images from aged Kodabrome

Tempted by the low price I have some 10-year-old Kodabrome photographic paper to try as paper negative in my large format 10×8 1900s field camera.

I bought some IlFord Bromophen developer (as powder makes 5 litres diluting 1:3 for use) to process it.

Initial results show that is “fast” as its technical description says – at least ISO12 as compared to 6 for ilford multigrade RC paper. (nb ISO values vary with the type of light and, outdoors, with the amount of UV light – which varies by cloudiness, pollution and season! On a bright summer day the effective ISO can be 25)

The initial images show a much softer tonal gradation compared to the ilford paper and no pre-flashing is needed. Whether this is because if the age of the paper or its chemistry I don’t know – but I love it!

I have only tried the paper in the studio under studio fluorescent lights. It will be interesting to see how it behaves in natural light and natural light outdoors.

A perfect marriage?

Pleased to have successfully “married” my Dallmeyer 8″ (f2.9-11) to a, recently acquired, Thornton Pickard Imperial (Full Plate). I have had to make a gravity shutter as the lens is too big for any of my TP roller shutters. This runs at 1/30s quite reliably. Photo is a paper negative at F 2.9 (developed in Photoshop).

Using f2.9 the depth of field was very small. So small that a movement of 2mm on the paper negative put the focus out as compared to what is seen on the glass screen. The double dark slide which holds the paper negative has a divider with springs to push the negative (glass plate originally) flat. However on the paper it pushed the centre forward and out of the plane of focus – even with thick card backing the paper. So I removed the plate with springs and now the paper sits on the focal plane.

So busy trying new things ……

I was surprised to see my last post was over 3 months ago. But I haven’t been idle – far from it, especially now we are “locked down” at home! Below is a brief overview of what I have been up to with links to pages containing more details.

One area of activity has been buying up old cameras, seeing if/how they worked, cleaning them, and, if within my limited skill set, repairing them to a point where I can try them with film, x-ray film or paper negatives. When I have satisfied my curiosity I have sold them on and bought some more!

Along the way I have saved a few to add to my collection – but only those which help produce images that I find interesting and/or beautiful.

Alongside the equipment I have been trying my own film developing – using old film stock found in auction lots, including processing colour film for B&W . I have also experimented with different processes for printing  – salt printing and albumen printing – with limited success.

The most exciting and successful are has been in using old glass plates in my 1900s cameras. I came across unused dry plates in an auction lot I bought and tried them to see if they were still useable – and (despite my ineptitude and lack of knowledge on how to use them) they produced some great images. I have been able to source more dry plates in a secondhand camera shop and on Ebay so will continue to use these in my image making.

During this time I produced a “Blurb” book of my fruit ‘n’ veg photographs– available on Amazon.

I have found a few useful and interesting Facebook groups from which I have learned a lot to help me on my way.

(Work in progress – please check back soon as the links in bold type will become active pages)

 

LArGE lens adds a new dimension

An exciting find at a local general auction as added a new dimension to the images I can make with my 1900s New Countess 10×8 field camera.

The lens seems to be an ex-aerial photography lens made by Dallmeyer – F2.9 to 11 8″ focus length.

I love the 3-d like depth this lens creates in images. My only challenge with it is that since it lets in so much light I will need a shutter with it as exposure times are less than a second in daylight even with photo paper negatives at ISO 6!

Hazy – delaminating and fungusy lens delivers the look!

New lens producing good results- I bought the lens for its combination of short focus length and small apperture, allowing me to make close-up images with good depth of field.

Auction listing said “Wray 4in F8 (to F64) Platystigmat Lens.

 Vintage Brass Lens, Serial 10079

This is in good cosmetic condition

No scratches

Some light fungus / haze internally

some separation below front element

Apertures work correctly”

This apple image is a 5×7 paper negative on ilford multi grade RC paper processed in 1:3 Bromophen developer. Paper mounted in my 1900s 10×8 field camera at 2/3 full extension. 2x 500 Watt fluorescent studio lights, 3 minute exposure at F64 . – negative photographed with a 24 megapixel digital camera and developed in Photoshop at 300dpi – images I produce soon to published in a Blurb book, hence the digitisation.

#largeformatphotography #papernegative #antiquelens #studiothreegallery