What is it? (Large Format Photography)

[angela_taylor]

What is large format photography?

[moe2]

A good way to spend money and drive yourself and family crazy while

pursuing your "hobby".

 

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Also perhaps a dying art

[david_willis]

Though Moe's answer is pretty accurate, you might want to check

 

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http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~qtluong/photography/lf/

 

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for an introduction to large format photography.

 

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Dave

[dean_lastoria]

Check out the above site -- it's the best, but it refers to a big

negative (usually 4 inches by 5 inches) a negative the size of your

photomat print -- it is unquestionably obsessive, but you really need

to see a contact print to understand it. The negative can be as small

as 2"x3" and go up to 2 feet.

 

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Dean

[john_hennessy]

<Also perhaps a dying art>

 

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I would disagree with that! LF photographers are as thick as fleas

compared to a few years ago. Even if someday one does not need a 4x5

or 8x10 piece of film to capture enough data for a large print because

of a chip not yet invented, that chip will still need to be in a view

camera with all the usual movements. No digital device can replace

tilts and (usually) rise, etc.

[john_hennessy]

My post is as clear as mud because the quote with which I disagreed

got cropped. I meant to disagree with

 

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"Also perhaps a dying art"

[nick_jones]

Angela,

 

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Two modern readable, informative, and well illustrated introductions

are "Large-Format Photography," Kodak rev. 2nd ed. 1998; and Steve

Simmons, "Using the View Camera," rev. ed. Amphoto 1992. After

reading one or both of these, you'd be able to move on to more

technical manuals and to this forum and its archives. Nick.

[david_munson]

It's a different way of doing things. A different way of thinking in

photography. The people who are content to schlep 40+ lbs of gear

around the countryside to expose 2 sheets of film in a day aren't the

same people who want to go out and burn 15 rolls of ultra-high-

saturation film through their 35mm do-everything cameras in an

afternoon. It's a slower, simpler way of doing things. Last spring

when my photo illustration class did a large format unit, most of my

classmates viewed large format as being infinitely more complicated

than their 35mm and medium format systems. For beginners, this isn't

uncommon, I don't think. Most maintained their general aversion to

sheet film, while a few decided that large format was worth further

investigation. I get the feeling that those of us who are truly

committed to LF get to the point where we are so comfortable with the

equipment and technique that it becomes easier and more intuitive

than working in smaller formats. No modes, autofocus, autoexposure,

winders, or blinking lights to worry about with a view camera.

You've got you're lens, film, the camera in between the two, tripod,

meter, and that's about it, really.

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Large format photographers may be a lot more common than they were a

few years back, but we're still not exactly in a position to take

over the world. Large format photographers are still few and far

between in the general population of the world, especially in my age

group, it seems. However, I don't see LF as being a dying art.

There are those of us committed to this way of working, and as long

as there are a few of us around, it'll be far from dead. There is a

growing interest in LF photography- let's hope it keeps growing. In

40 years when I have grandkids, there had better still be 8x10 film

to feed my Deardorff.