louie_powell1 Posted April 13, 2003 Share Posted April 13, 2003 Just read the John Sexton interview in Lenswork where he talks about the value of making mistakes. Well, I made one today, only I don't know what I did wrong! Long story - moved to a new house, had to shut down the old darkroom, and build a new one. Bottom line - about a 6 month hiatus in photography. So today, I got out for the first time. Found a beautiful stream, overflowing with spring snow melt. Made two exposures (one vertical, one horizontal), same exposure. Processed the two sheets together. One was totally (and uniformly) exposed - even the edges. The other was totally (and uniformly) unexposed. Anyone have any clue what I did wrong? I would sure like to learn from this mistake, but first I have to know what it was! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joey Posted April 13, 2003 Share Posted April 13, 2003 The sheet was totally unexposed? That means that no light hit the film. Perhaps you exposed a different sheet than the one you processed, or there was something like a darkslide blocking the light from the film. Or, maybe you just forgot to fire the shutter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolf_g._katzenstein Posted April 13, 2003 Share Posted April 13, 2003 You processed the dark slide. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_poinsett Posted April 13, 2003 Share Posted April 13, 2003 It's likely that either the shutter was not cocked or the darkslide was not removed during the shot. The charm of LF is there are so many options for control. The curse is there are so many places to foul things up, it's so easy to overlook something, and sometimes the smallest thing will have big consequenses. I shot 16 sheets today. On one, I pulled the darkslide with the shutter wide open. Just a little bit of a hurry to catch the light made me lose concentration. I've made worse mistakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Harpold Posted April 13, 2003 Share Posted April 13, 2003 Hello Louie, Probably darkslide left in, I went out Saturday to Vasquez Rocks and set up, and got my shot ready and went to pull a film holder out of the bag grabbed it by the darkslide and pulled the dark slide right out of the film holder, I will make sure the little catches are all in place next time. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leonard_evens Posted April 13, 2003 Share Posted April 13, 2003 I agree that the most likely explanation is that you forgot to pull out the dark slide. No matter how often you do it, when you feel somewhat under pressure, it is very easy to make mistakes. Today I was shooting in a small gem of a botanic garden I found in a short visit to Cincinnati, but I had limited time because I had to pick my wife up at a certain time and start home. I managed to ruin one shot by failing to reset the preview button. In another case, I had switched from color to b/w and forgot to reset the speed on my exposure meter, so that shot is underexposed by at least one stop. This was probably one of the best days of the year to take pictures in this location, and in any case I'm not likely to return to Cincinnati any time soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miles_feigenbaum___dallas_ Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 Use a CHECKLIST, CHECKLIST, CHECKLIST! Just like all professional pilots are supposed to use; even after many years of flying... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ray bidegain Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 My guess is that you pulled the dark slide on the ground glass side fogging the sheet, then never exposed the other one, but that is just a guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennifer_waak Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 I'm seconding what Ray said. You pulled the dark slide on the GG side for the first shot. Then, turned it over for the second shot and pulled the same dark slide. I could be wrong, but it makes sense at 3am. -Jen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken_schroeder Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 Louie, welcome to the club....The darkslide scenarios sound logical, except for the edges of the one sheet being exposed. That sounds like an out of holder experience. I suggest you make a photo of your front yard, or anything nearby. Put the emphasis on doing the mechanical operations of film handling very carefully. If the negatives are technically perfect, you can rule out mechanical failure. This is more important than you might think. In the back of your mind, you need the confidence of knowing your equipment checks out. If everything is fine, then review and practice your film handling and loading routines. These should be as by the numbers as a soldier field stripping his rifle. Leonard makes a good point about working under pressure. One thing which has helped me over the years is loading my holders in advance. I like to be at peace with the universe when loading and developing film. I can always discard bad prints and start over again. Not so with film. Practice and concentration will help with the gremlins.Keep shooting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reinier_de_vlaam Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 maybe that when you pulled back your dark cloth, under which you focussed, to insert the neg-holder, you accidently put the cloth over the lens ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_poinsett Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 Yes, yes, Ray has it. I misinterpreted the meaning of "totally (and uniformly) exposed". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janko_belaj Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 <p>Yesterday expirience: (well, freiday-sunday work)<br> I have been on location (7 small baroque churches) where I had to shoot 14 LF slides (and several 120 roll films). The last day, in very last church, on very last shot - I was with THE last polaroid... the strobes give me 1:8 and I needed 1:22 for DOF... that will make 8 fills with srobes... and to fill strobes aftrer each "fire" I need 2-3 seconds. about 20 seconsds... but lightmeter measured f 1:22+1/3 for those 20 seconds (widhout flash light). so, I'w put THE last polaroid in the holder, made exposure and I'w (naturaly) forgot to put knob on "P"... and I have destroyed the last test sheet... 1:32 with 12 fires of my strobes and I'w got good (not perfect) slide which can be easyly controled after scaning...<br> Yes, your problem sounds like darkslide... or (!?) lighted film (my clumsy english) during inserting in film holder?<br> What I want to say: don't trust enyone, not eaven yourself ;)) (double chech every time)<p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skygzr Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 As the verse goes, "A blank he lived and a blank he died, he forgot to pull the slide". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ole_tjugen Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 One bright shiny day, I pulled the slide without closing the shutter first. Not only that, I hadn't stopped down yet, so instead of 1/100s at f:22, the film got about 20s at f:4.5. It was totally (and nearly uniformly) exposed. Only in the corners was there a faint trace of slihgtly darker edge. That's what 17 stops overexposure does... Now, I don't know the effective f-number of ground glass, but I'm sure it's more than 4.5? 1? 0.25? I believe you exposed the first one correctly, turned the holder around for the second exposure, and then pulled the same dark slide again exposing the first film to the GG and the second not at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louie_powell1 Posted April 14, 2003 Author Share Posted April 14, 2003 Thanks to all for the feedback. I still haven't figured out what I did wrong. As several of you noted, a totally and uniformly exposed sheet has to have been an "out of holder" experience, while the unexposed sheet could have been a failure to pull the darkslide. And as someone noted, one of the joys of LF is that there are so many more ways to screw up! But, as Ken noted, the key thing is confidence. My real concern was that the six month hiatus could result in a case of jitters. So after work tonight I walked across the back yard to the golf course and shot a couple of frames of the sixth fairway - one without a filter, and one with an orange filter to emphasize the wispy clouds. Processed them - and yup - everything worked as it should have! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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