Playing scales with camera movements?

[steve_singleton3]

Somehow, it's hard to learn complicated camera movements by looking

at tabletop photos of cones, spheres and rectangles. Can anyone point

to a set of technical assigments, preferably outdoors, that require

advanced technique to put theory into practise? This seems like a

good way to learn the subleties of view camera capability and to have

fun doing it.

[ole_tjugen]

A suggestion only...

 

Take one house - you probably live in one of those.

Take one football (soccer type = round!).

A lawn would be nice, but any flattish area outside house works just as well. But lawns are nicer to walk on ;)

 

Put football on lawn in front of house. Plonk down camera (on tripod) about 1m (3ft) from the ball. Now try to get everything in focus, perspectives straightened, and the football looking round...

[ellis_vener_photography]

Take a 4 ft x 4 ft (1 meter x 1 meter) piece of plywood and set it up on sawhorses/.

Then take about 12 coke cans and set the m up in a diamond formation with one

point pointing toward the camera. Get a 20 sheet box of Polaroid 4x5 film -- I prefer

Type 55 as you can exmine the negative -- and a notebook large enough to tape the

polaroid prints into. You will make notes about each shot. <P>if you do not have a

depth of field / swing/tilt calculator built in to your camera, Rodenstock makes a

dandy one for $35.00 that will slip into your pocket.

Make a shot that has all of the cans in focus just by stopping down. use no

movements. Now make the lens and film standards vertical and repeat shot one.<P>

Make a shot that has just the front can in focus.<P>Make another that has just the

rear can in focus.<P>

make a shot that has just one side of the diamond in focus. by only usngthe front

swing. <P>rezero the swing and now repeat the shot using only rear swing.

<P>Repeat these two shots getting just the other side of the diamond in focus.

<P>Rezero all movements, and make the rear standard only vertical. Tilting only the

front standard and using the lens wide open, focus on the bottom of the front can

and the top of the rearmost can. <P> now stop down to f/22 and repeat that last

shot.<P>Open the lens back to wide open and now repeatthat shot but focusing only

on the top of the front and the top of the rear can.<P>Ignore anyone who makes

reference to Harold Merklinger and the Hinge theory.

[capocheny]

Steve,

<p>

Take Ellis's advice regarding Merklinger and, while you're at it,

the same goes for Stroebel! I've gone around the block with both

of these authors and am ready for about 24 glasses of wine!

<p>

The formulas and computations are enough to drive any insane

LF photog to drinking day in, day out!

<p>

Havings said this... look for a series of books put out by Sinar.

It's not the most recent of publications and it use to come in a

slip case with some doo-dads in it (color scale, gray scale, etc).

I'm sorry I can't remember the name of the set. I had one back a

little while ago but sold it on ebay.

<p>

Last piece of advice...find a mentor who is willing to take you

through the basics. I'm finding that learning on your own takes

up an enormous amount of time and is extremely frustrating at

times. You're also in the right spot here with people like Ellis,

Dick, John and others who are willing to share their experiences

with neophytes.

<p>

Hope this helps you out...

<p>

Cheers

[capocheny]

Addendum:

<p>

The two books I've found to be the best are:

<p>

1. Large Format Photography....... Kodak publication.

<p>

2. A User's Guide to the View Camera..... Stone

<p>

Hope this helps you out...

<p>

Cheers

[tony_galt]

Initially I found that a useful learning subject was a small foot bridge over a river near my house. I set myself the task of photographing it from a variety of angles and getting it all in focus with the verticals correct. Try a diagonal shot of the bridge crossing the water with near and far in focus, a shot down the axis of the bridge with near and far in focus, a shot of the bridge framed by a tree, both tree and bridge in focus, and whatever else occurs to you as a useful challenge. The photos probably won't win prizes but the subject is good for exercises. My bridge was a suspension bridge built by the W.P.A. in 30s, so it had some uprights to worry about too.

[richard_rankin2]

I learned in a manner similar to that described by Ellis. However, living in one of the best wine regions in Australia, I found something better than coke cans to focus on...

 

I also went around and took pictures of a large truck with writing down its entire side, a crumbling stone wall, and, believe it or not, my houseplants and veggies for each night's dinner. When starting, nearly everything is a technical challenge. You learn by shooting, and Polaroid makes it fun. I had to use E6 in 4x5 and send it off for processing, so my turnaround was maddening.

 

Personally, I found Stone's book the best to learn with, followed by Stroebel for depth of explanation. Simmons book inspired me a little, but I didn't learn all that much from it.

 

Cheers,

Richard

[igor_johanson]

Do as Ellis says, but better than playwood use a mirror as support. You will see how the zone of sharp focus changes direction due to lens tilt or f stop.

[allen_whittier]

Rodenstock has a circular calculator with "Depth of Field" on one side and "Lens Tilt" on the other for only $10. It allows you to set up the exact tilt or swing you need by taking two measurements, the distance the lens moves between near and far object focus and the vertical or horizontal distance the near and far objects are apart on the ground glass, then spinning the wheel around to the two numbers. Set the lens tilt, swing or both and the objects will be in focus at prime focus with the lens wide open.

 

You set up the depth of field (DOF) by measuring how far the lens moves while focusing on the two extremes of your DOF. Flip the calculator over and use this number to get your f stop.

 

I set up my shots this way and it only takes a couple minutes. It uses the same method the Sinar F uses to simplify its setup. 35mm cameras also use the same method to show DOF on the DOF ring.

 

There was a previous discussion on the Rodenstock DOF calculator under Accessories on May 7, 2002.

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