Strange shadows in the sky

[david_blackett]

I'm fairly new to large fromat, I used an old Seneca 5x7 for a while

in the '80's, but I never ran into this problem which I'm having with

my old 8x10 wizard view. On landscape shots on bright sunny days

with the sun behind me or almost directly overhead, clouds in the

sky, I'm getting weird dark areas in the sky on the image. Its hard

to distinguish the cloud definition becuase they seem to be out of

focus, and I'm wondering if I'm having a depth of field problem or is

it something else?

 

David

[david_blackett]

I just want to add that I'm shooting B&W film - hp5 plus.

David

[jorge_gasteazoro4]

Is hard to say without seeing an example, perhaps you can post it?

 

In the mean time if you are getting dark areas and the clouds are out of focus I might venture to say your holder is not sitting properly in the camera. Unless of course you did not exceed the lens coverage and tilted too much.

[louie_powell1]

Like Jorge, I would really like to see an example. But one thing I've noticed is that skies attract negative defects (dust, fingerprints, static, uneven development, etc). Perhaps that's your problem.

[thirteenthumbs]

Have you checked the bellows, camera back with film holder installed, for light leaks using a light inside the camera in a darkroom? Have you checked for any bright areas on the back of the lens board/lens where the paint or coating may have come off and be giving reflections?

[eric_mims]

Are these dark areas on your negative or print? If it's your print, then how are you enlarging/contact printing (lightsource?)? If you post an example, it'll most likely be figured out very quickly.

[robert_lawrence]

If you are only getting this effect in bright sunlight then I would suspect pinholes in the bellows.

[jorge_gasteazoro4]

Ok, I think we need to clarify something. Are the dark areas in the negative or the print? if on the negative then it is most likely pinholes, if on the print then you either tilted too much and exceeded coverage or you have bellows obstruction, or something similar to that....

[david_blackett]

Dark areas are on the print. I checked for bellows obstruction and I really don't think that is the case. A fair amount of tilt and rise was used in all of the shots affected... maybe I did go past good lens coverage.

 

David

[david_blackett]

an add on to my last response:

 

Sorry about no uploaded images to see the problem, I don't presently have access to equipment, or the technical know-how that would allow me to upload photos. I'm an "old camera nerd" not a "computer nerd".

 

David

[eric_mims]

Well to continue to narrow it down, if there are corresponding light areas on that part of the negative, then it could be camera/lens problem (too much movement, debris on lens during photo...does a similar shape spot occur on more than 1 photo?) or uneven development. If the corresponding light area is not on the negative, then it would have to be an enlarging/contact printing problem. I've seen this often when contact printing and having the light source not be even.

[jim_galli4]

Heck David. Out here in Central Nevada where I live strange things in the sky are a way of life. Call 'em shadows if you wish. :>))

[david_blackett]

Looking at the prints it does appear that there are corresponding light areas however they're not as pronounced as the dark area. I'm pretty sure it is not a printing problem, I've been enlarging and contact printing for about thirty years now, and I think I have the darkroom stuff down pat pretty much.

 

I've tried the light in the bellows trick in the darkroom with lights out and can't see any leaks. I thought about loading a film holder and pulling the dark slide with out making an exposure to see if anything shows up.