How to...

My first own camera was a 35mm single lens reflex camera called Mamiya NC1000S. I still own that camera, and it is still working. The system was not widespread, and Mamiya stopped making 35mm cameras soon after the system came out. Despite the lack of a commercial success it was a good camera system, with excellent lenses, yet affordable.

At some point I switched over to Canon´s line of 35mm cameras and I have worked with models like T90 or EOS 500N, with various lens combinations from Canon or Tamron. The EOS 500N was probably the fastest camera I ever had, very easy to use. But maybe fast is just too fast in landscape photography.

I started experimenting with other, smaller and slower 35mm cameras, amongst them the unique Rollei 35 and a Contax G1. These viewfinder cameras are not as fast an SLR to work with, so I had to plan my pictures more carefully. That was a good thing. Although I have sold it off again, I still consider the Contax G system as a nearly perfect 35mm camera: silent operation, more compact and with some of the best lenses that are out there. Take a high resolution scan of a negative made with a Contax G 45mm lens and compare it with the negatives take with any other camera, you will understand what I mean.

At this point I felt I had reached the maximum quality level that can be reached with 35mm cameras. So, after a long debate with myself, I went medium format. I ended up with a Mamiya RB system with various lenses from 37mm fisheye to 250mm telephoto lens. It was an entirely different way to work. No pulling out the camera and pushing the release button. Instead: setting up the camera on a tripod, selecting and mounting a heavy lens, carefully selecting the motive through the viewfinder, metering the light, selecting a filter. At least 20 to 30 seconds for things that I could do in 2 seconds before. I was happy. Unbelievable sharpness of 6x7cm negatives...

I did not stop there but moved on to large format soon after, starting with a wooden Wista Field 4x5 and then experimenting with other cameras such as Graflex Speed Graphic and Super Graphic, Toyo Field, Linhof Technika and fairly unique boxes such as Polaroid 110 B converted to 4x5 format for handheld shooting. It is probably an endless experiment. Perfect control of view and sharpness, postcard-size negatives which I scan at 3200 dpi. That gives me 160 Megapixel to work with. Now it takes me 2 minutes - at least - to take a single picture instead of 2 seconds (well, a little bit faster with the handheld Polaroid 110B).

Sometimes I am contemplating going 8x10 format...

Film [Top]

I am mostly using Kodak T-Max, both ISO 100 and ISO 400. When I scan the negatives at 3200 dpi I don´t find much of a difference, so from a practical point of view I could stick with the ISO 400 and use the additional sensitivity to work with smaller apertures. Since I have gone large format I still use T-Max 100 in Readyload format which I find much more convenient in the field than film in regular holders.

Film development [Top]

Since I have gone medium format I started to develop the films myself. In large format this is fairly normal, I guess. I keep the development process simple, I work with D-76 developer and TMAX fixer, with rotary development in Jobo daylight tanks.

Filters [Top]

Filters are more essential for Black&White photography than for color photography, as they help to increase or decrease the contrast of the motive. For landscape photography I use either a yellow or a medium red filter to improve the contrasts - these filters darken the sky and bring out the clouds much better. A medium red filter darkens also the green of leaves - which may be sometimes desirable and sometimes not. A yellow filter has the same but lighter effect on the sky and the clouds but the reverse effect on green colors - the green will belighter, although the effect is sometimes hard to notice.

Taking Landscape Pictures [Top]

Black&White photographs live by the contrasts of light and dark. Little contrast makes the pictures generally flat and not very attractive, good contrast with many shades of grey, ranging from dark to light is key for a good picture. Here are some tips for finding landscape motives with good contrast.

Early morning and late evening light is better than midday light. In midday sunlight, especially with a clear blue sky and little shade, there is usually very little contrast, tones are washed out and pale (example) and most motives will appear flat on the pictures. When the sun is low, in the morning or in the evening, the contrasts are much better, as there is a better mix of light and shades (example).

Bad weather is good weather - for B&W landscape photography. Some of the most dramatic shots in the gallery have been taken in bad weather conditions. You will see the most interesting light just before or after a thunderstorm or heavy rain shower, when the scenery is changing from sunlight to dark shades with rich contrasts (example). You have to be quick - the magic moments will last for minutes only. Using filters helps to increase the dramatic effects.

The sky and the clouds are part of the landscape. A clear blue sky will appear just grey on a B&W picture, lighter or darker. This is fine if the landscape is an interesting motive in itself (example). Overcast skies are monotonous grey as well, but usually much lighter. Occasionally a monotonous sky can make a motive more interesting (example). If the sky is partly clouded, the scenery is generally more interesting. Not only will the clouds sometimes form intersting motives by themselves (example) but the shadows casted by the clouds will change the scenery (example).

Winter is often better than summer. This is similar to the morning/evening effect. As the sun is lower in winter, there is a longer time during the day with rich contrast of light and shade (example).

The angle of the sun matters. The most attractive contrasts for B&W pictures can often be found in side light, with the light source (the sun) approximately at 90 degrees (example). I often scan the panorama to find the best angle and try to change my position when possible to get a side light effect. There are of course many exception to this rule: taking pictures with or against the light (example) can work equally well.

Scanning [Top]

Today I am mostly using a Canon CanoScan 9900F flatbed scanner which I find amazing for high resolution negative scanning at 3200dpi.

Web publishing [Top]

To build up a web photo gallery a suite of software tools is needed:

For a long time I used Ulead Photoimpact 4.2 for scanning, cropping, formating and converting the images. Recently I have switched over to Adobe Photoshop 7.0, still the standard of excellence. The source image is stored in .BMP format, for web publishing the images are converted to .JPG format - which uses considerably less disk space and takes less time to load - with very little loss of quality. The maps on this website are stored in .GIF format which is also optimized for web publishing.

The pages are generated with NetObjects Fusion 3.0.1 (very outdated today, I guess) which doesn´t require much knowledge of HTML - however, if you want to optimize, you don´t get around a little bit of native HTML, embedded in the Fusion-generated pages.

Printing [Top]

Of course you can´t see it on this web page but I like to print my pictures and hang it on the walls. To really visualize the quality of a picture from a large format negative you need large prints. I have never gone the darkroom way but I am using an inkjet printer. I think top-of-the-line inkjet printers have reached a quality level beyond the means of darkroom printing, and I noticed many photographers have gone that way too. I am using a HP 8750 A3 printer which gives me outstanding prints in black and white.

		Examples
Tones are washed out and pale in midday light. [Top]
Spectacular light contrasts just before the thunderstorm hits [Top]
A blue sky will appear as a monotone grey - okay if the landscape motive is interesting in itself [Top]
Sometimes a monotonous overcast sky can generate an interesting motive [Top]
The clouds can form an interesting motive per se, the effect is enhanced by filters [Top]
The shadows of the clouds will form interesting patterns and create new motives [Top]
The long shades in the evening will improve the contrast [Top]
Winter motives can be interesting, the long shades create good contrasts [Top]
The sun at 90 degrees improves the Black&White contrasts [Top]
Taking pictures against the sunlight can create interesting motives [Top]


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	© Copyright Thomas Greutmann 1983 - 2010