Digital BW, The Print

> Well said. I think you nailed one of the main attractions of LF 
> photography. People who haven't climbed our particular learning curves 
> often seem to think that the main draw is the control a view camera 
> gives you over the plane of focus.

Indeed -- I think few people tend to know about the lack of
depth-of-field that is typical in large format, so they don't realise
that quite often, we *have* to use those movements just to get
whatever it is we're shooting actually in focus at all. Using the
Better Light, it's generally not really appropriate to stop down much
past about f/11, because you can really see the diffraction losses
beyond that, and you also end up with needing extremely long scan
times. I tend to shoot mostly at f/8 or f/11, so I've had to get used
to using swings and tilts a lot more.

> But for me its more about the 
> processes, slowing down, and less-is-more. For me, as you, this results 
> in a much higher percentage of "keepers" because I don't pull the
camera 
> out of the bag unless the image I see in my head demands that I commit 
> everything I know and have learned to making the photograph. This ain't 
> no point-'n-shoot.
> 

Yes, exactly. The stuff that Ansel Adams said about visualisation
really *is* the key, and is almost always the deciding factor in
whether or not I get a good image. If the visualisation is there, I
pretty much have the shot unless I screw up technically, which
thankfully isn't happening quite so often as it used to. There is
quite a learning curve with these things.

Another factor is the upside down/back to front ground glass image, or
the back-to-front but right way up image if you use a reflex viewer
(or for that matter a medium format camera with a waist-level finder).
I think there's something about that that helps you to see the image
as what it is -- a 2D representation -- by breaking the link between
it and your visual perception's much more complex 3D understanding of
the place you're standing in. I was a bit skeptical about this when I
first heard claims of it, but after a year or so of working this way I
think there's something to it.

> So I guess I'm saying that using a view camera does very much help
me to 
> slow down and actually see. And that's one of the driving reasons
behind 
> my art.

It's as good as any I've heard. :-)

Sarah