Lockdown Macro with 8×10
Taking up the opportunity of lockdown to do some photography, in a house full of film cameras (and, happily, quite a lot of B&W chemistry), has taken me back to appreciate the technical mastery of the 8×10 greats like Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. I’ve so far managed 2 compositions over the last few weeks, with two exposures for each.
Both have been successful in their different ways, I feel. The second of the two of these is one I especially enjoy, made yesterday.
I used two different lenses for these, and took two different approaches.
With the apple, the first subject, I went full-Weston and chose a tiny aperture and a long exposure time. For so small a subject (by 8×10 standards) I used my (usually) super-wide Nikkor-SW 150. The difficulty with this is the maximum open aperture of f/8, which makes macro work very difficult since the ground glass is so dark. For the slightly larger flower, and the setup for it that I chose, my Nikkor-W 300 was the obvious choice. Here I made wide-open exposures, and introduced some rear tilt forwards to slightly alter the focus plane some more. For this second image I worked with and without a Lee 23A light red filter, and selected the exposure with the filter because of the more even tone of the flower petals (otherwise too dark in the corners: the Clematis flower is very magenta pink).
Lockdown Apple (after Edward Weston)
29th March 2020 3:15pm
Chamonix 810V
Nikkor-SW 150 f/8
ilford FP4+ 8×10
430mm bellows extension
33 minutes @ f/64
Stearman SP810 tray, Pyrocat HD 2:2:100, 16’, 21ºC
Acetic acid stop, TF-4 Fix, Hypoclear, wash, Ilfotol rinse
“It has been suggested that I am a cannibal to eat my models after a masterpiece. But I rather like the idea that they become a part of me, enrich my blood as well as my vision.” Edward Weston
Lockdown Clematis
22nd April 2020 11:45am
Chamonix 810V
Nikkor-W 300 f/5.6
Ilford FP4+ 8×10
500mm bellows extension
Small amount of rear tilt forwards
Lee 23A light red filter
11 seconds @ f/5.6
Stearman SP810 tray, Pyrocat HD 2:2:100, 12’, 21ºC
Acetic acid stop, TF-4 Fix, Hypoclear, wash, Ilfotol rinse
DWFNaturePhoto 
BRAVO! truly fantastic