Graffiti

[Dawid Loubser]

Taken during a rather long walk in an urban environment, in this scene I again saw the ever-present "struggle" (is if nature has a chance?) between destruction and dessicration from the hand of man, and the healing, covering, sustaining nature of... umm... nature.

http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs51/f/2009/288/c/0/Graffiti_by_philosomatographer.jpg
(Technical: Linhof Technorama 617S, 90/5.6XL at f/22, Fujia Provia 100)

[Mike Shimwell]

Hi David

I really like this - it must make an impressively detailed print given the size of the original slide. Was it shot from a tripod (is their a choice with the big Linhof?) The subject also seems to lend itself to slide film given the relatively limited brightness range.

I'm also inteersted in where you were - I spent some time just outside Jo'burg and remember this sort of street well.

Mike

[Dawid Loubser]

Thank you Mike. The detail in the 6x17cm slides are amazing, I am still getting used to them after a year. I have been able to scan them to 240 Megapixels, but that's usually overkill (disk space, etc) I usually down-sample to 30MP or so. But one ends up with 30M perfectly sharp Foveon-like pixels because there is no bayer array. For shots where one wants the quality, totally worth the per-shot cost.

This is one of the more minimalist images I've made with the camera, but it came out as I planned.

This was on a tripod, yes, because I was so close to the subject (~3m) I had to stop down to f/22 to get some depth of field with the 90mm lens. A real crappy tripod that actually broke on this same day. Have been using it hand-held ever since, it works very well (heavy camera, leaf shutter) but obviously it's happiest on the tripod.

This shot was made on Rustenburg road, Emmarentia (close to Greenside / Melville). Not sure if you know the area. I work here, and I just love the area, it has real character.

[ErikJonas]

Nice shot and i like the thoughts you express with it, it all fits.....Very well done!!!

[oli murugavel]

Wow... nice shot... I like to know how many pieces you shot to make this Pano....

[Asher Kelman]

Taken during a rather long walk in an urban environment, in this scene I again saw the ever-present "struggle" (is if nature has a chance?) between destruction and dessicration from the hand of man, and the healing, covering, sustaining nature of... umm... nature.

http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs51/f/2009/288/c/0/Graffiti_by_philosomatographer.jpg
(Technical: Linhof Technorama 617S, 90/5.6XL at f/22, Fujia Provia 100)

Dawid,

I like the pano but am disturbed by the black box. Is it really needed? Why not let the image speak for itself?

Asher

[Dawid Loubser]

Wow... nice shot... I like to know how many pieces you shot to make this Pano....

Thank you Oli, this is a 6x17cm panoramic film camera, it's one analogue photograph, not a digital stitch. My testing shows it to deliver equivalent resolution to about 8 stitched images from a typical modern DSLR.

[Dawid Loubser]

I like the pano but am disturbed by the black box. Is it really needed? Why not let the image speak for itself?

Hello Asher,

Long time no speak :-) You know, it's strange with borders, some people think an image looks bare without one, others find them disturbing, others will always want a white border when you've used a black one, and vice versa.

I am experimenting over time to see what works... I may return to bare images, as I have used in the past. I agree that this image can work well without one too.

I will try a re-post sometime without a border,

Dawd

[Mike Shimwell]

At present I've settled on white borders for OPF images - just enough to give some separation from the blue page without being heavy. Some images get a very thin black border, particularly in print, or I leave in a trace of the edge of the frame from the scan.

Mike

[Asher Kelman]

Hello Asher,

Long time no speak :-) You know, it's strange with borders, some people think an image looks bare without one, others find them disturbing, others will always want a white border when you've used a black one, and vice versa.

I am experimenting over time to see what works... I may return to bare images, as I have used in the past. I agree that this image can work well without one too.

I will try a re-post sometime without a border.

Dawid,

Yes we should chat more!

Black is an important design element. It has so many emotional and logical possibilities for a composition. However, as a general rule, thick black borders cause the eye to focus on the edge. So while it might seem that the picture is more impressive, it may well be that the frame is getting the attention as black itself is important to us in its own inherent qualities.

One problem is that black borders can give the feeling of constraint and confinement, like a prison. When that occurs, in most cases this runs counter to the free interpretation one intends for a photograph.

In baroque decor, frames were made elaborate. The modern version of that is thick and solid. Instead, I believe that one needs to maximize the openness of photographs. So, in most cases, at least in a text page, black frames are, in all likelihood, best avoided.

Asher

[Paul Abbott]

I like this pano', great minimalism and yet so much detail.

[Dawid Loubser]

Thank you kindly, Paul. This image is part of a series of mine where I am trying to combine minimalism - i.e. to prevent "information overload" - with the massively wide fields of view that my Linhof 617 "sees". It's proven to be quite tricky, I've only managed maybe 5 or so images which fit the description of "minimalism" with which I am still pleased.

Anybody with a 35mm or equivalent camera, try to make a "minimalist" environmental shot with an 18mm lens - it's not quite so easy, as the lens "takes in" so much. You have to generally get quite up close, or be in very interesting environments, i.e. at the seaside, in a desert, and not in a city as I am :-) Getting very close is not an option with the Linhof's 2.8m minimum focus distance. Quite an inflexible beast, but one that's all the more challenging to use. I love it.

[Cedric MASSOULIER]

Hi,

I really like this minimalist shot, and the strugle between disappearing graffiti which evokes old facts and the invading vegetation.

Cedric.