Dawid Loubser
Member
Some photographs want to be made, and I have had the most incredible luck making this one. I was on the beach when visiting family in the Cape, bag with my ole' Linhof Technika over my shoulder. A single unexposed sheet of HP5+ film left (I know, this sounds so clichéd, but...)
It was mildly windy, and this little moth flew right past me, and sat in a bush (a variety of Fynbos that grows right onto the beach). Sitting still on the swaying small branch, it was just asking to be photographed. I only had my 1950s, single-coated 150mm Symmar lens with me, but I set up the camera, composing the following 1:1 Macro of the little moth. Focusing on the swaying little moth was tricky (every two seconds or so, it was in focus) but I was amazed at how pleasant it is to be able to tilt the focus plane in Macro work to get the subject in focus (I have never done a LF macro before). I had to shoot at wide open aperture, and push the film to ISO1600 to freeze the motion in the dark-ish underbush. I slid in a film holder, held my breath, timed the subtle swaying of the branch to where it was when I focused, and fired the shutter, hoping for the best.
The moth sat there for about 10 minutes afterwards, and then flew away. The (large-ish) print from this against-all-odds negatives is my all-time favourite darkroom print (to date) - what do you think?
Lessons I learnt:
It was mildly windy, and this little moth flew right past me, and sat in a bush (a variety of Fynbos that grows right onto the beach). Sitting still on the swaying small branch, it was just asking to be photographed. I only had my 1950s, single-coated 150mm Symmar lens with me, but I set up the camera, composing the following 1:1 Macro of the little moth. Focusing on the swaying little moth was tricky (every two seconds or so, it was in focus) but I was amazed at how pleasant it is to be able to tilt the focus plane in Macro work to get the subject in focus (I have never done a LF macro before). I had to shoot at wide open aperture, and push the film to ISO1600 to freeze the motion in the dark-ish underbush. I slid in a film holder, held my breath, timed the subtle swaying of the branch to where it was when I focused, and fired the shutter, hoping for the best.
The moth sat there for about 10 minutes afterwards, and then flew away. The (large-ish) print from this against-all-odds negatives is my all-time favourite darkroom print (to date) - what do you think?
Twice bitten, not shy
(Linhof Technika V, 150mm Schneider Convertible Symmar at f/5.6, Ilford HP5+ @ ISO1600 in undiluted D76 developer)
(Linhof Technika V, 150mm Schneider Convertible Symmar at f/5.6, Ilford HP5+ @ ISO1600 in undiluted D76 developer)
Lessons I learnt:
- You don't need a macro lens when you have a huge sheet of film
- You'd need a 40mm f/1.4 diffraction-limited tilt+shift Macro to duplicate this look in 35mm in anyway
- HP5 pushed to ISO1600 in large format looks better than Ilford Pan F @ ISO32 in 35mm
- Always take the chances you are compelled to take - they will work out when you do your best