Photo gallery

10 latest photos

Latest exhibitions

Large Format Photography Workshop
Hoover Dam
Pima Air and Space Museum
National Auto Museum, Reno, NV
Stuck in the desert
Palo Alto Concours d'Elegance 2007
Favorites (small format images)
Mixed bag
Automobiles: from streamline to airline
Large format images

Scanning

Ellis Vener on photo.net:

[...] you need to fluid mount (http://www.scanscience.com to get the best dynamic range (especially shadow detail) --and very important for large prints-- in focus scans of film that is also held flat. The standard Epson holders do a lousy job of this. By "sharpness" I think you mean "acuttance" which is the resolution of detail. Sharpness is a different issue.

One thing to consider to is the cost of time. Making good scans takes time. Making high quality scans takes only a little more. I'm not recommending a D200 (frankly you'll need to go to a 22mp or greater medium foramt back to rival 4x5 capture quality). You need a large color space (see http://www.josephholmes.com) and 16 bit per channel files. You also need good software tools; SilverFast Ai6.5, Noiseware to deal with the elctronic noise, and a multi- stage sharpener like Photokit Sharpener from http://www.pixelgenius.com.

I'm only recommending these tools as I have found through much work, trial and error, that they yield the best results.

Given all that you might want to have http://www.nancyscans.com or http://www.westcoastimaging make your scans for you.

New old camera

Got myself a used Cambo SCX off eBay. It works great with the Germinar W 240/9.

Zone system for digital

From Photo.net:

The histogram is to digital as the Zone system was to film. With digital you want to capture as much data as possible. The objective is to move the histogram as far as you can to the right, with a minimum of clipping. When you open your RAW image in you RAW converter, the histogram should be biased to the right. Your task at that point is to pull the data back to a normally distributed histogram. From there you use your "Exposure" slider to work the right side of the histogram and your "Shadow" slider to reconstruct the left side of the histogram. In the end, you will have a superior image than if you had exposed in the same manner as you did when you were shooting film. This is especially true in the quarter tones and shadows which will be more opened up and less noisy.

Digital photosites are not grains of silver. They don't behave the same, and they should not be exposed the same. A photosite will transfer one of two things over to the RAW converter - either data or noise. Consider this as well - a photosite shot at f/11 receives only half as much information as a pixel shot at f/8. So, in a shot that has 4 stops of dynamic range, the shadows will receive something like 1/16 the data that the highlight receive. We're talking DATA, not LIGHT. So, if you move the histogram to the right as much as possible when you expose the image, you are providing the photosites in the shadows with much more information than if you left the histogram centered. In the RAW converter, you go in and "tell" the quarter tones that they are actually shadows - shadows with a lot less noise.

That is the Zone system for digital, expose for the highlights and convert for the shadows.

James Dainis Nov 29, 2006

New automobile images

Check out the classic car gallery for new images from this year's Palo Alto Concours d'Elegance.

Have joined the digital era

Yesterday I bought a Nikon D70 digital camera.
I have used digital image processing for years, on scanned 35mm slides and large format sheet films, but this camera is the inevitable next step towards a completely digital workflow. Will try to figure out what role will my trusty old workhorses, the old 35mm film and large format camera, have in my thus rearranged photographic toolset.

I will publish here my first (trial) shots.