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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
03-07-2012, 09:41 PM
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I appreciate the comments on my Canyonlands photo. I took this shot after stepping over the guard rail protecting us from that breath-taking drop-off. It was early pre-dawn so colors were distorted and rather dark to my natural eyes. Thanks for the comments about the colors, as this is the difficult part of this image. Velvia normally has a bit of a magenta cast, but in this case the scanning professional thought it had some extra magenta from the developing, something he tried to correct for.
As I said, I'm not completely satisfied with everything. I'm very excited that I have a nice, large, 16-bit, malleable file from the drum scan; the original, 8-bit scan gave me minimal ability to adjust things.
In this photo, I really like having the shadows deep, as I want the image to be about the highlights. I've considered taking them a little darker, leaving suggestions of texture in the plateau. That is what is so nice about having a quality scan.
I agree that there may still be too much magenta, although in the Canyonlands at dawn, the purple of the plateau is somewhere between reality and a color cast.
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
03-07-2012, 04:46 PM
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Rangefinder Forum had a discussion on NCPS "enhanced" scanning. I made the following posts, which may be of interest here.
The NCPS "enhanced" scan resolves grain on 135 velvia 100.
I've had quite nice scans from NCPS on Velvia when the exposure was on and the light was good. I've had poor scans when the light and exposure were challenging. In the latter case, I sent out for drum scans with an experienced, independent photographer ($30 for 645), who extracted great color and dynamic range. He also corrected some magenta cast, which he thought came from over-used developer. NCPS supplies 8-bit jpgs, which don't allow you much latitude for exposure, fill and recovery in ACR.
Here's an example where the drum scan was necessary, and the NCPS "enhanced" scan couldn't capture the dynamic range. From my "Landscape, Nature, Weather" gallery at PhotoKinesis.info (2-shot pano from Velvia 100 on Pentax 645N at 35mm; I'm not completely happy with my final image, but do me a favor and view it a good monitor!):
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
09-30-2010, 11:39 AM
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Colorado has more rugged areas, but Kenosha Pass is very representative of Colorado Rockies, much of which is forested and modest rather than jagged. Last year the Aspen were not very vibrant; this year has been better, but I'm not sure I can get out to do another set of photos on Aspen. Cottonwoods, oaks, grasses, sage and mountain shrubberies will be good well into October, and they are actually a bit more interesting to me, as everyone does Aspen.
Yeah, I know what you mean about over-saturation, also so much of the HDR stuff.
What I really like about Velvia is that I'm getting good color, but not blowing out my highlights as easily. When using my D90 on red or white flowers, I have to really crank the exposure compensation down, and still get blown highlights. I'm working on taming waterfalls and clouds to stay within gamut on Velvia.
I have done some sensia work, but haven't been quite as happy with the colors.
Tom,
Tom Stermitz's Photos | SmugMug |
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
09-29-2010, 02:41 PM
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Moderate use of color? You can't be talking about me.
My Denver Skyline is gloriously, uproariously colorful, but that's what I like about the hour after sunset. The ancient pine is not nearly so crazy, but using velvia did give me somewhat extra saturation compared with the reality of nature.
Maybe I'll mature with more experience, but at the moment, the saturation and contrast of velvia is the main thing keeping me from using my DSLR.
This next picture is stitched from 4 P645N shots, probably using my 75mm lens, again on Velvia. Again the saturation makes the Fall grasses golden-brown to contrast with the purple mountains majesty. Location: Kenosha Pass, 50 mi SW of Denver. Scanning is about 3,000 dpi, I think, and the final landscape aspect ratio is 16x30 inches (40x76 cm) at 300 dpi.
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
09-28-2010, 01:56 PM
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Denver Skyline. P645N and Velvia.
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
09-27-2010, 10:11 PM
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Here is my first contribution. Pentax 645N in Rocky Mountain National Park.
This is a well-aged, weather-beaten pine tree near timberline. Velvia.
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