Half a picture

The weather yesterday was good for once. Paired with the fact that it was a Sunday and I wasn’t at work, I felt almost duty bound to make use of it and go out with a camera.

As I’ve not shot the 4×5 for a few weeks and I’m still in the “getting to know you” phase of figuring out how to use it while still trying to make interesting pictures, I got the kit together and headed out. It was late morning before I had chance to set off as my dad came over for his usual Sunday visit first thing so I decided to stay relatively local and headed out to a couple of villages and other places I’ve photographed previously, albeit not with large format.

I only shot four sheets, although, given how long it takes to shoot 4×5, I was still out for over two hours even though I shot two of the pictures walking distance apart, and the other two were at locations not that far away by car.

I had a chance to develop the photos this lunchtime (the benefits of working from home) and they all looked good apart from the picture featured today – which had a large light leak down the left third of the image. I’m not sure if one of my film holders is a bit tempremental and prone to light leaks, or if I’d not been sufficiently careful when removing or re-inserting the dark slide when taking the photograph.

Luckily for me, the image could be salvaged with a crop. The original frame has all the house in the composition, plus a garage and part of a tree down the left of the property. The crop removes that completely but still manages to leave a pretty nice picture. At least I think it does. The 4×5 format means there’s still an absolute ton of detail in the remaining part of the image too.

The wheelie-bin isn’t the most attractive thing, but cropping that out too unbalanced the picture a bit too much for my taste.

Chroma 4×5. Fujinon NW 135mm f/5.6 & Fomapan 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+9 12 mins @ 20°

Taken 2 April 2023.