I visited a few sites and reacquainted myself with his work. I had - and foolishly sold - a 1937-38 Elmar and an early 50's Summitar, and soon afterwards realized what I'd given up. I'll bend over and you can kick my butt now ;-)) A lot of the look that Ravilious was getting is what I want to explore, but in this particular instance I was looking for a way to get that sort of halo of white, that glow off the bright areas that one sometimes sees. I recall having done it often years ago, but I cannot recall how I got it.
I'm getting so tired of photos that have this generic sharp/contrasty look, or the digital look, that stepping back a few decades in terms of style, look, and feel is becoming quite appealing. Thanks for reminding me about R's technique. Contre jour, soft contrast, wide latitude, subtle detail ... a certain gentleness that time seems to have passed by is looking more and more interesting as we tread further along the digital trail. Y'know, over on one of the Leica lists it seems that most people are using digital bodies (Canon mostly as they can use the Leica R lenses easily), a number of Pentax users, and a few Panasonic/Leica digi users. Shel > [Original Message] > From: Bob W <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[email protected]> > Date: 5/30/2005 1:15:11 AM > Subject: RE: Getting That Old Fashioned Glow > > Ravilious was the local photographer in North Devon for many years (he's > dead now). Most of his work is in black & white. It is a nostalgic portrait > of a remote, rural community. > > Over the years he honed his technique to produce a soft, old-fashioned look. > He had started with modern Leitz lenses, and Tri-X. At the end he was using > uncoated Elmars and Hektors from the 1920s and 30s on an M3. These lenses > are said to have good 'drawing' qualities, giving a 'rounded' feel to the > image, whatever that means. A strong 3-dimensionality, I think, with a lot > of shadow detail even when shooting against the sun. > > He used the Zone system, overexposing by 1 stop, then compensating in the > development using a very dilute soft-working solution. > > He used a very light yellow filter over the lens. > > This combination of factors is said to have produced the very long tonal > range in the neg., and a slightly soft feel to the image. It seems he rarely > needed to burn in the sky more than about 10-30%. > > He even made his own lens hood to cope with the fact that he shot so much > against the light. > > The book doesn't seem to mention what b&w film he was using at the end, > although for colour he used K25. I would guess he was using a fairly slow > b&w film too. > > This may be old-hat to you - I'm not into the fineries of processing. But it > gives his photographs a very distinctive look, which is well-suited to his > subject matter, and a welcome change from the high-contrast which > predominates nowadays. > > -- > Cheers, > Bob > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Shel Belinkoff [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > Link doesn't work ;-(( I'll check Ravilious thru Google and > > see what comes up. Thanks for the pointer ;-)) > > > > Shel > > > > > > > [Original Message] > > > From: Bob W <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > > > Hi, > > > > > > I'm not sure if we're thinking of the same kind of glow, but I was > > > going > > to > > > post some information about James Ravilious, an English > > photographer > > > I've raved about before, who has a certain glow in his work when he > > > shoots against the light. > > > > > > Then I remembered I've probably done this before, so I found this > > > reply, > > to > > > one of your questions: > > > http://tinyurl.com/9sew5 > > > > > > If you haven't tried it already, it might be worth it. Even if it > > > doesn't produce that glow you might find an interesting > > technique in > > > its own > > right. > > > > > > -- > > > Cheers, > > > Bob > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > > From: Shel Belinkoff [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > Sent: 29 May 2005 18:35 > > > > To: [email protected] > > > > Subject: Getting That Old fashioned Glow > > > > > > > > Before anti-halation backing, it was easy to get a nice > > glow around > > > > white or bright objects in a scene. I've not had any > > luck recently > > > > when trying that with the contemporary B&W films. Any > > suggestions > > > > on how to do this (outside of Photoshop and Digital Trickery)? > > > > > > > > > > > > Shel > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >
