Hi Folks: I'm forwarding this message to SPORRS at the request of John B. Corns.
Later, Warren ==================BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE================== >Date: Sat, 8 Nov 1997 13:36:01 +0000 >Subject: Re: SPORRS: Recommended B/W Photography >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (JOHN B. CORNS) > I've met Jay Potter a few times while out and about on the old C&O, and he is a very nice fellow. At the time he was using a Pentax 6x7 camera and was shooting b&w exclusively, but I do not know if he is using a view camera for any work these days. It is possible to "swing and tilt" both your negative in the enlarger and the photo paper easel underneath to correct for converging lines on the final print without ever using a view camera to correct vertical lines. I do this all of the time when I print b&w in my darkroom, especially old railroad negatives where the photographer had a building or smokestack near the edge of the photo which angled toward the center of the image because of the use of a wide angle lens or a camera angle looking up. You have to tilt the negative carrier in one direction and the easel in the other in order to maintain focus on severe image tilting, but for minor corrections of vertical lines just tilt the easel by placing something under its bottom edge and stop the enlarger lens down to get more depth of field to hold focus on the print. The only problem with the latter method is that whenever you tilt the paper you form a keystone-shaped image and must crop the sides a little in order to get an image that fills your photo paper. Unless the subject is right up against the edges of your negative, you can do this manipulation very easily to dramatically improve the appearance of your final prints. Now, the Schiempfluging of the view camera lens board and film plane in order to get maximum depth of field is a different matter altogether, and does not apply to printing negatives as you cannot add more depth of field to a negative after it has been shot. Try it, you'll like it! John B. Corns ===================END FORWARDED MESSAGE=================== --> SPORRS: Serious Photographers of Railroad Related Subjects
