8×10 Large Format and Soft Focus

I’ve been working on attaining some vintage large format lenses from the early days of photography and in particular ones that were used during the Pictorialism movement. I think about the struggles of the photographer’s in the period from the 1880′s through the early 1900′s as they were trying to promote photography as an art while struggling with the tides of modernism.  I am in awe of the technical skills they had to possess while balancing their artistic vision.

One of the most important publications that promoted Pictorialism was Alfred Stieglitz‘s “Camera Work” 1903 – 1917. Each publication had up to 12 plates that were reproduced in each issue. It must have been an interesting time to live and work.  We know that an American circle of photographers later renounced Pictorialism altogether and went on to found Group f/64, which espoused the ideal of unmanipulated, or straight photography. I always say… there is two sides to every pancake.  For every person that likes “A”, there will be another that likes “B” better.  Long story short, just do whatever makes you happy and surely someone will like it!

In my personal pursuit of soft focus and Pictorialism style work I am working on a few different techniques that represent the ideals of the masters that came before us.  In the lantern photo above I decided to make the best of things and use what I had available to me before my vintage lenses arrive.  Instead of using film I used darkroom printing paper as my negative.  In this case I used Ilford RC Glossy Grade #2.  I’ve previously written about paper negatives so you may want to check that out for more details on the specifics and technical aspects.  At an EI rating of 6 one should be prepared for some long exposures.  I used my 8×10 large format camera because I wanted an 8×10 contact print as my final product.  The photo above was a straight scan of the negative and for hybrid photographers that may be an option for you to expand your processes.  I used a modern Fuji 300mm lens for the lantern photo so I knew I would get very sharp results.  In order to soften the image 0n the negative because there is no option for using Photoshop to dial in a “Gaussian Blur” effect, the only option is to get it right on the negative.  I think this “get it right on the negative” line of thinking is one of the things that draws me to large format photography.  Even in straight photography when I use the zone system, my goal is to get it right on the negative, even though I have the ability to manipulate the print in the darkroom.

I tried a number 2 diffusion filter in front of the Fuji lens that worked pretty well but wasn’t exactly what I was looking for.  I do think this approach does have its place and I will keep that in the back of my mind for the future.  I was talking to a friend about all this and he reminded me of an old school trick that resulted in the lantern photo above.  By using a translucent material stretched in front of the lens it can create a much softer image.  You will just have to try a variety of options to find a look that you like for your own work. I also used a big aperture to help with the softening and based on my scene, depth of field was not an issue.

After calculating my bellows factor and resulting exposure compensation I took this photo at f/8.5 for 22 seconds.  I developed the paper negative by inspection in Dektol diluted to 1+9 at 68F and then processed with a stop bath, fixer and wash like I would any other darkroom print.  Literally within minutes I had a beautiful 8×10 paper negative that I could contact print.  I am going to make a Palladium print using this negative.

In conversation with another friend we laughed to ourselves about using an 8×10 large format camera for soft focus work.  This format provides razor sharp details if desired and using it for soft focus work just made us laugh a little bit.  It is no different than 35mm users wanting razor sharp 40″ enlargements.  I think there might be some clues about human nature in this somewhere, but I will leave that up to you for consideration.

My Soft Focus/Pictorialism Set on Flickr:

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Tim Layton

© Tim Layton – All Rights Reserved – 2011. You may not republish or use any information or media of any format, in part or in whole, without my written permission. For permission and more information you can contact Tim Layton on the web at blog.blackandwhitefineart.net or via email at tim@blackandwhitefineart.net or via the telephone at 636.422.0002