Shooting with an 8x10 CameraTouring the 8x10 camera| 00:02 | We are going to start today talking about film.
| | 00:04 | Something very special to me.
It's been much of my career.
| | 00:07 | Today digital is very important.
| | 00:10 | I still shoot film as well as digital.
| | 00:12 | Probably two-thirds of our work is digital,
but a very important other third is film.
| | 00:18 | This camera, the tradition of this
camera, goes back to the beginnings
| | 00:22 | of photography.
| | 00:23 | You may remember seeing people
put this cloth over their head and
| | 00:28 | take pictures a century-and-a-half ago?
Well, that's what we're going to be doing today.
| | 00:33 | Why? Because it will give us a very
special and quite different image and a very
| | 00:39 | special area of that is a camera that's
been a friend of mine for a long time.
| | 00:43 | It's an 8x10 Deardorff.
| | 00:47 | So this is the front end.
| | 00:48 | This is the lens and what we do is we make it
open like that and the aperture is wide open.
| | 00:54 | It's not stopped down, it's wide open.
| | 00:56 | You have shutter speeds here on
top and you have the aperture.
| | 00:59 | These are settings that you can adjust focus.
| | 01:03 | You can change all sorts of things.
| | 01:05 | You can correct lines if
you are shooting architecture.
| | 01:08 | It's endless what you can
do and here is the backend.
| | 01:11 | This is what we look through
when we are preparing the image.
| | 01:15 | This is horizontally here at the
moment but you will see what happens.
| | 01:19 | I can reverse it, make it into a
vertical very easily by just pulling the back off
| | 01:24 | and putting it on here like
that and our holder will go in here.
| | 01:30 | There is your vertical.
| | 01:31 | Here is a film holder.
| | 01:34 | That's the size of the image.
| | 01:36 | I want you to see how it works.
| | 01:37 | So when I am putting it into the
back of the camera, you know
| | 01:40 | exactly what's happening.
| | 01:41 | This is what we call a blank
slide and it's very simple.
| | 01:45 | Here is a sheet of film and what you
do in the dark, or it can be a dark room
| | 01:51 | or a changing bag.
| | 01:52 | We put it into the holder.
| | 01:54 | Very simply like this.
| | 01:56 | Slide it in like that.
| | 01:58 | Flip that closed.
| | 02:00 | And what we do is, see that's black.
| | 02:02 | In the dark, we make sure it's silver
because silver indicates it hasn't been exposed.
| | 02:09 | So normally, what you will see me doing
when we are shooting is we will put this
| | 02:13 | in the camera after everything
has been lined up and locked down.
| | 02:18 | And the last thing I will do before
taking the picture will be pull that out
| | 02:20 | that means the film has been uncovered.
| | 02:22 | Now I take the picture and I flip the
slide so I can see that it's exposed and
| | 02:28 | slide it back in there again
and there we are and get it slot.
| | 02:34 | Take it out and that's where the
picture is and then that is removed either in
| | 02:38 | the dark room or taken to a lab and
they remove it and they develop that piece
| | 02:43 | of film that becomes your
negative or transparency, your original.
| | 02:50 | So here we are with the sharp
Nikkor lens, making a great image.
| | 02:54 | But you know what we are also going to do?
| | 02:56 | We are going to work with an older lens
that really is more in the tradition,
| | 03:00 | the early tradition of these cameras.
| | 03:03 | I have used this camera off and on for
more than 40 years, closer to 50 probably,
| | 03:08 | and in fact, I know it's 50 years.
| | 03:11 | Here's a lens, it was made in the 40s
and it's a Kodak lens and they called
| | 03:18 | it a 12-inch back then.
| | 03:19 | Today it's a 300. Same focal length
actually, and you can open up this lens
| | 03:24 | and you can change the aperture, all
the same things, but with this lens you
| | 03:28 | get a different look.
| | 03:30 | This is crystal sharp.
| | 03:32 | This is sharp, but not in the same way.
| | 03:34 | There's a much more of mistiness.
| | 03:36 | And in addition to that, we are going
to put a mist filter on here to just give
| | 03:39 | it a little other-- that's part of our secret.
| | 03:43 | But it's all carrying on the
traditions of the great photographs from the
| | 03:47 | previous century and I love that,
because it's another way of seeing and showing
| | 03:52 | the richness of photography.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Preparing for the shoot| 00:01 | Shooting with the 8x10 requires
organization and preparation and these are
| | 00:06 | some of our pieces.
| | 00:06 | This is the film, critical. We have
one stack of black-and-white here.
| | 00:09 | The other is color.
| | 00:11 | We have a light meter, very important.
| | 00:13 | Why?
| | 00:14 | Frankly, using this camera, the game
changes a little bit because it's big,
| | 00:19 | it's got long bellows at times, and the
exposure is different than you think of it.
| | 00:23 | We are shooting in the black-and-white
with Triax and we shoot Ektachrome 100
| | 00:28 | with the other film when we want color.
| | 00:30 | I prefer not shoot color negative
because I like to be able to digitize the
| | 00:34 | images and I find that I can usually
digitize chromes easier than I can color negs.
| | 00:39 | Here is the light meter, a
traditional light meter, nothing special.
| | 00:42 | The interesting thing is the Triax is
rated at 320, but you know, I have learned
| | 00:48 | and this is, I am telling you, a reality.
| | 00:52 | We find that in this large camera, it's
almost impossible to overexpose a negative.
| | 00:57 | That may seem extreme, but in
other words, put a lot of exposure.
| | 01:01 | When in doubt, over
expose with these big cameras.
| | 01:04 | The larger the camera, the more it seems
to soak up light and I've learned that
| | 01:08 | after working many, many years with it.
| | 01:11 | So our 320 film, we put
an ISO in the meter at 100.
| | 01:16 | Wow! That sounds extraordinary.
| | 01:19 | It's one of the keys to
getting a nice rich negative.
| | 01:21 | Some people say why don't you
force the negative in development?
| | 01:25 | Not a good idea, because then what
happens is the highlights are bright, but
| | 01:29 | the shadows are not.
| | 01:31 | I like to have a very full range
negative and that's how we do it, frankly.
| | 01:35 | So that's part of the process.
| | 01:36 | Now here is another principal element.
| | 01:39 | In this kind, it might seem amusing,
but the digital camera comes back to it.
| | 01:43 | You are going to find the digital
camera's used a lot in this process.
| | 01:46 | We didn't leave it behind and
it's used is what we call our Polaroid.
| | 01:52 | At one time they made large Polaroid
for this camera, this 8x10 camera, but
| | 01:56 | unfortunately, it's no longer made.
| | 01:58 | So we do our quick shots with
this just to check the light.
| | 02:02 | It's not as refined as the final image
will be on this, but it gives us a quick
| | 02:06 | observation of how the lighting is looking.
| | 02:08 | So total preparation is critical
because when I start shooting, I have got to
| | 02:13 | give my attention to Francheska
and this all has to work smoothly.
| | 02:17 | Everything has to be ready and the
way we work, I work with usually two
| | 02:22 | people helping me.
| | 02:23 | Why do I use two people?
| | 02:25 | Basically, one person ready for the
front and to help enabling little thing
| | 02:27 | that we need, touching the lights or
something or anything like that, and then
| | 02:31 | the other person really is loading the film
in and I work the front end of the lens.
| | 02:36 | So I open and close the shutter.
| | 02:38 | I come back and I look through the lens
and by the way, I should have mentioned this.
| | 02:43 | This will maybe throw you a little bit.
| | 02:46 | The image comes in here upside down.
| | 02:47 | Yeah! So I have to visualize the image upside
down and one of the keys is come in close.
| | 02:56 | And by the way, in the tradition of this
camera. I mean Richard Avedon used this
| | 03:00 | very camera, the Deardorff, and
my mentor, Irving Penn, used it.
| | 03:05 | I worked with Irving Penn in
New York with the Deardorff.
| | 03:08 | And people like Sally Mann used a
camera similar to this and Jock Sturges,
| | 03:13 | so many of them.
| | 03:15 | Sally said an interesting thing to me one time.
| | 03:17 | She said working with these old
cameras is not easy, but I do it.
| | 03:21 | That's how I do most of my photography.
| | 03:23 | She said sometimes I miss it, but
when I get it, it's really very special.
| | 03:27 | So that's the excitement of it.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Shooting outdoors| 00:01 | Douglas: Read the shadow side.
| | 00:05 | So Francesca, with this strange big camera,
it's a strange process. It's very old.
| | 00:14 | It's even older than I am.
| | 00:16 | And what we have to do is we will
close the shutter here and then I go and we put
| | 00:21 | film in and then we take the picture.
| | 00:24 | But you can't move after we focus, okay?
| | 00:27 | Have you ever been photographed
with some camera like that before?
| | 00:29 | Francesca: No, never.
| | 00:31 | Douglas: There you are, okay.
| | 00:31 | So a new experience.
| | 00:33 | This is something from the 19th
century originally, the earliest days
| | 00:37 | of photography.
| | 00:41 | Okay.
| | 00:43 | My team ready?
| | 00:45 | We are ready for film?
| | 00:46 | Female speaker: Yeah.
| | 00:47 | Douglas: Okay.
| | 00:48 | Just stay there Francesca as you are, please.
| | 00:52 | Female speaker: Closed?
| | 00:53 | Douglas: It's closed.
| | 00:54 | I am going to go...
| | 00:56 | Okay. Yes, all right, yes, yes, 1-2-3, beautiful!
| | 01:02 | Wonderful!
| | 01:03 | Okay. Let's wait a second.
| | 01:06 | I am going to make a change here.
| | 01:08 | I have no light right at the moment,
so okay. So get the light panel please.
| | 01:15 | Okay. Now, we're adding light because
I want the light to be beautiful on
| | 01:20 | Francesca's hair first.
| | 01:23 | I want it to be delicate.
| | 01:24 | That's good!
| | 01:25 | Now Francesca, I'm going
to go to a horizontal here.
| | 01:29 | I love your long beautiful neck.
| | 01:33 | Very nice! The profile there.
| | 01:37 | Yes, beautiful!
| | 01:39 | Beautiful! Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful!
| | 01:41 | You've got all this
beautiful mistiness back here.
| | 01:43 | Okay. Here we go.
| | 01:45 | Let's go.
| | 01:47 | Closed.
| | 01:49 | Yes, beautiful! Wonderful!
| | 01:51 | Yes, 1-2-3, wonderful!
| | 01:54 | It's very exciting!
| | 01:55 | Let me do a quick Polaroid.
| | 01:57 | Move the camera, please.
| | 02:00 | This is just to get an idea of what we're doing.
| | 02:04 | I want you to see it.
| | 02:05 | Okay.
| | 02:07 | I shoot wide open with this camera.
| | 02:13 | Just to give a feel? Yes, beautiful!
| | 02:15 | Wonderful!
| | 02:17 | Beautiful! Wow!
| | 02:21 | This is just a quick reference, and what
I'm seeing here is the way the light looks.
| | 02:25 | We've had-- we started with natural
reflectors, but the light changed, as light does,
| | 02:30 | and so that's when we had to
bring in this light panel to light.
| | 02:35 | And it almost does exactly the
same thing. It gives us the control.
| | 02:39 | I'm going to get a
different image, a different shot now.
| | 02:44 | I love this light here, and
we've got it for a little while.
| | 02:46 | Let's try moving our background light
over and we'll use-- we'll ask Francesca
| | 02:54 | to sit here, where I am.
| | 02:57 | Okay. So we're changing as the light changes.
| | 03:02 | So a photographer has to
have many sensitivities.
| | 03:05 | The first obviously is the
subject, and this is the beauty of it.
| | 03:09 | We work-- our heads go into many places.
| | 03:13 | I often think I'm a different
person while I'm taking pictures.
| | 03:16 | I want to use the older lens, the
old Kodak, and we're going to make a
| | 03:19 | slightly soft misty look.
| | 03:21 | Female speaker: You got it?
Douglas: Uh-huh.
| | 03:24 | The lens is removed.
| | 03:25 | Douglas: That's?
Miranda: Yeah, that's the swing.
| | 03:27 | Miranda: You want to show this one or you just want to??
| | 03:28 | Douglas: Yeah, let's show.
| | 03:29 | There we are.
| | 03:30 | We put the aperture wide open again.
| | 03:34 | This is a different shutter speed,
so it will be at a 25th probably.
| | 03:38 | And? thank you.
| | 03:41 | You get to know these
pieces of equipment like friends.
| | 03:45 | It's a very funny thing to say, but
that's really what it comes down to.
| | 03:51 | Zander, pull that away,
let's see what happens without it.
| | 03:55 | Okay. Thank you.
| | 03:57 | It's better that way.
| | 03:59 | And actually, try something else.
Flip it over, make it black, and bring it
| | 04:02 | over to this section.
| | 04:03 | I want to see what happens.
| | 04:06 | That's interesting, very interesting.
| | 04:07 | Now, let me see the other one.
| | 04:10 | Keep it that way.
| | 04:11 | Yeah, thank you.
| | 04:17 | Okay. All right! Miranda, are you ready?
| | 04:20 | Miranda: I am ready.
| | 04:20 | Douglas: Okay, here we go!
| | 04:22 | Beautiful!
| | 04:24 | Miranda: Black and white?
Douglas: We'll start with color.
| | 04:29 | Okay. Over here with the camera.
| | 04:34 | Great! Very good!
| | 04:35 | Put the other. I'm going to check the focus quickly.
| | 04:39 | Put the opposite film in, please.
| | 04:44 | And we're ready.
| | 04:49 | Yes! Beautiful! Yes!
| | 04:52 | Beautiful!
| | 04:53 | I think we've done everything we can do here.
| | 04:55 | I'd like to go maybe
upstairs and do something else.
| | 04:58 | So I think we've gotten the
most out of this light right here.
| | 05:03 | And what we can do is go
upstairs and there's nice skylight.
| | 05:07 | So take 10 minutes off or so, 15
minutes, it will take us a while to move.
| | 05:12 | Okay. So we're going to a new location.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Shooting indoors| 00:00 | So what we've got here is we have the
windows at a distance and that gives you
| | 00:05 | an impression that you are in a huge
room, because you will see them out of
| | 00:09 | focus as just
beautiful lights at a distance.
| | 00:13 | But it kind of suggests you are in a
castle in Europe or something, quite
| | 00:17 | different from the Hollywood Hills.
| | 00:18 | So that's a sort of thing we look for,
and that's part of the mystery of this
| | 00:23 | that we can produce with this camera.
| | 00:25 | You won't believe the image we get.
| | 00:34 | So this is the back of the camera.
| | 00:36 | Once the shutter is open, I come back
and I look through what we call the ground
| | 00:40 | grass here, and it's all upside down.
| | 00:43 | That's something you get accustomed to.
| | 00:45 | You will see the framing.
| | 00:46 | That is obviously the top
of the frame and the bottom.
| | 00:49 | And you make sure there is nothing in
there that shouldn't be, and then you ask
| | 00:52 | yourself, should I go left or right?
| | 00:54 | You have all these controls.
| | 00:56 | You ought to keep it very simple, and
this is where it happens, but again, it's
| | 01:00 | why you have to pre-visualize
the image as much as possible.
| | 01:05 | And the one key is that-- the rule it's
often broken by people is they don't get
| | 01:11 | their camera close enough.
[00:01:14.0 7]
Be bold with your camera.
| | 01:15 | come in close, because that's
where the great images come from.
| | 01:19 | Chin down slightly.
Chin down slightly.
| | 01:23 | Yes, yes, yes.
Eye into the camera now.
| | 01:27 | Wonderful! Okay.
| | 01:30 | Perfect! Okay. Okay.
| | 01:33 | I'm going to put the mist
on here in just a second.
| | 01:35 | This is a mist filter and it happens to
fit the front of this old lens perfectly.
| | 01:41 | It's a Tiffen.
| | 01:47 | Same as before. Chin up.
| | 01:50 | Slight smile.
| | 01:51 | Okay, come out when you are ready.
| | 01:55 | That's perfect! Wonderful! Okay.
| | 02:00 | Female Speaker: It's closed?
| | 02:02 | Douglas: Yeah, it's closed.
| | 02:03 | What would be good for us, if you can do it,
if you hold your hand across your breast?
| | 02:14 | Biggest eyes you can give me.
| | 02:16 | Close your eyes and rest them for a second.
| | 02:17 | Take a deep breath and then have
open eyes right in that lenses.
| | 02:22 | You are staring strong.
| | 02:24 | Beautiful!
| | 02:25 | Wonderful!
| | 02:26 | Give me a Polaroid please.
| | 02:28 | Yes, yes, yes, yes.
| | 02:31 | Okay. That's beautiful!
| | 02:35 | Okay. You are wonderful!
| | 02:37 | There we are. Thank you.
| | 02:38 | We have done that.
| | 02:39 | Here is the picture.
| | 02:45 | Yeah, it's wonderful!
| | 02:47 | Francesca is like a dream.
| | 02:48 | I have wanted to photograph her, as you
know, for some time and what attracted
| | 02:52 | me first when I saw that hair, six months
ago probably, I said, wow, this lady, I
| | 02:57 | want to get her before my camera, and
I especially wanted her before the 8x0,
| | 03:02 | because I know I can mold and make
such wonderful images and it's all part
| | 03:06 | of the concept of showing hair.
| | 03:09 | And the other thing that evolved and
developed, which I loved, was when I asked
| | 03:13 | her to take her dress down at the top
and just hold-- the purity of her arm across her,
| | 03:19 | that was nice, and to me this is
probably one of the best pictures today,
| | 03:23 | and so very special.
| | 03:26 | I love this type of work
and working with people.
| | 03:29 | It's all part of our hair series, and
it gets very special with the 8x10.
| | 03:33 | Wait and see.
| | 03:34 | Check it out.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Making selects| 00:00 | Here we are in the next stage of
working with the Francesca pictures.
| | 00:06 | The portrait, I feel, worked very well,
emphasis on hair, and working with the 8x10
| | 00:11 | camera, pretty exciting and very special stuff.
| | 00:14 | So let's take a look at
the film for the first time.
| | 00:16 | These are the chromes and
I have barely seen them.
| | 00:21 | But let's see what we have in this box.
| | 00:23 | What surprises do we have and
how are we going to deal with it.
| | 00:27 | Now, I was mentioning earlier, we
used a 300 millimeter lens. That's the
| | 00:31 | normal lens on the 8x10.
| | 00:33 | It's similar to a 50, if you
had a 35 millimeter camera.
| | 00:35 | In other words, your standard digital
camera or 35 millimeter camera, 50 is normal.
| | 00:42 | In this larger camera, making a
piece of film this big, it's 300 millimeter.
| | 00:49 | And what happens is we have--
with this normal lens, you have a
| | 00:52 | normal perspective.
| | 00:53 | In other words, it doesn't look
like a long lens or a wide lens. It's a
| | 00:56 | normal perspective, but you get this
wonderful diffusion, because you are on
| | 01:00 | a 300 millimeter lens.
| | 01:02 | And this was the Nikkor that we used.
| | 01:04 | It's a 5.6.
| | 01:06 | Now, you can see the
light in her hair from behind.
| | 01:09 | You saw us watch and search and find that.
| | 01:11 | That's part of the energy
and the fun of all of this.
| | 01:15 | You keep searching.
| | 01:16 | Now, this probably was over here,
because the film comes back stacked from the
| | 01:21 | lab in different ways, but again, you
see that now I've got a little more fill
| | 01:25 | here and it has softened
these lines quite a bit.
| | 01:28 | In other words, I would say this is a
more successful image immediately than this.
| | 01:32 | In fact, I would put this aside as
one of the ones that aren't so good.
| | 01:36 | Now we are cooking.
| | 01:39 | This is that backlight coming just
from behind her, very simple, but it was
| | 01:44 | seeing what was there and speaking
gently with her, because again, don't get
| | 01:50 | lost in the photography.
| | 01:52 | Your photography, our photography is
obviously what it's all about ultimately
| | 01:56 | for us, but remember the person out in
front has to feel good and feel loved by
| | 02:03 | your camera and that's nine-tenths of
the process, as far as they're concerned
| | 02:07 | at the time you are photographing.
| | 02:08 | And now this is interesting.
| | 02:09 | Okay. Now we're going to the upstairs pictures.
| | 02:13 | I love this.
| | 02:14 | You see, this has got the
mystery of the hair and again, this is
| | 02:18 | that diffusion.
| | 02:19 | I have used the smoke filter on this
if you recall, and when you see this
| | 02:23 | close up, you're going to see that
there is a mistiness that you can't get
| | 02:26 | any other way.
| | 02:28 | This is one of Douglas Kirkland's little
secrets I suppose, but you are going to
| | 02:32 | be in on it today, but I am showing
it all to you exactly like I do it.
| | 02:36 | I say that because people look at these
images and they say, how do you do it?
| | 02:40 | How have you done it?
| | 02:42 | What is your trick?
| | 02:43 | And you say use an 8x10 camera, and
they often are confused or baffled because
| | 02:48 | they don't have any idea
what the process is like.
| | 02:51 | I like these.
| | 02:52 | These are the more successful
ones as far as I'm concerned.
| | 02:56 | Someone else we shot with the 8x10 was I wanted to g
et a guy, a good looking guy, and hair, his hair.
| | 03:02 | So I met Charlie and we
shot mainly in black-and-white.
| | 03:06 | I love the t-shirt he had
there, clean, clean, clean.
| | 03:10 | Now, that's a picture I really love.
| | 03:13 | I love this hair falling in front
of his face, and what I have here you'll
| | 03:18 | see me check with a loupe.
| | 03:19 | I can do this just like we
would any 35 millimeter negative.
| | 03:23 | Yes, he is very, very sharp
in the eyes and everything.
| | 03:26 | And there's a slight movement of
his hair, which is what I wanted.
| | 03:29 | We have a fan blowing it.
| | 03:31 | So what we will be doing in a short while
is you'll see me make a copy of this,
| | 03:36 | a digital copy.
| | 03:38 | Now, I am telling you something that
is not commonly known. In fact, I've never
| | 03:41 | talked about this before.
| | 03:43 | We can photograph it with our digital
camera and inverse it so it becomes a
| | 03:47 | positive rather than negative, like
you're seeing, which you're going to watch
| | 03:51 | us do in a couple of minutes.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Digitizing negatives| 00:00 | So here are the chromes and
negatives and we want to digitize them.
| | 00:04 | Different ways of doing it, but a
simple and quick way that we have worked out
| | 00:08 | is working with our copy stand,
pretty straightforward stuff.
| | 00:12 | Let me just show you quickly here.
| | 00:14 | This is simply a lightbox under
here and it's daylight quality.
| | 00:18 | What Jeremy is going to do here is
photograph these and put them on the card of
| | 00:23 | the camera. He is shooting RAWs, and I
will put them in my computer, the card.
| | 00:29 | I will take over the computer, and in
Bridge we can-- we have a lot of control
| | 00:34 | and what we would do is inverse it.
| | 00:38 | Now, what Jeremy has done, you
see how simple and quick that was?
| | 00:41 | It's so simple, it's amazing.
| | 00:43 | I have a macro lens, a 50mm macro lens,
and this is a standard copy stand,
| | 00:49 | nothing unique or unusual about that,
and what we're doing is digitizing.
| | 00:54 | Now, again, the beauty of having your
work digitized is that you can put it in
| | 00:59 | your computer and you can modify it
and you can do whatever you want with it.
| | 01:03 | And we do at times make straight
contact prints, but normally I prefer this
| | 01:07 | procedure, because it gives me that
extra element of control that we in the
| | 01:12 | digital age have gotten accustomed to.
| | 01:17 | There is Charlie and he is
going to make a very strong image.
| | 01:20 | Now, Jeremy is taking a photograph,
which he is including the number on
| | 01:27 | the corner of the frame here,
because that will identify this negative
| | 01:32 | with the file.
| | 01:33 | So in other words, when I look at them
in my computer, I will see that-- There it
| | 01:39 | is right there. You see the negative?
Yeah, there it is right in the corner.
| | 01:48 | So we will be able to check that
out and find it and relate to it.
| | 01:52 | And again, it's all a continuous process.
| | 01:55 | So let's go on to the next stage.
| | 01:58 | Okay. So here we have our image, and you
might say this looks like nothing that you
| | 02:06 | could ever imagine working with but,
again, it's an image and you want to make
| | 02:11 | it fairly light, believe
it or not, at this stage.
| | 02:15 | So I lighten him and I am going to say Open Image.
| | 02:19 | I have opened it in Photoshop
and in Photoshop I come down to the
| | 02:25 | Inverse control and the reality
is-- Invert rather-- and it's a
| | 02:31 | Command+I as in Inverse.
| | 02:34 | Okay. Now, there you see, there he is,
suddenly he is-- What I am going to do now,
| | 02:40 | this is an RGB file, so why don't we
just make it-- we don't want an RGB. I am
| | 02:44 | going to make it in Grayscale. Discard Color.
| | 02:47 | Okay. Good! It's exciting, isn't it?
| | 02:49 | See, it's magical. It's
coming there immediately.
| | 02:52 | Suddenly now Charlie is one of us,
and you see how fast that is.
| | 02:57 | And watch this. This was Charlie as we
got him a minute ago. There he is now.
| | 03:03 | Cool, isn't it?
| | 03:06 | The reality is there are different
ways of arriving at the same point and you
| | 03:10 | will have purists who will
think I am insane doing this frankly.
| | 03:13 | But it's my way and I like it.
| | 03:16 | I feel it's the contemporary approach.
| | 03:18 | And I am getting the best world of the
8x10 with all this. Look at that glorious shallow
| | 03:23 | depth of field again.
| | 03:24 | The man has a different look in his
eye, because this camera connects with
| | 03:28 | people differently and that's
why we have images like this.
| | 03:31 | Wuite strong.
| | 03:32 | We make huge prints, which we can from this.
| | 03:35 | We make these 5 feet and higher, and
they're clean, crisp, because our digital
| | 03:42 | camera is an extremely high-end
camera in terms of definition.
| | 03:46 | I feel I have a little more
possibility with it digitized and the digitizing
| | 03:52 | process for me is the simplest one,
rather than waiting for the drum scan.
| | 03:56 | And I've had lots of them made.
| | 03:58 | I mean, I've had hundreds of
them made, and they are good.
| | 04:01 | But I love having the control, I love
being able to do all this in-house, and
| | 04:06 | it's got my stamp on it, it's me,
and that's what I care about.
| | 04:11 | This is why photography is so
radiantly wonderful and exciting.
| | 04:14 | So here we are. We will make
prints in a little while and I will show
| | 04:19 | you some very large prints of that.
| | 04:21 | Exciting stuff!
| | 04:22 | We're going to do that in the next few minutes.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Making prints| 00:00 | So here's a printer we're going to work with.
| | 00:02 | It's the HP Z3200.
| | 00:06 | This is 44 inches wide,
a little bigger than a meter.
| | 00:09 | This has allowed me to
enlarge the image very simply.
| | 00:14 | And frankly, in the earlier days of
before digital existed, getting enlargements
| | 00:21 | wasn't too easy from 8x10, because
they weren't that many enlargers that would
| | 00:27 | accommodate negative that big.
| | 00:29 | They did exist, but there were rather
few and far between and costly and awkward
| | 00:35 | to move and get around.
| | 00:36 | In fact, some of them were even
motorized to put them up and down,
| | 00:39 | they were that complex.
| | 00:41 | Anyway, so much easier.
| | 00:42 | And there we are, it's starting
and we're printing on a paper
| | 00:46 | that's called MOAB fine art rag paper.
| | 00:50 | Very high caliber of paper and one of
the beautiful things about what we produce
| | 00:56 | here is well, one of the great
experts in the field is Henry Wilhelm.
| | 01:04 | He is considered the foremost expert
in longevity of anything photographic,
| | 01:08 | whether it's negative or the
chrome or whatever or a print.
| | 01:12 | He maintains the prints from this
particular printer they have a life
| | 01:15 | expectancy of 250 years.
| | 01:18 | I think it's pretty special and I
don't think you or I are going to be around
| | 01:21 | watch that, but it's cool.
| | 01:24 | The interesting thing is the caliber
of print that we get from this is of
| | 01:28 | museum quality.
| | 01:30 | We've just had a very big show in
Australia in a big museum and these prints
| | 01:34 | were everywhere, enormous.
| | 01:36 | We can make very big prints here.
| | 01:38 | We can make them to 44 inches wide,
just about as long as you would want.
| | 01:42 | Pretty exciting stuff!
| | 01:43 | It's another world!
| | 01:44 | Well, we're waiting for Charlie to print.
| | 01:49 | I want to show you one of those
prints that I'm talking about.
| | 01:51 | Here's Hugh Jackman.
| | 01:53 | This was done when he was working on
the film Australia in Australia a couple
| | 01:57 | of years ago.
| | 01:58 | This is on the fine art paper that I'm
talking about and this is done with the
| | 02:02 | 8x10 and handled just like
you'd watch me with Charlie's picture.
| | 02:08 | Look at the quality we get!
| | 02:09 | And this has been in a number of museums.
| | 02:12 | It's quite glorious and
again the shallow depth of field.
| | 02:15 | You get a look and of intensity
that only comes from the 8x10.
| | 02:19 | You can see here this is the edge of the film.
| | 02:22 | Here's Charlie coming out right now.
| | 02:24 | The printer is cutting it.
| | 02:25 | All the magic we'd never
have imagined just 20 years ago.
| | 02:31 | Look at that everybody!
| | 02:33 | Wow!
| | 02:34 | You know what I did?
| | 02:34 | I made an extra one to give Charlie.
| | 02:37 | He was a great.
| | 02:40 | Giving a print means so much to people.
| | 02:43 | And that's what frequently
photographers seem to forget to do.
| | 02:46 | So what I've done here and I like to do
it, especially on the black and white,
| | 02:50 | is leave the edge of the film.
| | 02:52 | Purists can see that this is not
been modified or had anything done to.
| | 02:57 | So I want to take a closer
look at this Charlie print.
| | 03:02 | You see we got this wonderful
detail precise in his eyes and that is
| | 03:08 | sharp, sharp, sharp.
| | 03:09 | But you have this softness that melts in.
| | 03:11 | It's just so fluid and beautiful!
| | 03:14 | This is very exciting photography and I
could only accomplish that with the 8x10,
| | 03:19 | as you saw me do it.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Conclusion| 00:00 | I hope you've enjoyed watching my
process as I've worked with the 8x10 camera,
| | 00:04 | a very special piece of equipment.
| | 00:07 | And seeing some of the reasons I use it.
I love the shallow depth of field or the
| | 00:12 | focus that's misty in the background.
| | 00:15 | Nothing quite matches it.
| | 00:16 | Why does that happen? Mainly
because it has such a big piece of film,
| | 00:20 | 8x10 inches.
| | 00:21 | It's about 20x25 centimeters.
| | 00:23 | It's a big piece of film and the
aperture of this lens is not that fast, but it
| | 00:29 | gives that shallow depth of field,
that mistiness, even at f/5,6. That's the
| | 00:33 | maximum aperture on this lens.
| | 00:35 | And the people often say to me, if
I am doing it, what do I focus on?
| | 00:40 | It's very simple.
| | 00:41 | Always the eyes.
| | 00:42 | Focus on the eyes, you'll never miss.
| | 00:44 | That's what people really want to see.
| | 00:47 | The camera has devices like you have
on some 35 millimeter type cameras and
| | 00:52 | medium format swings and tilts.
| | 00:54 | What do you use this for?
| | 00:55 | Well, you can extend the focus if you
want and in the back you can to swing it
| | 00:59 | around and you can get
correct lines for architecture.
| | 01:03 | All sorts of possibilities.
| | 01:05 | It's endless anyway.
| | 01:07 | I really would encourage
you to try this equipment.
| | 01:10 | But if you don't happen to have an
8x10 available to you, use a 4x5 and
| | 01:14 | work with that.
| | 01:15 | You'll be surprised what you can do
or a medium format or a 35 because
| | 01:20 | truthfully, the most important
piece of equipment you will ever have is
| | 01:25 | right here in your head.
| | 01:26 | Your mind and your eye.
| | 01:28 | And you only limit yourself by your own
creative process and your imagination.
| | 01:33 | So enjoy it and get the most out of
photography, as I do everyday and as I
| | 01:37 | work and enjoy it.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
