Contents North East Coast Pinholes Mark Snowdon ARPS uses a Zero Image 2000 for some atmospheric views of the North East Coast of England. Reflections on pinhole photography Owen Andrew shares the experience of taking pinhole photographs. Taken by Big Cameras Alan Hodgson ASIS Hon FRPS reflects on an illustrious career in photography. Gallery Pinhole images by Roger Harrison take pride of place in this issue. Members’ Darkrooms Kay Reeve FRPS shows that high quality work can be produced in a small darkroom. What’s in the Bag? Kay Reeve FRPS keeps weight down and creativity up with a well organised camera bag. Retouching Prints Alan Meeks LRPS gives expert advice for achieving excellent results. A new look at Henry Moore A new book by Donald Richards presents a personal view of Henry Moore’s work.
Hybrid Adventures
Kay Reeve FRPS explains how analogue and digital photography can be integrated. How to make an exhibition of yourself Charles Binns gives an account of our recent exhibition and offers encouragement to enter the next on 8th October this year.
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Analogue is the journal of the Analogue Special Interest Group (SIG) of the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) and is free to Analogue SIG members. Committee Acting Chair: Richard Williams LRPS Secretary: Charles Binns Treasurer: Robert Adams Journal Editor: Charles Binns Journal Designer: Owen Andrew Web Content Manager: Fern Nuttal ARPS All rights reserved on the part of contributors and authors. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopied or recorded without the written permission of the copyright holder. Requests for such permission must be addressed to the Editor. The RPS, the Analogue Special Interest Group and the Editor accept no liability for misuse or breach of contract by a contributor. The views expressed in this journal do not necessarily reflect the policies of the RPS or of the Analogue SIG.
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Book Reviews Found Not Lost Elliott Erwitt Spirit of Light Paul Mitchell FRPS
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Cover Image: Old Chestnut Tree in Crowsley Park Zero Image 45 Owen Andrew
Editorial Taking a look at progress over the last year or so, despite the challenges, we have published the journal regularly, we have run regular Zoom print review sessions and mounted a successful exhibition and related Youtube video. The next step for us, as things open up is to put in place events. These will be low cost/no cost events protecting our limited funds against the risk of just a few of us turning up. No criticism here, just a reality we need to work with being such a small and widely spread group – 226 members at the last count. A large format introduction shoot is being planned – meeting up at Stowe Landscape Gardens, as well as a London get together and a show and tell print review. One event I would ask you all to put in your diaries is the Exhibition, ‘Show and Tell’ and general gathering of the clans in Solihull coinciding with a short AGM on Saturday the 8th of October – be great to get a good turnout at that one.
A customer complaint!! We have had our first customer complaint from our European members. Not happy with only getting digital copies they have petitioned for retention of hard copy. We have reviewed their case and reversed our decision in their favour. Sadly we cannot do the same for our international members, £8.00 sterling to send each copy three times a year against a £15 membership fee is not sustainable.
This is our Pinhole themed edition – many thanks to Owen Andrew for taking the lead in this as well as our other contributors. I do feel like Pinhole gets us closer to the soul of photography – and is great fun too.
Some fat guy in a red suit (am I being sizeist here?) left me a 6 x17 film back in December. On that basis I plan to make our third and final edition of this year Pano themed. I will also be very happy to have your images, articles and thoughts on that one too.
Analogue in a digital world: is it relevant? This is the challenge I have set myself for a camera club presentation I am making next month. If I get the opportunity to share it with all of you I will do so, but wish me luck. Its expensive!! film cameras, film and chemicals are all going up rapidly. A fixed/diminishing supply of film cameras, particularly high end, is sending prices through the roof. A nice Leica M2 last year for about £850 now more like £1200 and so it goes. Kodak’s film price increases are eye watering, whatever the logic, and premixed branded chemicals are also getting hefty increases. I have cancelled one of my magazine subscriptions (not this one!) and am going to start mixing my own chemicals to balance the books – I feel a future article coming on here…
Next edition – Colour!! We were sent an excellent article from a member who had the audacity to submit colour images. I have resisted the temptation to have him ‘black balled’ and decided to turn it to our advantage and make our next edition of Analogue colour photography themed. I welcome any articles you may have on the subject and already have planned a Jobo system run through as well as a number of members’ experiences and portfolios in colour.
Distinctions – I used the mailing list to create a Distinctions Distribution chart, just for interest. What immediately jumps out is the number of us (me included) who have not taken up that challenge. No pressure, all are welcome, but I am sure that some of us, like me, have been putting off getting that panel together. I have been procrastinating for the last 30 years, could this be the year that I finally ‘getaround-to-it’? Feel free to join me if so inclined and share your experiences with us. Step one; get that panel together, step two; book a preliminary review with one of the advisory panels the RPS runs all over the country. I have been to one, and can say that whilst a little uncomfortable, (of the ‘They called my baby ugly’ variety) will save time and money in the long run.
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Hambleden Wier. Zero Image 45 with yellow filter, Fomapan ISO 100 4“ X 5” Owen Andrew
Reflections on pinhole photography Owen Andrew The Pinhole Experience It is early on a sunny but not especially warm spring morning and I am standing on a metal gantry that crosses Hambleden Wier on the Thames between Henley and Marlow. I am about to take the first of several pinhole photos which I intend to be a series of Thames views. There is no one about which suits me fine as I start setting up. No room for a tripod here so I attach a Gorillapod to the railings, then the quick release plate to the middle of the three sections of my Zero Image 45 (4 X 5 inch) pinhole camera. Now, taking great care to avoid tipping the assembly into the river, I attach the quick release plate to the Gorillapod and then screw in the cable release. Next, I attach the double sided film holder to the back of the camera with two elastic bands hooking around the brass ‘bollards’ on the front and back sections, hoping that
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neither band will snap. Ready to go, I aim the camera in what I think is the right direction as there is no viewfinder with this apparatus. Solutions to the lack of viewfinder problem, for example wire frames or transparent plastic sheets with borders can be tried but I have not found these to be any more reliable than simply hoping for the best so I do not bother with them. The compositions often turn out better than expected. I am just about set to take the picture but before I raise the dark slide and press the shutter release, the question of exposure has to be decided, always tricky as far as I am concerned. As the f stop is determined by the number of times the pinhole divides into the distance between the pinhole and the film plane, it is a big number; f218 for the shot I am about to take. That being the case, the exposure will be long which is not problem in itself but the Law of
Reciprocity really comes into force here. Zero Image cameras are supplied with a very useful calculator in the form of a cardboard disc with rotating sections enabling exposure compensation to be read. There are also on-line calculators and apps that do the job but a certain amount of interpretation is required. A quite effective way to deal with the exposure problem is to use films known to have good latitude, for example Fuji Acros and Ilford FP4+ or inexpensive films like Fomapan, especially for large format, until a greater level of confidence has been reached. It is surprising how few negatives are completely useless. I press the shutter release and having taken the picture, close the dark slide and reverse the film holder, taking great care with those dratted rubber bands as the camera could ‘explode’ with disastrous consequences if one snaps as I am above a raging river. Now for the next shot. There you are then, that is the pinhole experience which is not dissimilar to other types of large format analogue photography except for the lack of control that you have. I think it is the unpredictability and the often surprising results it produces that is the fascination of pinhole photography. It is not for everyone but if you have not tried it you should because setting aside preconceived images allows the possibility of new ways of seeing. Something in your prospective image that was considered inconsequential can become of great importance when seen in the distorted form of a pinhole image.
Hambleden Wier 2. Zero Image 45, Fomapan ISO100 4” X 5” Owen Andrew
Shiplake Churchyard near Henley on Thames. Agfa Isola adapted as pinhole camera. Fuji Acros ISO 100 Owen Andrew
Chestnut Tree in Crowsley Park, Oxfordshire. Zero Image 45 with MPP 6 X 9 cm back, Ilford FP4+ Owen Andrew
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What you need As exposures are long, support for the camera is necessary. A tripod is the obvious answer but you could use a wall or even the ground for dramatic effect and a Gorillapod would allow you to use a tree or lamp post for a higher viewpoint. Expensive films are lost on pinhole photography; better to use cheaper ones, particularly for large format work because shots are likely to be les than perfect and detail will not be that sharp even in the best ones. Fomapan ISO 320 5 x 4 is ideal though it seems to a little over rated, ISO 200 producing better exposures. Another approach is to use a high latitude film like Fujifilm Acros or Ilford FP4+ which is both inexpensive and forgiving. Filters can be used on pinhole cameras just like any other to polarise light, accentuate skies, lighten foliage and skin tones or for infrared. They can be held over pinhole, taped or stuck on with Blutack or a filter holder can be made from foam board and mounted on the front of the camera
with velcro. Using filters will increase already long
exposures. I have yet to discover an infallible way of getting exposures right every time; if anyone has, would they please send it in for publication in the next issue of Analogue. There are some aids that will help you to get it right most of the time, for example there are apps like Reciprocity Timer. Makers of pinhole cameras sometimes supply calculators with purchases and detailed tables can be found online. I have found the Zero Image calculator disc to be helpful but speaking from experience I have found it easy to get in a muddle with these things and my solution has been to write my own tables using exposures found to be correct on index cards which I carry in my bag. Obviously to take a photograph there must be a subject. Sports and wildlife do not lend themselves but having said that someone has probably taken successful action shots with a pinhole camera. Wide open vistas rarely come out well due to the wide angle nature of the pinhole and the subdued tonal variation. Better to look
Temple Island near Henley on Thames. Zero Image 45 with MPP 6 X 9cm back and yellow filter Kodak T-Max ISO100 Owen Andrew
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Three pinhole cameras
for subjects with something prominent in the foreground.
Shown are three examples but pinhole cameras can be made from almost anything from rooms, fruit and vegetables and seashells to caravans. The variety of ideas that pinholers come up with and successfully use is amazing.
Above all what you need is patience and willingness to accept that without a lens you cannot predict exactly what you will get but the results will often have unexpected qualities that you would not see if you had taken the picture with the fine glass you normally use. Making a pinhole camera All manner of things have been used to make pinhole cameras from matchboxes and beer cans to wheelie bins and panel vans; just search the Internet to find some interesting examples. The easiest way to get started is to buy a ready made one. These are often wooden instuments made by skilled craftsmen and can be quite expensive. At the other end of the price scale are the ones converted from cheap 120 roll film cameras like the Agfa Isola and somewhere in the middle are the 3D printed ones.
Home made 1/4 plate camera made of 4mm foam board covered with marbled paper originally bought for end papers of a presentation document and matt varnished. Focal length is 50mm. Pringles tins and similar can used to make cameras that take photographic paper and give ‘curved’ images. I’ve yet to try that (see online for details).
You could adapt a 35mm camera by cutting a hole in a body cap and inserting a pinhole or easier still you could buy a ready made one. The 35 mm format gives very soft images with dark edges whereas square or near square formats can give a more appealing vignette. Another approach which can be very satisfying is to make your own camera and there are many websites with plans and instructions. They often stipulate using plywood or exotic hardwoods but unless you are skilled in woodwork and have access to a well equipped workshop it would be much easier to make your first attempt from foam board which can cut easily with a craft knife and glued into shape. As foam board is cheap, if you make a mistake you just start again. It is not as strong as teak but subject to careful use it should last a few uses until your next construction. I made my first pinhole camera from a small papier mache tray which previously held three plant plugs. I painted it with a couple of coats of black paint inside and out and put a pinhole in the front which I prised into a piece of aluminium cut from a beer can, with a pin. The quarter plate film holder is held onto the back with rubber bands and as an extra refinement I made velvet light seals. The pictures from it have plenty of the typical pinhole soft focus but it works.
Zero Image 45, 4” X 5” camera made of teak in three sections for focal lengths of 25, 50 and 75mm with optional brass shutter release. Velcro pads have been added to enable a home made foam board filter holder to be used. Shown with it is the exposure calculator supplied with the camera.
The actual pinholes can be made with a pin but a needle is better due to the sharper point, the taper and the variety of sizes. Better still is to buy a drilled one from an on-line supplier which to ensure best results should be the correct Agfa Isola 120 modified as a pinhole camera by Tinako of Vilnius, Lithuania. The yellow ‘eye’ is a sliding magnetic shutter and the filter ring minus glass is threaded for filters. These and similar are available online from various sellers.
Yew Tree. Zero Image 45, Ilford FP4+ Charles Binns
size for the focal length as incorrect sizes result in poorer image quality. There are numerous tables to determine correct size to be found on the internet. This has been my personal view of pinhole photography, which I find fascinating and enjoyable though I appreciate that it is not for everyone. If you are already an avid pinholer you will know how rewarding it can be to just let go and allow in an element of chance. As you know there are frustrations when things do not turn out as predicted but that is the point; it is not predictable but more often than not, the surprises are favourable ones.
The Thames at Marlow. Zero Image 45, Fomapan ISO 100 4“ X 5” Owen Andrew
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If you have not tried pinhole yet it might be because you believe that the best quality image that you can achieve is the only acceptable outcome. Of course that is how you maintain the high standard of your work but sometimes you might feel that a vital ingredient is missing though it is hard to say exactly what it is. If this is you then give pinhole a try. As a result you might find that ellusive something, enjoy your hobby more and join the ever growing fraternity of pinhole addicts.
Avebury Trees. Roger Harrison
Pinhole online The list of names below represents only a small fraction of photographers and artists who have used pinhole cameras in their work and many more can be found by online search or in magazines and books. Website URLs are not included because a number of those mentioned do not have their own websites but can be seen through Instagram, Flikr and other platforms. A Google search will find them. Meiko Tadokoro George Davidson Paul Mitchell Steve Gosling Stephen McNally Cameron Gillie Marianne Engberg Edward Levinson Brendan Barry Kwanghun Hyun
Steve Irvine Herbert Böttcher Martin Henson Martha Casenave Diane Boss Craig Barber Ilan Wolf Vera Lutter Abelardo Morrel John Grepstad
Websites https://econtent.unm.edu/digital/collection/pinhole https://www.nancybreslin.com https://jongrepstad.com/pinhole https://pinholeresource.com https://ondupinhole.com https://www.harmantechnology.com/harman-titan4x5-pinhole-camerahttp://www.zeroimage.com http://www.kwanghun.com http://zeroimage.com You Tube videos Nancy Breslin Easy to follow introduction to Pinhole Martin Henson Layman’s explanation of the physics and inspiring examples Joe Van Cleave How to get exposure right every time
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Taken by Big cameras A lifetime journey
Dr Alan Hodgson ASIS Hon FRPS I have been really taken by the content of recent editions of Analogue with so much reflecting my life journey through photography. A short discussion with the Editor resulted in the outline for this article. I hope that you find my continuing journey through multiple facets of analogue photography as inspiring as I find the work of others. Schooldays I can still remember the ‘that's for me’ experience that sent me on this journey. My father had a copy of Everyday Science by Cyril Hall. It touched on many photographic techniques such as early infra-red and recording a contact print of the radiation from gas mantles. It contained few photographs, but it was filled with line illustrations like Figure 1. The fuse was lit and I would revisit these technologies in my working life.
Figure 1 A line work illustration from Everyday Science. Reproduced by arrangement with The Gresham Publishing Company Ltd, Glasgow.
I received a home photography kit to add to my radio and chemistry sets. These matured into a degree in Chemistry, a PhD that was mostly electronics and the offer of a dream job with the R&D group at Ilford Ltd. The Ilford years I had a fabulous 22-year journey through Ilford starting in 1982 which managed to combine (but not tame) my interests in chemistry, electronics and photography. It was also the start of my journey building camera systems as I was originally employed as an instrument builder in their Image Physics group, constructing large, rail mounted precision cameras with stabilised light sources and micrometer focussing. You can see why the Large Format issue of Analogue attracted my attention!
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I spent the first 6 years building optical systems to test glass plates and film products. A lot of this was at the far-red end of the spectrum, the start of another journey into infra-red imaging. Holography took me into large glass plates and aerial film into wide format roll film. Traffic camera systems begat the silver halide technologies that became Ilford SFX. Line work like Figure 1 was originally recorded on Process plates, which decades later became line film using hydroquinone developers. As I was writing up this story for PhotoHistorian I read the Lith Printing issue of Analogue and later the Large Format issue with the New York skyline work of Tony Lovell. I was reminded of another project I may yet revisit from nearly 40 years ago. I joined Ilford shortly after the release of XP1 but by the mid-1980s we were looking at options for what became XP2. I was investigating the high contrast characteristics for use as a technical film and on a customer visit to San Francisco I shot the frame in Figure 2 on a trial coating. This affinity for high contrast subjects has influenced my photography over subsequent years. In the 1990s hybrid systems which wrote digital images onto silver halide were in focus. Optical data storage and medical imaging became my work, at the time using large format sheet film. As an example the medical image shown in Figure 3 was written onto 8x10 sheet products using a TV monitor inside a rack mounted case. This remains a valid hybrid workflow and I was recently interested to see a similar system used by Tony Richards to produce hybrid images on collodion shown at a joint RPS/UWE conference – Figure 4.
Above Figure 2 High contrast skyscape on XP1/2 trial. Above right Figure 3 Magnetic Resonance Image recorded on Ilfospeed grade 2. From the collection of Alan Hodgson. Right Figure 4 The RPS/UWE collodion conference proceedings, available from https://rps.org/shop/ and the details here https://rps.org/collodion
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A foray into electronic imaging I left Ilford in 2004 when they reinvented as Harman Technology, trading as ILFORD PHOTO. However, the same themes remained with me and I now had the opportunity to publish my work through The RPS Journal. I worked in telescope optics which are now basically big cameras and this went into the September 2008 edition. I went back to infra-red, modifying compact cameras for the February 2009 edition and work on digital gantry cameras took me back into traffic imaging. The camera building bug has not left me. I built my own analogue electronic camera systems for infra-red video and inkjet still image printing; a different flavour of analogue!
Figure 5 A monochrome analogue electronic camera awaiting a wooden case.
This interface between analogue and digital is probably where I will spend my time, and probably in monochrome. I have a trajectory into a hybrid world of photography. The medical images were but the start of the journey as towards the end of my Ilford days we produced a workflow to digitally remaster and print the work of Edward Sherriff Curtis onto large photographic glass plates. Helping design and coat these plates then working with the Curtis Centennial team in Minnesota was a personal highlight. This workflow appeared in the RPS Journal October 2019 as a joint article with fellow analogue stalwart Alan Elliott.
Figure 6 A flier from The Curtis Centennial glass plate project. From the collection of Alan Hodgson.
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These projects left a lasting impression on my personal practice. In this hybrid journey digital has become a tool in the camera workflow, not the end product. I need to write stuff down During this journey I have learnt a lot but also come across areas that still need to be explored. Behind all this is the thought that some of the analogue photographic knowledge that was passed by experience in the 20th century may be more difficult to retrieve in the future. I aim to play some small part in redressing this, through published works such as this. I made a start last year with a contribution to the collodion conference illustrated in Figure 4. The collodion workflow I described used big cameras as illustrated in Figure 7. This is not unlike the types of cameras I was building at Ilford in the 1980s so I have a personal perspective to bring to this.
Figure 7 A 1900 Penrose Process camera in the Centro Portugues de Fotografia.
Some of this will mean getting back into building optics, a return to my Ilford and telescope experience. We have become used to lenses with iris diaphragm apertures but lenses like those in Figure 7 had slots in which you could insert your own fixed aperture, of whatever shape you desired. These were used to great effect in lithographic (process) work and some sample apertures from 1898 are shown in Figure 8.
Figure 8 Shaped aperture stops illustrated by T W Lascelles in Negative-making for process work, The RPS Journal Vol 38, pp224-228 (1898).
Through lockdown I started a pathfinder project (search rps.org for “Aperture”) but it needed a suitable lens to dismantle to create an aperture slot. A candidate came my way recently and is shown in Figure 9 awaiting surgery. Big cameras can benefit from big lenses.
Figure 9 A 1969 Soligor 800mm f/8 lens. 800mm in both physical and focal length!
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The question becomes where to place this information. Some is imaging science and will go to the RPS Imaging Science Journal while some is squarely photo history and I aim for this to go into the RPS Photo Historian, the journal of the RPS Historical Group. If the editor allows, some will end up in Analogue too. Going back to my childhood I remember not understanding the image in Figure 10, taken from the same book as Figure 1. Why does the camera not point towards the object? I am now able to explain and record its significance in the evolution of big camera studio work.
Figure 10 A line work illustration of a Process camera photographing a picture. This workflow requires the camera to record a mirror image. You can (just) see a mirror or prism mounted on the lens. More detail will be in the PhotoHistorian paper. Reproduced from Everyday Science by arrangement with The Gresham Publishing Company Ltd, Glasgow.
Where am I now? By the time you read this article I will have a new role as Chair of the International Standards Technical Committee for Photography. This is hosted by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). If you have ever wondered why your film speed has an ISO prefix, or why your DSLR camera speed dial is labelled ISO I can explain. ISO Technical Committee 42 (Photography) maintains those standards for you. We also do a lot more, down to the mundane issue of tripod thread size. The Editorial of the last edition of Analogue talked of ‘forgotten formats’. One of our tasks is make sure they are not forgotten and are precisely documented. By the time you read this we
Figure 11 The old version of ISO 14548. Permission to reproduce extracts from British Standards is granted by BSI Standards Limited (BSI). No other use of this material is permitted.
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should have completed a revision of Figure 11, the photographic glass plate size standard ISO 14548 which covers legacy and new large format cameras alike. I have another International Standard to revise in 2022, for which I will be seeking the collective wisdom and experience of The RPS Analogue Group. I still feel the need to build things for my photography and there is a specific camera I want to replicate. In the early years of photography Warren De La Rue constructed his large format camera to photograph the Moon. In modern terms it was around 2100mm f/6 with a 35cm diameter tarnished mirror. I have such a mirror, left over from my days in holography and I have been testing some prototypes. My workflow on this type of task is illustrated in Figure 12. The modern DSLR illustrated is not there to take pictures, it is a measurement tool to gauge the optical properties of the mirror.
Figure 12 The Moon Camera mirror under test. The house in the inverted image is around 2km away.
But if you have a camera set up you may as well press the shutter release. Side lighting the tarnish on the mirror my camera and I took the selfie in Figure 13. In the completed unit we will be replaced by a 4x5 dark slide.
Figure 13 A DSLR as a measurement tool. This image is one that graces the cover of Photography for Everyone, The RPS Strategic Plan https://rps.org/about/strategy/
In my experience, once you have been taken by big cameras you have the bug and there is no going back. Like silver halide there is something here that is addictive so this story will continue. See you around.
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Images by Roger Harrison The special character of the pinhole image is shown here to great effect.
Lockdown Flowers
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Penarth Pier
Porthcawl Lighthouse
St Lythan’s Burial Chamber
Grangetown Gasometer
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Members’ Darkrooms Kay Reeve FRPS
A picture taken in my darkroom (or should that be dark cupboard!) I took it using a red filter to simulate the effect of the safelight (which sits on a high shelf round to the left). Also round to the left is a built-in cupboard where I keep unexposed paper and various other stuff. I also retreat in there if I want a bit of extra dark if I am loading a film onto a reel for development. On the high shelf you can see are ring binders of 35mm slides and an external hard drive. The enlarger is a rather elderly Durst M605, but it just fits in to what is a quite small space. The notice hanging to the left of the enlarger has a table of MG filtrations. You can also see a darkroom timer, a grain focuser, a Beard enlarging easel and the first of the normal processing trays. Where I stood to take the picture there is normally a folding picnic table which I put up to hold more trays. Behind me is more storage space, including a wheeled trolley where chemicals etc live. The whole area is really tiny, which irritates me, but I just have to live with that. Underneath the bench where the enlarger sits is an area where I keep some camera equipment, tripods etc. There is a window to the left where I put up standard black out material.
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What’s in the Bag? Kay Reeve FRPS
The simple answer is ‘as little as possible’, but I had better explain that. I am not a great photographer of people, and my main subject matter is natural landscapes, flora and fauna. I do enjoy the shapes of modern architecture, and also still life. Quite a lot of my photography for the last couple of years has, for obvious reasons, been still life, and if I am working in the house and garden, then there isn’t really a bag at all. But when working in the great outdoors, I learned a long time ago that carrying a lot of stuff, ‘just in case’, was counter-productive. Although I freely admit that I am now in the category of ‘Getting On A Bit’, even for a younger person carrying a lot of extra weight is tiring, and so dampens down creativity. So I decide on what I am likely to photograph, and how I will photograph it, before I go out. If I am not likely to stray far from the car, and I want the highest possible quality for serious prints, then the camera is a Hasselblad H1 (a bit elderly now) with standard 80mm lens, sometimes a converter, 35mm wide-angle, or 120mm for macro work. The quality of the lenses is fabulous. The camera itself is a bit fiddly, designed for use in a studio. I always use this camera with a tripod or solid monopod. It takes either a film back, my usual choice for monochrome work, or a Phase One digital back, also a bit elderly now. I also take filters, chosen to suit the
film and/or the expected subject matter. For longer expeditions, the Hasselblad and its accessories stay at home. I then need to decide if I am going to shoot film – either slides (usually for projection, but with the option of scanning) or monochrome for darkroom work. I use Nikon SLRs, F6, FM2 or FM3a. I favour the quality of prime lenses. You can always crop a good negative, or of course just select a closer viewpoint. I also take filters as appropriate. I also have a Nikon Df, which I use in basically the same way as the film cameras. It takes all the same lenses, and if for any reason I want a darkroom print from one of its images, I make a digital transfer negative.
Finally, if I am out somewhere and I do not necessarily expect to take photographs, but just might, then I take a Panasonic Lumix DMC-G5 camera with 14-24mm and 45150mm lenses. If I want a darkroom print from one of its images, again I will make a digital transfer negative. I sometimes take a tripod for use with the SLRs, particularly if I am doing macro or long telephoto work, or choosing deliberately long shutter speeds, but I also have walking poles which double as monopods, which I find very useful, My prime objective is to limit the amount of weight I have to carry, but never to compromise on the quality of the original capture. If I want to ‘distress’ an image for artistic reasons, then I can always do that later.
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Retouching Prints Alan Meeks LRPS Dust has been the bugbear of photographers ever since its creation and still is now, on sensors just as much as on film. At least today it's easy to use a healing brush or clone tool to remove black spots from digital images. Bugs or dust floating around inside a camera will block the light and create clear spots on negatives or black spots on transparencies. Printing a negative records those spots in black, looking even worse of course when enlarged. Dust on the negative or inside the enlarger produces clear white spots on the print and these are easier to deal with. Two generations of my forebears were professional photographers, between 1880 and 1945. They employed retouchers for negatives and prints as well as for handcolouring, a very popular application before colour photos became commonly available.
the print. Black and white negatives might be bleached to reduce overall density or thin negatives boosted with chemical intensifiers or toners. In the 60s I worked in a processing lab where colour transparencies were retouched with coloured dyes, either with an overall wash to correct colour balance or with a brush in small areas. Chemical bleaches could correct and lighten images but black dust spots were particularly difficult to treat. These tasks are possible on large format film but generally not practical on roll or 35mm film because of their small size and I don’t think there were many photographers still practising these old-fashioned techniques by the 1970s. Print Retouching Monochrome For black-and-white papers the two
Products when they introduced a Retouching Outfit, retail cost £4.98, containing two tubes of watercolour, a scalpel and a very fine 00 size sable spotting brush. The plastic box had a four-section palette in the lid. One tube was blue-black in colour, for normal bromide prints, and the other warm black for warm-tone papers like Kodak Bromesko. Please note that the outfit in my main illustration is 1970s vintage so has discoloured since then. Also, the tubes were preproduction samples so don’t have labels but the contents still work! Unlike dyes, which tend to sink into the emulsion and leave no trace on the surface, watercolours leave a matt deposit on the surface. This is fine for a matt paper but will show in some lighting conditions on semimatt or glossy papers. One traditional
As a youngster back in the 1950s I was advised to use a very soft pencil on black-and-white prints! That's impossible to do in dark tonal areas and still worse on a glossy print but I did my best with it until I was able to afford better materials. At college in the early 1960s we learnt photography on quarter plate, 5"x 4" and half plate cameras and we would regularly retouch black and white negatives, especially portraits but also general photographs. Dust spots were taken out with opaque paint on a very fine brush and shadows were lightened with a wash of pale red dye. To remove wrinkles and other blemishes the negative was first varnished on the emulsion side and we used a very soft pencil to add density to bright areas on the negative, which lightened dark areas of the final image. To block out parts of an image entirely we used Kodak Opaque paint which obliterated those bits and gave a pure white area on
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options are dyes or watercolours . Dyes can be mixed and diluted to give the correct shade and tone for filling light areas on the print. One disadvantage of dyes is that any mistakes are difficult to remove so watercolours have always been more popular. These require the same techniques for adjusting shade and tone and for applying colour to the print surface but if you mess up you can usually wash away the watercolour with a wet brush. In the 1970s I worked for Paterson
trick was to load colour onto the brush and then wipe it across the glue strip of an envelope, where it would pick up gum arabic from the envelope. Gum arabic dries shiny so it adds a slight gloss to the retouched area. Paterson’s watercolours were sourced from, I think, Winsor & Newton and we got them to increase the level of gum arabic so that the retouching blended well with matt or semi-gloss papers, even unglazed glossy, but it could never match the shine on a glazed print. For those you can only retouch very small areas or
the retouching will be too obvious Technique Attempting to paint an area by brushstrokes of watercolour is doomed to failure because the pool of liquid dries out unevenly, leaving a clear centre and a dark ring around the edge. Instead, you apply tiny dots of colour with a very fine brush and
heavily loaded brush will blend the spots together and you get the dreaded ring. Keep reloading the brush frequently. My advice is to find a sable brush which is slightly fatter but which comes to a very fine point. The benefit is that the fatter brush holds more liquid so you can work longer. Use the brush to mix a little colour
bristles. Now apply tiny dots onto the paper and gradually fill in the spot. Keep adding until you’re happy with the result. If you find your mix is a little too dark try spreading the dots out a bit. If it all goes wrong, wash the area with a small clean brush and let it dry before trying again. The Paterson Outfit included a scalpel which was intended for the removal of small black spots, using a scraping motion. It was easy to go too far and remove the emulsion down to the paper base and that couldn’t be repaired, especially on resin-coated papers. Even when applied carefully on a semi-gloss print it was fraught with difficulties. When I was young I rescued a few pictures by applying small dots of household bleach to black spots before rewashing thoroughly and then spotting with watercolour over the resultant white area! Colour Prints The spotting technique can be used on colour prints too but watercolour paints don’t match the effect of dyes within the emulsion so you are best using dyes. If you’re struggling to mix a suitable colour with dyes you might hide very small white spots with black or grey dye as long as the density is a
gradually build up the tone until the blemish becomes less noticeable. It’s surprising how easily the eye is deceived by this as long as the overall tone is a good match to the surroundings. The technique is called spotting. It’s important to keep the brush as dry as possible because a
with water on your palette to create the correct tone for the spots you are removing and then remove any excess by pulling the brush tip across white paper while spinning the brush to create the finest tip. This action lets you check the tone of the mix as well as adjust the wetness of the
fair match. Sadly, sets of dyes specifically for hand-colouring photos are no longer available but I have seen photographs which have been added to by artists using dyes available from art shops. An interesting area for artistic experimentation.
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A new look at Henry Moore Donald Richards
In the past two years I have visited several times the Henry Moore Foundation at Perry Green, Hertfordshire. There it is possible to see a number of the barns where Henry Moore worked, and admire tapestries inspired by some of his work; in addition, in the extensive grounds there are many of his sculptures, immersed in the landscape, just as they should be. During the visits I took some photographs and decided that the images could be made into a book. To make it, I used the commercial printing company Blurb. Although all my work is monochrome, the books of images I have made in the past with this company reproduce faithfully the slight sepia tone of the platinum/palladium prints, and the cool tint of selenium-toned silver-gelatine prints. Even when I have included colour (RGB)
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Spaces and texures
Curved line
Reflexions
Textures
images, they appear in the book quite close to what I can see on the screen. Most of the books I have seen of Henry Moore sculptures concentrate rightly on the monumentality of his works and their relation to the landscape. My intention instead, was to concentrate on details of these magnificent creations; details that might escape the viewer because of the sheer presence of these works. Being an amateur photographer (I want to believe that I am a serious amateur photographer...) I am not interested in profiting from the book, so I plan to give all rights to the foundation if it can benefit from its potential sales. As I explained in my article in the 5th issue of Analogue, I have done something similar with my book of images of Robinson College, Cambridge. I include in this article a few of the images that make up the book. The images started as digital RGB files, but using the method I described in the 3rd issue of Analogue, they were eventually produced as platinum/palladium prints. The method involves making an intermediate negative on transparency paper that is then contact-printed using UV as the light source.
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Hybrid Adventures Kay Reeve FRPS
Gradually over my years in photography, I have learned to realise I do not have to follow other people’s rules. Photographers, like all artists, need a degree of technical knowledge, which I personally acquired from family, books, and a great deal of trial and error. Apart from that, the only limit is your own imagination, and your end result, be it a print, a portfolio, a digital image for projection or the internet, a slide for traditional projection, or something else entirely, is entirely up to you. So be wary of taking advice from other photographers about how to ‘improve’ your images. Their ideas about the end result you should be aiming for may be entirely different from your own. So this article is certainly not about giving advice – I only offer it in case it may help some of you on your photographic journey. We all need to enjoy what we do. I have never been a professional photographer, but I have always looked to photography as a hobby
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and a distraction from the routines of everyday life. I hope that many of you will experience it in the same way. There are two approaches to photography – analogue and digital. As readers of our journal will know, ‘analogue’ covers a great variety of processes and techniques. For me, for reasons of time, space, and a wish for (more or less) predictable results, it means using commercially produced films, papers and chemicals. But digital photography offers me something too, and this article is about how I sometimes blend analogue and digital techniques to produce the results I want. The fact remains that I prefer the depth and richness of a good quality darkroom print to even the best inkjet offerings. But I never got on very well with printing colour images in the darkroom. I printed from slides, and I found it a long and tedious process, quite often with frustration and disappointment at the end of it, and the need to start again. So these days, for me a full colour print means a digital print. But of course the original can be either from digital capture or from a scanned slide or negative. I am still keeping going an elderly Nikon Coolscan IV, which has the disadvantage of not taking medium format. But I have also had good results from professionally produced scans of slide film, which can be made at the same time as getting the film processed, or by a lab at a later date. Scanning is also a good way to produce monochrome images from colour film, as the scanned image can be desaturated digitally. Prints can then be made digitally, or in the darkroom using another hybrid technique described below. If you have a film image which has been damaged (perhaps scratched by a tiny piece of grit in the camera) then it can often be fixed by scanning it and cleaning it up digitally. Images can be combined digitally too, perhaps by blending a foreground with a different sky – possible in the darkroom too, of course, but quite awkward. So how do you produce a darkroom print from a digital file, be it from digital capture, or from scanned film? The answer is to make a negative, which for best quality should be on digital transfer film, and which is produced just like a digital print. I make a full scale negative, being careful to ensure that there is detail throughout, which I then contact print. Normal dodging and burning can of course be done under the enlarger, and I find this more flexible than trying to produce the same effect digitally. The resulting print can of course be toned, or even hand-coloured, in the normal way.
Flecknoe Winter. Kay Reeve FRPS
An interesting textured effect can be obtained by printing the negative on ordinary paper. Different types of paper produce different effects. I have found that such images need to be fairly simple in composition, but do feel free to experiment. Test strips are of course a bit awkward to make when contact printing with big negatives, but become easier with practice. Another possibility is to produce a background by printing a normal film negative under the enlarger, but then place cut-out shapes directly onto it during exposure. These can be printed digitally from any suitable image you have, or you can carefully cut out any shape you like, or use actual objects. And you don’t of course have to print in the darkroom at all. Sun paper, the simplest of all alternative photographic processes, gives good results, as it does if you make your own negatives for it. So are there other hybrid processes? Do try things out and let our hard-working editor know so that he can publish you results in our journal!
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How to make an exhibition of yourself Charles Binns
You should notice a complimentary copy of the exhibition catalogue enclosed with your Analogue this month. It is hoped that this will embolden more of us to participate next time. Yes there will be a next time, at The Courtyard Gallery, Solihull. Opening will be on the 4th of October at 6pm. We plan a linked members event on Saturday the 8th October which will include distribution of recognition certificates, a short AGM and an extended ‘show and tell’ session for members to bring along their work, including slide projection in both 35mm and 6 x 6 if there is demand. It would be great if we could have a large turnout for this event, it involves ‘upfront’ costs for the group, is required under our rules for the AGM and will be the only opportunity we have to try to gather as many of us as possible in one place to meet and confirm our group’s progress. Our exhibition went well as first attempts go, and we had 80 frames on the wall in good order. We do have some learning points and ways to help those not used to exhibiting to participate. We plan to reduce the member’s platform to 60 frames leaving two 10 frame wings clear. These we hope to fill with invited images, either from our judge or specific photographers. It would have been great to have shown Tony Lovell’s 10” x 8” New York images as the huge framed prints he produced from that project, as seen in the last journal for example, and being able to view Dr Tim Rudman’s original prints is always a treat. It is these kinds of opportunities that we would like to explore next time. We think the reduction in frames will not be an issue as we had to stretch quite hard to get up to 80 last time. Some learning feedback to members who submitted images is also called for. We had a few images sent to us
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mounted on thick foam mounts. These look very nice on their own for sure but a nightmare to get into our standard Nielsen 40cm x 50cm frames, so this mounting method will have to be a ‘no go’ for future please. Many members who have very fine analogue work that we would want to see are not used to preparing work for exhibitions and framing. Mount cutting in particular seemed to be an issue. It is a craft skill and requires investment in equipment that might put off some members who’s work we would very much like to see. The solution is to buy a ready cut mount for your submission. We can recommend Cotswold Mounts for providing both
Andrew Spackman ARPS hammering in the final nail. Robert Adams
standard size and bespoke cut mounts - website link is
Though it has to be said that recycled Tri Wall packaging
here:
parcels also worked very well and nearly all packaging
https://www.cotswoldmounts.co.uk/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIt6e7 nZTU9QIVwu7tCh0ZRgupEAAYASAAEgKRWPD_BwE
Prints arrived in a variety of packaging and generally it was to a high standard and we had very little damage on
was good enough to be used for returning prints. We look forward to seeing entries from more of you next time and we have reduced the allocation of prints per member to facilitate that outcome.
arrival. Old hands used the bespoke print boxes that can
It will also be a great opportunity to meet as many as
be bought direct from Nomad in the UK starting from £22:
possible of you face to face.
https://www.nomadcases.co.uk/print-boxes/standard-print-box2-5-
You have the date for your diaries, 8th October – see you there!
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Book Reviews
Spirit of Light Found Not Lost
Paul Mitchell FRPS
Elliott Erwitt GOST February 2021 £39.21 Amazon
https://www.blurb.co.uk/b/2180306-spirit-of-light
Soft Back 10 x 8, 80 pages £61.35 plus p&p https://www.blurb.co.uk/b/2140217-spirit-of-light
‘Don’t Bother Pix Useless’ said the label on the print box. But like us all Elliott went back for a second look and decided to give some of these ‘failures’ an outing. I enjoyed this book on three levels. For its own sake the images are very enjoyable and inspirational. Secondly to think that these are from his reject boxes is quite arresting. It adds another layer to the images and increases the pleasure of seeing them no end. Last but not least it made me think about my own back catalogue. I have recently joined an analogue postal portfolio (UPP) and every month a black box turns up needing feeding with a new darkroom print. Like Elliott, this sends me searching through my back catalogue as well as forcing new work. It is a very enjoyable process catching up on all those never printed, passed over images and bringing them to life. I bought the book from a local bookstore paying a little extra (use ‘em or lose ‘em) but it is also available online for a very reasonable price. BTW we are short a couple of members in our section of the UPP (Darkroom Prints) if you fancy joining us just send me a line for details, and we can all follow Elliott’s example of getting the most out of that back catalogue. CJB
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Hard Back 12 x12, 72 pages 35.59 plus p&p Paul is well known to the analogue group and was a keynote speaker at our AGM held in Bristol a few years ago. He actually gained his FRPS with the pinhole images in this book. He is a past member of our SIG and is threatening to rejoin. Turning to the book, it is a self published Blurb books edition of his high class pinhole work. By using one of the links above Paul has generously allowed us to see all of the images through an online preview. But this comes with a health warning; I for one will be buying a copy having seen the online images. There is no substitute for holding the published hard copy in your hand, as we know from feedback to our own journal. Blurb books are not cheap we know, but there is the softback version, and those of us who buy will not only get the book to inspire us, but we will be supporting one of our own. The book has Paul explaining his motivation for this project, a set of his images, a location thumbnail set of images and last but not least a full technical explanation of his workflow. Highly recommended. CJB
RPS Analogue is your journal Have your work featured in Gallery and win a
Letters
prize
If you would like to express an opinion in this journal please send it to the Editor. The usual conditions for letters to journals will apply, for example the Editor will have the final say in what will be published.
Send us from six to twelve of your images, scanned or digitally copied and output as jpgs by WeTransfer or similar service, or on a CD. If sending them on a CD, be sure to write your name and email address or phone number on the disk. Alternatively, arrangements can be made with the Editor to accept prints.
The email address for all contributions and correspondence is: analoguenews@rps.org.
Please include a short caption for each image and a paragraph or two about yourself and your photography. Please be patient as your work may not be published in the next issue of Analogue but might be held in reserve for a future issue. We will contact you before publishing your work. When your work is published in Gallery you will be awarded a free film voucher by our sponsor Analogue Wonderland. Your details will not be passed to any third party. Congratulations go to this edition’s contributor Roger Harrison who recieves a film voucher worth £25. Write an article for RPS Analogue If you have something inspiring to say to analogue photographers please send us a short synopsis of your article and some jpg images. It could be about the benefits you have experienced from analogue photography, a technique you could share, an outing with camera and film or really anything of interest. Please do not send the full article in the first instance. If your idea is accepted, we will contact you to discuss it further. Your favourite camera Do you have a favourite camera or one that is a bit out of the ordinary? If so, tell us all about it. Your darkroom Darkrooms are important to analogue photographers but can also present problems. Do you have a permanent, fully equipped darkroom or do you have makeshift set up in a cupboard or bathroom? Helpful ideas would be welcome.
Analogue photography - Who can play? When discussing the entry requirements for our recent exhibition we reviewed what we would consider to be a legitimate analogue print for entry, and by inference the type of photography that qualifies as analogue within our group generally. We summarize as below. All images taken on film to produce the follow‐ ing outputs: • • • • •
Silver prints either trade or self processed Digital prints either trade or self processed Digital files from scans for PDI sharing Slide Transparencies Alternative print processes, including Wet Plate
Images captured digitally to produce the follow‐ ing outputs: • Silver prints either self or trade processed • Alternative print processes Non Analogue images: Images that are outside the scope of our group and not eligible for exhibitions or submission in our published gallery are digitally captured im‐ ages that are then digitally printed or used in PDI sharing. It does give the widest possible scope to the definition of the analogue process and as such is intended to be as inclusive as possible,
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Hasselblad Super Wide Yet another example of collecting the brochure of a camera we would like to own is the Hasselblad SWC. It has a legendary status due to the very fine 38mm Biogon lens, perfect for architecture but now also much loved by the ‘hip’ brigade – with a consequential increase in prices, £2,000 to £2500 for a nice example. That is a lot of money for a simple box camera with a basic Albada viewfinder, but – Oh that lens… if you have one keep it, cherish it, use it!