Bronica SQ and Ektar - forest photography
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- Опубліковано 17 жов 2024
- Having grown tired of the big landscapes (for a while) I head off to my local woods and have a relaxing morning wandering around with the Bronica SQ taking a few images in colour and B&W.
See the full size images here:
www.flickr.com...
Equipment used:
Bronica SQAi
50mm and 80mm lenses plus 1.4x converter
Kodak Ektar
Rollei IR 400 Developed in Rodinal 1:50 for 12 mins
Vlogging equipment:
GoPro Hero 7 Black
Incidental Music by Epidemic Sound:
Mont Blanc
I am always fascinated by how you find amazing shots in these woodland scenes, Steve! Thanks for a GREAT channel!
Thanks Anton 🙂
Nothing to envy Ansel Adams. Extraordinary photographs. I love it. It gives me a lot of peace to see them.
Thanks Gonzalo.
"Hi, this is Steve In The Ferns, please subscribe for more of me sitting in and amongst the ferns."
As always, a very good video and good images. The infrared one of the foliage was especially good.
I thought by sitting in those ferns it would make my explanation easier, instead it just looked odd 🙂
@@SteveONions I thought it was really funny how you stayed totally deadpan while squatting in a bush of ferns. Nothing wrong with a bit of silliness, and the explanation was still clear.
Sunday morning, coffee, and video from Steve...all check! A nice bit of inspiration to start the day. I really must get out an explore my local woods...I need to find out where it is first though!
Hehe, definitely a good idea to locate them first Julian, not that many left for us in the UK sadly.
The V tree behind you in the last photo looks like it would work well with those ferns. Thanks for sharing.
Good spot Ryan 👍
I really enjoyed this one Steve as I do a lot of woodlands. I love wet foliage. It saturates and softens the color and I enjoy the color palette. The first water shot at 4:40 was magical. Well done.
Thanks Philip.
Hello Steve. You set a high standard for your work, and you are disappointed the images were not better. However following your last video, you have proved the point that a good image is to be had in your localaty. Another great video, many thanks.
Thanks Philip, I need a lot more practice to get decent shots from the woods.
That first image nearly knocked me out of my chair- wow! The second was a more subtle shot, as good just had to be studied more.
Thanks William.
I like all the photos but the last one is my favorite, very graphic, as you also told.
Thanks Fabrizio.
Another wonderful post (you win UA-cam today no doubt), Steve, you've really been on a roll of late and we all appreciate your efforts. Thanks so much.
Thanks Frank, you’ll hopefully be pleased that there is more (quite a lot more) woodland stuff on the way.
Not dull at all. Great images overall. Specially the first one.
Thanks Fabricio.
I just purchased a spot meter because I found metering in thick forests to be challenging to achieve accurate exposure. Your channel helped me understand to gain confidence through the Bob Ross theory of embracing mistakes. I plan to go to the local forest - rain or shine.
Good to see more spot meter use, my exposures improved dramatically as soon as I bought one.
Great video as always, thanks for sharing. It is good to see you photographing the sort of location that we all have access to, as it's useful to see your approach. The images that you took are obviously different to your usual vistas, but they have a different beauty, and I am excited to see how you apply yourself to this new challenge.
Thanks Simon, woodlands are very hard to shoot and constantly frustrating. Lining up clean compositions is tricky which is often why I go for longer lenses to exclude as much as possible.
Lovely video, nice calm pictures from a nice calm Steve! Loved the IR shots too.
Thanks David 🙂
Totally agree with your view on local photography. I do enjoy revisiting my local woods when the weather conditions are just right. alanET.
Certainly a challenge Alan, really sharpens you’re compositional skills and patience.
Nice calm relaxing video, guess that reflected how you were feeling, I loved that B&W of the ferns 👍
Thanks David 🙂
Nice work, forests are a challenge, even if you can get into them. You literally can't see the forest for the trees. It makes you think. Your images turned out nicely. Best wishes!
Thanks John, one of the biggest problems is always finding a tree in exactly the spot you need to stand in for the perfect composition 🙂
Going to photograph spectacular landscapes and returning with a great photo is not difficult .... Going for a walk in a bland place, even ugly, and returning with a good photo, it is only in the hands of a few chosen artists. And you are one of them. I want to follow your example.
Thanks Joseba.
Thanks was enjoyable and you captured some fine images!!!
Thanks Michael.
Many thanks for another great, yet relaxing video and for sharing your thought process, which goes into your decision making on why and how to shoot a frame. Great learning for me!
Thank you Michael.
A very informative and relaxing vlog, Steve. Have a great eye for detail and I do struggle with this in landscape photography. Yours delivery style is awesome as well. Cheers 👍🏻
Thanks Andy, I think that forest photography is the ultimate workout for honing composition skills.
Great Vlog, I really enjoy the explanations of each composition. And excellent compositions as always!
Thanks Stefan.
Ha..! I think I must have read your mind Steve as I was out in my local woods this very morning. Came back, put YT on the TV and BAM! there was your vlog about the same subject. I have to agree, it takes a particular skill and 'eye' to get anything out of more intimate settings but yours certainly ticked all the boxes for me. Nice job.
Thanks Alan, I’ve been out a few times since and definitely improved, partly due to taking a bigger camera and slowing down as much as possible.
I love this guy, most wholesome and relaxing content. Big up film
Steve, as others have said, you are being to hard on yourself. Woodland with the Bronica is a challenge and I think you met it head on. I always look forward to your vlogs and particularly when you are using either the Bronica or the 4x5 Intrepid. Keep up the good work.
Nice collection of images first few being to me more about the day 👍
Agree 100% about the relaxing nature of woodland photography. Maybe it’s because you’re not chasing the light? Medium format plus a woodland is the very essence of slow, mindful photography!
Thanks Mark, after this outing I decided to go with a bigger camera which was even more relaxing 🙂
Beautiful work again as usual. Love Ektar for landscape images. Thanks for sharing
Thanks Tony.
Beautiful photographs Steve. I like woodland photography so was hoping for some time to see your woodland activities. Also hoping for some more autumn colors here.
Thanks Ruud, I’ve been busy in my local forest lately.
I liked all of the images, especially the first one! Great video, Steve!
Thanks Marvin.
Looks very relaxing there. I enjoy your videos.
Thank you.
Great stuff Steve.
Thanks Andrey.
Beautiful images from your woodland at 4:33, 11:30 and the B&W at 13:50
Thank you.
I think the Rollei 400 IR without filter photo of the fern actually turned out very nice. I enjoyed the video as I always do.
Thanks Erich, the Rollei film is an excellent general purpose material.
Good advice there, Steve, especially regarding the use of standard and short telephoto lenses for landscape photography. Wide angles often introduce inappropriate drama to situations that don't warrant it. Jem Southam does these kinds of intimate landscapes so well. He's associated with large format film work, but used digital cameras nowadays.
I can see what you mean about Jem’s work, quiet and understated. I find wideangle a quite hard to use in confined spaces unless it’s on a more panoramic format (that’s for a future video).
You're the master at cropping Steve 👌
😀
Excellent as always. Have to disagree with your assessment of the morning - of course ultimately it is you who must be happy with the shoot! - but your images are very compelling, particularly the first image and the infra red images. Just beautiful! Cheers!
Thank you 🙂
Spookily, I have just developed the films from this mornings walk round our local forest. Well, the stumps. Its a (was) a commercial forest which has just been clear felled and stacked. Plenty of patterns and machinery making some interesting photos. Love the first shot with the reflections in the Mere. But the star of the show for me is the second IR shot.
Cheers
Diz
Thanks Diz, it would be wrong not to shoot woodland at this time of year, we have plenty of months with little or no colour to look forward too 🙂
thanks, wonderful !
Thanks Richard.
Greate video, thank you, Steve.
Thanks Victor.
Very enjoyable, relaxing and informative as usual, Steve. The first shot was my favourite of the ektar ones. I love infra red and liked the second image. The fern image is surprisingly effective too. I use Rollei superpan 200 with an IR filter as it produces an IR effect and because I like high contrast. Talking about film, I used to love Agfa apx 100, but unfortunately it is not made in 120.
Thanks for commenting. I’ve got a couple of rolls of Superpan 200 to try alongside Rollei IR, I’ve also used Retro 80s at EI 1 with good results.
BTW - how do you rate and develop your Retropan for infrared shots?
Steve O'Nions hello again, sorry I can’t help with retropan as I’ve not used it, in fact I haven’t tried any foma films. I tried foma darkroom paper which I didn’t like as it has a grey tone, so that put me off the films. In 35mm I was happy with Ilford, then I discovered Agfa apx and for med format I use rollei superpan all the time at the moment because it responds to an IR filter. I’ve read online that rollei superpan is the same film as rollei infrared. I don’t know if that’s true, but I can’t see any difference. I’m a bit stuck in my ways and have always used Fotospeed chemicals because I am happy with the results. Because I like plenty of contrast, I always develop for longer rather than shorter times and give rollei superpan 12 mins at a 9.1 dilution, the same for rollei infrared. Hope this helps, Steve, but I am by no means as experienced as you!
Thanks for the information, I’ll definitely use my Rollei IR 400 development regime for the 200 speed film 👍
The busy woodlands here in Florida can be quite challenging and downright chaotic, even though with your eye it can be quite pleasing, on print it can be a hot mess.
Something about watching someone go shoot a couple rolls is oddly satisfying similar to shooting something yourself. Of course it's not the same but is a nice watch.
Thanks Andrew.
Inspiring as ever Steve.
Thanks.
Steve, do you do your own film dev? Just bought a Bronica SQA getting back into film.
I do process my own films Paul, mainly C-41 and B&W but if they reintroduce an affordable 3 bath E6 I’ll probably do slide too.
Great work Steve
Thanks Adam.
Wait. Some lenses perform poorly at smaller aperture? (you talk about f 22) What exactly happens there?
Diffraction will take the edge off images at f/22, less so with telephoto designs but very noticeable with wideangles.
Lovely set of images and a nice relaxing video for a Sunday morning. The IR shot are my favourites, love the glow they give. Has the full autumn colour hit in your area ?, still waiting down here !
Thanks Lee. I’m still seeing improvements every day but it could all be over in a flash if we get strong winds. Overall it hasn’t been that good, same for the past two years.
Steve O'Nions it’s the same here, little pockets of colour but nothing compared to a few years back. A bit disappointing so far. Hoping for snow now !
What settings are you using for your GoPro? I can never get good results.
2.7k 30fps linear
Nothin’ shabby ‘bout those images .. gr8 graphic potential everywhere! Took delivery of my ZB SQ 6x6 2day. 120 & Polaroid backs, 80mm & 250mm Zenzanon S lenses, prism viewfinder & speed grip winder. Taking it in 4 a prudent CLA. Meanwhile have found winder crank & waist-level viewer o/s. Greedily eyeing coupla lens locally online. But c’mon mate, “Onions?”🤣😂🤣
Have fun Jock 🙂
What shutter speed do you use most when shooting in forests when trees could be swaying?
Typically I need 1/30 to freeze gentle movements.
@@SteveONions hey! You replied! I'm really enjoying your videos, i just started out film photography in december with a 35mm camera but i just wanted more details so i bought a bronica etrsi soon after! Your videos are always informative and I'm glad i found your channel. I'm only 18, so the sooner the better to learn haha
I’m jealous, you have time on your hands to enjoy the huge range of film cameras what are still available 👍
The deadpan delivery on the funny bits makes me laugh. You're actually making me think of defrosting some Rollei IR now with these images. I think ive, no I know I have, some Efke IR820. That was a film and a half. Shame they folded.
IR820 was an odd film, when it worked it was great but the quality control was awful. The Aura version was the most interesting.
@@SteveONions I know what you mean. I last used it before I began processing my own films and had to leave a bottle of de-ionised water with the man who processed the film as I had read it helped stop all the tiny white specs I would often get on that emulsion. It seemed to help though I couldn't rule out that the sporadic nature of the batches I was getting after discontinuation meant that the problem wasn't on those rolls anyway. Anyway, that's enough of that. Thanks for the great vid Steve.
Even though I carefully processed the films I found that there were often small holes in the emulsion that were apparently down to the sloppy coating technique. As I printed all my work in the darkroom at that time it was a pay impossible to fix them unlike in a digital workflow. I’d quite like to use it again though as it had a unique look.
@@SteveONions Right ok, yes others said similar. Croatian firm weren't they, a part of the world not famed for film production, but they did well having a go at making the closest look to Kodak HIE, and having it in 120 was a bonus, when it didn't have holes and white specs?! 😃
seems that guesstimating field of view can get pretty ingrained, when I first got my digital camera (APS-C) and 17-50mm zoom lens I discovered I was walking up and shooting everything at ~36-37mm. Basically instinctively positioning for the field of view of my old 35mm Mamiya's 55mm lens.
As others have noted you really are too critical of your photography on this occasion. I think your eye was "firmly in", loved the subtle colours on the 1st couple of images, particulary the "pathway" image, quite a magical scene . I'll be honest the IR film images didn't come across for me on the screen but the fern shot was a corker. Woodland is something I find hard to transfer from what I see to what I take butyou manage this ease. Another good episode which I came back for a 2nd look today as I wanted to view again before making comment. atb Alan
Thanks Alan. I rarely like any of my images until weeks or even months later and it can make photo trips quite hard to undertake at times. I think if I was satisfied I’d stop improving.
that's great sir i have a question what do you think about mamiya sekor c medium format lenses thank you
I’ve only used them in the Mamiya 645 system Kamel, very happy with most but less than impressed with the 35mm super wide which was decidedly soft.
@@SteveONions thank you very much sir
You're like the Bob Ross of photography videos
A bit harsh on yourself maybe. Really nice images
I believe that the preview app is on ios only. Is there something similar for android?
Magic Universal Viewfinder is one such app
GREAT !!!
Nice video
Thanks Joan.
whats not to like , beats sitting behind a computer editing photos into an alternate reality , i have high end dslrs and glass , but refuse to edit ' apart from in camera , so its back to film the dynamic range and depth is something else , from 80mm to 70mm is three steps back i think ( been a while )
Thanks Tom, it’s all down to whatever makes you happy
@@SteveONions has anyone notice colour standards dont seem to exist on tv anymore , flick through channels and the colours are all over the show . skin tones are a mile out ,
✌🇺🇦
Nice images there Steve. Tip for you - NEVER EVER sell your Bronica. I did, and well.........idiot.
Hehe, another tip - never ever sell your Hasselblad V outfit or you’ll only be able to afford a Bronica when you realise what an idiot you were 🙂
Steve, as others have said, you are being to hard on yourself. Woodland with the Bronica is a challenge and I think you met it head on. I always look forward to your vlogs and particularly when you are using either the Bronica or the 4x5 Intrepid. Keep up the good work.
Thanks Nick, I am quite hard on myself, don’t really like that much of what I shoot. There’s a couple of videos coming from the same area but using the 4x5.