Edward Weston Challenge

There's a real sensuousness about that middle one, @sirch!
 
ChrisR said:
There's a real sensuousness about that middle one, @sirch!
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Thanks, as a number of people have said getting interesting veg is a bit of an issue these days but I think there is definietly an anthropomorphic thing going on with a lot of Weston's still life ... but that could just be me ;)
 
sirch said:
Thanks, as a number of people have said getting interesting veg is a bit of an issue these days but I think there is definietly an anthropomorphic thing going on with a lot of Weston's still life ... but that could just be me ;)
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Well, I originally decided not to say this, but that sensuousness does have some of the quality of a back-view nude!
 
AshleyC said:
as an aside, i started reading Weston's daybooks. I dont think ive read such a dull book in all my life. He hardly talks about his photography in any technical details, only really says "woke up, took another wonderful picture today" Cheers Ed.. Compare it to Ansel Adams 40 Examples, or his 3 bibles and its like chalk and cheese. So much good info from Ansel.
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I had the opposite experience and couldn't put it down. I found the insights into his motivation fascinating.
 
I've not read either book, but my preference is on books of photographs and the stories and insights about them. I have very few books that could be considered technical - unless there's something I want to learn in order to put it into practice, then books documenting process and technique tend to hold little interest. Books full of photographs on the other hand, even without details on the equipment used, tend to provide inspiration and usually trigger the urge to pick up a camera and go make my own.

If I'm honest, I think I'm more interested in photographs than photography.

I'm currently reading Portraits of America by William Albert Allard, and it's a gorgeous piece of work. There are essays by Allard at the start of each section, but they cover no technical detail (so far at least), instead talking about the people and places that are depicted in his images.
 
FishyFish said:
I've not read either book, but my preference is on books of photographs and the stories and insights about them. I have very few books that could be considered technical - unless there's something I want to learn in order to put it into practice, then books documenting process and technique tend to hold little interest. Books full of photographs on the other hand, even without details on the equipment used, tend to provide inspiration and usually trigger the urge to pick up a camera and go make my own.

If I'm honest, I think I'm more interested in photographs than photography.

I'm currently reading Portraits of America by William Albert Allard, and it's a gorgeous piece of work. There are essays by Allard at the start of each section, but they cover no technical detail (so far at least), instead talking about the people and places that are depicted in his images.
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Thanks for that...just cost me £14.99!
I have a Waterstones voucher but they don’t have it available. Looks right up my street.
 
gazmorton2000 said:
Thanks for that...just cost me £14.99!
I have a Waterstones voucher but they don’t have it available. Looks right up my street.
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I’ve had the book for ages, sat on my pile of photo books that I’ve bought but not yet gotten around to reading (buying photo books is a bit of a vice for me!). I finally started on it last weekend and can only wonder why I didn’t start on it sooner. There are some beautiful images in there and I’m finding the essays to be engaging.
 
@StephenM was kind enough to send me a copy of the Darkroom Cookbook (again many thanks Stephen) and skimming through it I noticed a section titled Edward Weston's variation. It seems that Weston mixed up Kodak D1 to a different dilution which gave "an even fuller than usual tonal scale", perhaps we are not going to get "the Weston style" without some serious chemistry*




*because of course it's nothing to do with my poor photographic and lighting skills, bad workman, tools and all that :LOL:
 
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Not really my forte, but here are a couple of my better efforts. I think they were all Bronica SQ and Acros.

1
img277-copy-tp.jpg

2 Same pepper, but with an orange filter.
img286-copy-tp.jpg

3 My preference for light backgrounds, unfortunately not shared by Weston!
img241-copy-2-tp.jpg
 
My OMD can't do f64 (can we do digital on here?)
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Hi Colin, the clue is in the title of this section -- Talk Film and Conventional ;)
 
Peter B said:
Hi Colin, the clue is in the title of this section -- Talk Film and Conventional ;)
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hehe indeed, got here through the "view new posts button", that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it :) I did apply a t-max 100 film filter if that helps at all.........

I just sit quietly in lurk mode from now on and enjoy the images
 
flook999 said:
My OMD can't do f64 )
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f/64 was used to achieve front to back sharpness. Depth of field close up on your OMD will be rather greater than the depth of field when a 300mm lens (standard for 10x8) is used.
 
StephenM said:
f/64 was used to achieve front to back sharpness. Depth of field close up on your OMD will be rather greater than the depth of field when a 300mm lens (standard for 10x8) is used.
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indeed, and as the basic "sensor" size of a 10x8 camera is over 200 times that of a m4/3rds, I should get an equivalent DoF at about f4 assuming an "equivalent" focal length on the lens :LOL::LOL:
 
Peter B said:
Not really my forte, but here are a couple of my better efforts. I think they were all Bronica SQ and Acros.
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At least you managed to find interesting peppers, #2 is perhaps the most Weston-like but I'd agree with you on #3
 
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