Architectural photography Shot on Horseman LS 5×4 View Camera of Barratt Development
Shot on my Horseman LS 5×4 view camera using a 210mm Schneider lens, placed on a Uniloc tripod with a quick release attachment. All the settings on the camera were set to neutral. The camera was pointed at the building and the view on the ground glass screen showed the top of the building chopped off and a lot of road in the foreground (the image being upside down and back to front on the glass). I use a focusing cloth in order to see the image on the screen. On a bright day it is difficult to see the image on the screen (much like a digital camera’s lcd screen!). I focused the camera and raised it on the tripod. I use a focusing loupe to check that the image is sharp on the screen. All the verticals were perfect as I wasn’t tilting the camera. In order to get all of the building in the shot I raised the front standard. This means that the image is not in the center of the image circle, the image has moved to the outer edge of the image circle. As long as the image circle is big enough there will be no vignetting.
The exposure reading is taken with a handheld meter using an incident light reading, i.e. reading the light hitting the scene. The meter is pointed at the camera from in front of the building. Whilst focusing the camera the shutter is wide open to get the clearest image on the screen. The settings from the meter reading are transferred to the lens. The aperture is closed and it’s not possible to see the image on the screen. The sheet of 5×4 film is in a film holder which is then placed behind the ground glass screen. The sheath is pulled out of the film holder. The shutter is fired using a cable release. The sheath is placed back in the film holder. If unsure about the exposure then bracket maybe 1/2 stops.
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