NikonGear'23
Images => Nature, Flora, Fauna & Landscapes => Topic started by: David Paterson on February 22, 2017, 13:27:39
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With all the pressure off after my recent exhibition, and not shooting much because of the weather, I decided to re-visit some of my Himalayan images, particularly the 5x4" (12x9cm) transparencies.
So it was that, 38 YEARS AFTER THEY WERE SHOT, I discovered that three 5x4s, shot in 1979 at the head of the Everest valley, could be stitched.
They weren’t shot deliberately to be stitched and my brain was addled (more than usually) by slight altitude sickness - we were at 5700m on the south ridge of Pumo Ri - and I just did the best I could. Individually the three shots are fine, but stitched they create a fantastic pano, tho' I say so myself. Printed at 300ppi, the print would be five feet long; I have made a couple of tests about 21" long; they look pretty good. The image goes from the Changri La area (left), all the way to Everest and Nuptse (right) The angular coverage is roughly 240deg.
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I like it, the 'provocation' of not including the peak works very well :) Very well done
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Agree with Erik. Besides, you would need to climb a few additional thousand meters to get all the peaks included :D
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Marvellous view of the peaks. And the air.... :)
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Unless you know the place or you don't tell me, I would never know that the coverage is as wide as 240 degree. My sense of scale is just overwhelmed. Breath-taking image in the true sense of the word.
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If from these mountains you could see the sea it would almost feel like being in the Lake District ;)
(or maybe not)
Seriously awesome shot. Very envious of your travels, irrespective of that they happened so long ago.
Even if I had the chance to visit it soon-ish, I would find a very different Nepal.
What I am NOT envious of, is taking a 4x5 camera up there. Even if the sherpa is doing the hard part of carrying the camera, just handling it at that altitude must be not easy.
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Thank you, Erik, Bjørn, Børge, Akira and Simone for the positive comments - all greatly appreciated.
Erik - this is something I am fond of doing because I find that it increases the tension or drama of a shot. But it's possible to have too much of a good thing (see below).
Akira - the scale of this scene is almost impossible to grasp. Everest summit is 21km from the camera position; the peaks of Changri La (left) are 12-14km away, so we are looking at a scene which is approaching 35km wide. On a really large print - I've made one - the scale does start to become apparent. LATER - no, those distances are wrong; it's about half the figures I gave - sorry. I read the scale on the map wrongly.
Simone - Nima did carry the 5x4, 3 lenses, Polaroid back and filmpack, and ten double 5x4 film holders loaded with colour transparency film. BUT, I carried the 35mm kit - 2 Nikon FE bodies plus 18/4, 24/2.8, 35/2, 55/35 and 80-200/4.5 AND the sodding tripod, as well as ice-axe, crampons, extra clothing, windproof outers, food, drink, survival-bag, extra film, etc etc . . . .
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I like this pano too, though it isn't a stitch, it's a crop. But how long does it take a graphic device to become a cliche?
Manaslu - another 8000m peak in Nepal, and Himalchuli with its head chopped off. The small peak, left, is sometimes called Bauddha.
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Everything feels so close on this first image! It must be a wonderful experience for you to go through these memories and pictures again, and to find such gems.
I remember seeing the Manaslu several times from the touristic Nepalese "Highway", the 2 weeks-long hike around the Annapurna range.
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Thanks, Olivier, and of course it is nice to look back. But I have to remind myself to keep looking forward, too. :)
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I am amazed by the details in these photos.
I guess that is the reason for taking 4x5 all the way up ;)
Very beautiful.
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Thank you for the added info, these are stunning and a great inspiration,,, I hope I can travel there soon,,,
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Thank you for the added info, these are stunning and a great inspiration,,, I hope I can travel there soon,,,
How soon?
Is it a wish or is there a concrete plan?
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Thanks, Bent and Erik, for your comments.
Erik - if you are serious about going to Nepal I'll help with any information I have. It's 21 years since I was last there, and lots will have changed, especially in Kathmandu. But once you are out amongst the mountains, it will all be just the same as it always was.
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How soon?
Is it a wish or is there a concrete plan?
There are no dates set at all,,, Definitely a big wish to do it ;)
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Thanks, Bent and Erik, for your comments.
Erik - if you are serious about going to Nepal I'll help with any information I have. It's 21 years since I was last there, and lots will have changed, especially in Kathmandu. But once you are out amongst the mountains, it will all be just the same as it always was.
Thanks! Much appreciated ;) Will definitely come back to that!
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My final Himalayan pano, for the time being. This is the east wall of the Annapurna Sanctuary, in north-central Nepal.
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So far as the composition is concerned, this last one looks the most authentically stable, which is very fitting to this kind of majestic mountain image.
I love it! How wide is its horizontal coverage?
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Thanks, Akira. I'm not totally happy with the colour of this one yet; I must have another try.
The horizontal distance covered is 10km, from the north shoulder of Machapuchare (right) to the south shoulder of Annapurna III (left).
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Spectacular, I love the film look, makes it authentic!
What film was it shot on?
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Fuji Provia. After the first time I shot with Provia, I never used any other film. I tested a few from time to time, but never found any reason to change.
It has aways interested me, how film retains its different character even after it has been digitised. In this case, excessive uv due to the altitude - about 4200m - has created a strong blue cast which is difficult to get rid of in a nice way.
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Beautiful image, David!
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Thanks, Akira. I'm not totally happy with the colour of this one yet; I must have another try.
The horizontal distance covered is 10km, from the north shoulder of Machapuchare (right) to the south shoulder of Annapurna III (left).
Thanks for the info on the location! Apparently the advantage of the LF and 6x7 films shines through the digitized images.
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It really does shine through, yes. Thank you. Perfect weather for the shot, lovely little clouds
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This last pano is amazing, Dave !
I love it : sharpness, framing, point of view, colours, all perfect in my opinion.
To be honest, I much prefer this one than the first ones with the top chopped off, just my feelings.
I had a look on Google map to see this area : This Machapuchare looks fantastic. What a shape ! No wonder nobody could reach the top, according Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machapuchare
Have you taken some pictures of this mountain ?
Thanks for sharing, ;)
Francis
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Thanks, Carl , and thank you, Francis - you flatter me. The first one had the top chopped off because I was so close to the (enormous) mountain that I would have needed to tilt upwards very steeply, which I don't like to do; the second was an experiment, and the third was "au naturel".
Machapuchare has been climbed several times, but as it is sacred to the local people, the climbers must promise not to set foot on the actual summit. So the last few metres have never been climbed.
I have quite a few images of the peak - here is one (shot on 35mm Kodachrome) -
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Thanks, Carl , and thank you, Francis - you flatter me. The first one had the top chopped off because I was so close to the (enormous) mountain that I would have needed to tilt upwards very steeply, which I don't like to do; the second was an experiment, and the third was "au naturel".
Machapuchare has been climbed several times, but as it is sacred to the local people, the climbers must promise not to set foot on the actual summit. So the last few metres have never been climbed.
I have quite a few images of the peak - here is one (shot on 35mm Kodachrome) -
David, this image is dramatic but on my screen it has a severe cyan cast.
I am unsure whether this is real or a colour management/embedded profile issue.
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David, this image is dramatic but on my screen it has a severe cyan cast.
I am unsure whether this is real or a colour management/embedded profile issue.
You are absolutely right - terrible cast - somehow slipped through quality control - mea maxima culpa - thanks for pointing it out.
I have replaced the offending jpeg with a somewhat more correct version.
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Interesting. If the severe blue cast of Kodachrome stronger than that of Provia was caused by the excessive UV, I would have liked to try Kodachrome for my experimental UV photography.
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Interesting. If the severe blue cast of Kodachrome stronger than that of Provia was caused by the excessive UV, I would have liked to try Kodachrome for my experimental UV photography.
It's hard to say. I think all film could suffer quite badly from excessive UV at altitudes above 3000m or so, but this effect was variable; some images might be badly affected, others not at all; the time of day was probably a factor with the middle four hours of the day, the sun at its highest, producing the worst colour-casts. But it was all too long ago to be certain of anything.
In any case, all Kodachrome processed in Kodak's UK lab was quite likely to have a severe cyan cast, or a bad magenta cast, or - sometimes - be absolutely perfect, with the beautiful colour which only Kodachrome was capable of, at that time. You sent your film off, never knowing how it would look when you got it back.
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It's hard to say. I think all film could suffer quite badly from excessive UV at altitudes above 3000m or so, but this effect was variable; some images might be badly affected, others not at all; the time of day was probably a factor with the middle four hours of the day, the sun at its highest, producing the worst colour-casts. But it was all too long ago to be certain of anything.
In any case, all Kodachrome processed in Kodak's UK lab was quite likely to have a severe cyan cast, or a bad magenta cast, or - sometimes - be absolutely perfect, with the beautiful colour which only Kodachrome was capable of, at that time. You sent your film off, never knowing how it would look when you got it back.
The beauty of the current age is that even severe colour cast can now be corrected reasonably well, even in those old transparencies that came back "wrong".
It's not all bad in today's world :)
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Thanks, Dave for the last one !
I am sure you enjoyed this trip. So nice to meet local people (if they are not too spoiled by mass tourism...)
The landscapes must be breathtaking as you seemed to have magnificent weather. :D
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Thanks, Dave, for further explanation. Kodachrome 25 used to be my favorite film, but it often showed greenish cast here in Japan. I don't remember if I observed cyan or magenta cast. Nevertheless I miss Kodachrome, but I'm too addicted to digital now to go back to film. :)
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Very impressive David. Unusual and beautiful depth and colours in these pano's. !
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The beauty of the current age is that even severe colour cast can now be corrected reasonably well, even in those old transparencies that came back "wrong".
It's not all bad in today's world :)
Of course you are right - digital has many advantages, and I would never go back to film though it had its own qualities, some of which survive through the scanning process.
Akira - yes, green rather than cyan. But my memories of Kodachrome go back further than K25 and K64. My first colour film - and into the early 70s - was Kodachrome II. This was a most beautiful film with gorgeous colour and all who used it lamented when Kodak retired it. The new Kodachromes were more stable and easier to process but lacked the limpid beauty of KII.
Francis - I was lucky enough to visit Nepal ten times between 1979 and 1996 but all these images were shot in '79 when I was in Nepal for 10 weeks. Those were the days!
And thanks, John, I am glad you like them.
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Dave, unfortunately, I came to the world too late to experience Kodachrome II. :D Another thing I regret about my film days is that I didn't have chances to try 120 size KR which was in production for a very short period of time. When I finally grabbed a medium format camera, it had been discontinued. :(
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I used a Fujifilm 120 roll film at 160 ISO on Pentax 6x7 for a couple of years, it was designed for scanning - Stunning images, but each scan was 45 minutes on the Coolscan 8000,,,
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Dave, unfortunately, I came to the world too late to experience Kodachrome II. :D Another thing I regret about my film days is that I didn't have chances to try 120 size KR which was in production for a very short period of time. When I finally grabbed a medium format camera, it had been discontinued. :(
I tested the KR med-format film; it was interesting but not the same as the 35mm film. There was also, for a short period, a 200iso K'chrome which my memory says was med-format. It also was very interesting - quite grainy but with soft pastel colours. It wasn't in production long.
Erik - I shot Pentax 67 for 20 years, until I went digital in 2006. 6x7 and 6x17 became my "travel and landscape" kit, instead of 35mm and 5x4.
I'm posting a final Himalayan image (from 1981) - an un-named peak in the Gokyo region, south-west of the Everest valley.
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Just the right amount of snow, weather an location perfect as well!
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You keep me amazed, Dave!
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Great photos from places most of us will never see, thanks.
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Thank you, Erik, Akira and Anthony.
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Thank you David for a truly wonderful set of images, so inspiring!