why-I-love-large-format-photography-and-alternative-processes?
27 Nov
AUTOCHROME, DARKROOM BUILD, EMULSION, EQUIPMENT, OTHER, PRINTING PROCESSES

Why I Love Large Format Photography & Alternative Processes?

I am asked this question often, especially being 25 years old. People often don't understand why I would enjoy techniques and cameras made well before my time. The ones who know me can tell you that I am in love with nature and everything connected with it. Besides that it relaxes me completely, learns me every day and makes me happy it also artistically inspires me. When I got my first camera at 16 which was a DSLR Pentax K-m I did not take portraits, I did not shoot street but I went straight into the woods behind...

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Film-holder-for-glass-dry-plates-wet-plates
11 Nov
EMULSION, EQUIPMENT, OTHER

Modifying Film Holder to carry Glass or Dry-plates

Glass carrier is one of the key pieces of equipment if you want to get into alternative photographic processes specially Dry-plates or Wet-plates. There are not many ready to use film-holders around so that is why I made mine from a normal 4x5 sheet film holder. After many requests I received I have finally decided to make a tutorial and show you how I do it. List of things you will need: Sheet Film Holder  Metal cutting machine (Rotary tool, Jig or Bandsaw, even handsaw...

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Cyanotype-tutorial
28 Oct
OTHER, PRINTING PROCESSES

HOW TO MAKE CYANOTYPES – STEP BY STEP TUTORIAL

This is a step by step tutorial on how to make Cyanotypes from scratch. We will be mixing the chemicals, coating, exposing and developing until we have a cyanotype in our hands. Cyanotypes are one of the easiest and safest alternative photographic techniques. Cyanotypes were invented a long time ago in 1841 by Sir JohnHerschel just 3 years after the invention of photography. It uses a mixture of two iron compounds, which when mixed together, exposed to UV light and lastly washed in water oxidise to create its unique Prussian Blue coloured images. Cyanotypes are becoming widely popular these days...

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Large-Format-Lens-Storage-Box
05 Oct
EQUIPMENT, OTHER

3D Printed Large Format Lens Storage Box

I am in large format photography for a few years now and the thing I struggled the most with was how to store my lenses. I often take my camera on backpacking trips which means I have to store them in my backpack somewhere. Most of the time I used soft leather lens pouches that were leftover from my digital Canon lenses. It surely protects the lens from surface damage like scratches but it does not provide a good enough protection of the lens elements (if I bump my backpack in a rock) or moving parts like aperture...

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28 Sep
EQUIPMENT, OTHER

Restoring Vintage Kodak Brownie No. 3A

As a landscape & nature lover I was looking for an appropriate old analog camera that would be able to make panoramic shots and ideally accept glass dry plates with some modifications. After quite a bit of searching and reading I realised I should start looking into old Kodak cameras. Also in terms of my tight budget it seemed the best choice. So I started checking different online resale stores, mostly ebay. Let me say that it is much harder to find second hand analog equipment here in Europe, especially ones produced in the USA. After a few...

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24 Sep
EMULSION, EQUIPMENT, OTHER

COATING GLASS DRY PLATES – Step by Step Tutorial

In this blogpost I will guide you through the process of coating glass dry plates with silver gelatine emulsion. When I started coating my own plates I wished I had stumbled on a complete tutorial like this. I had a lot of different information from forums, blog posts, videos… All I was left with was to just start experimenting. Lots of emulsion has been poured with many failures along the way so here I am making a step by step tutorial without any secrets for everyone who would like to try out this magic. There are many commercially...

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Exploring-canyon-with-4x5-large-format-camera
21 Sep
EMULSION, EQUIPMENT, ON THE FIELD, OTHER

Exploring the Canyon with Large Format Camera

What a great time I had exploring the Pekel Canyon in central Slovenia with my 4x5 camera and hand coated glass dry-plates. It was a cloudy day just calling for some long exposures. I packed my 4x5 Intrepid camera + holders filled with hand-coated glass dry-plates and headed for an adventure. I hiked along the waterfalls of Pekel Canyon in the hearth of Slovenia. Made an exposure and developed it in my Container Darkroom. Along the way I also filmed everything for you :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne23W2_XSsY&t=1s

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How-to-make-camera-bellows
12 Sep
EQUIPMENT, OTHER

CAMERA BELLOWS – Step by Step Tutorial

In this blog post I would like to walk you through all the steps needed to make yourself new Large Format Camera Bellows including all the materials I used. In my case I made new bellows for an old Kodak Brownie NO.3 A. It is over a 100 years old camera so bellows were totally weathered down. It was my first time making it as well so before that I searched many forums, watched different Youtube tutorial videos…At the end I put all the useful information and techniques together and combined it into this post. It was very...

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12 Sep
EQUIPMENT, OTHER

DIY CAMERA BELLOWS (VIDEO)

How to make Camera bellows? I have been planning to make Youtube videos for a while now and I finally braved up making a tutorial on how to make Large Format Camera Bellows. In the video I am making brand new bellows for an old Kodak Brownie NO. 3A. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m7jK1PKjlk If you would like to see more content like this you are warmly invited to my Patreon page. Thanks

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