Large format photography has meticulous steps to follow. Dom calls it 'The Dance'. | ABC Australia

Film photographer Dominique Pierre-Nina, from Jamberoo on the south coast of New South Wales, finds autumn light ideal for shooting in large format.
But this traditonal form of film photography requires patience and dedication in following a number of steps to achieve the perfect image.
Dom says hiding from the light inside his dark cloth hood along country roads is the best bit.
📽 Video produced by Sarah Moss.
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[@cyrilhamel8289]

Thanks for sharing this experience 😊

[@gabedamien]

I have always been tempted to try large format. There is something very deliberate about it which is appealing.

[@mehsmehmeh]

Beautiful story telling which demonstrates the work necessary to take a great photograph.

[@motorvelo]

You can do the same amount of work and take a poor photograph.

[@aaronoverstreet1436]

Ooh, I wish to step into large format photography one day. Can Don speak to his post production workflow and costs? Does he develop film and print himself, work with a lab, or use scans to digitally produce his final work? Sounds like a lotto dream for me!

[@motorvelo]

Depth of field is a formula that takes into account the diagonal dimension of the film, and the focal length of the lens. The bigger the film the more you need to stop down to get a decent depth of field. The lenses are designed to mitigate the defraction. Also f64 on a 210mm lens is an aperture of approx 3.5mm. About the same as f16 on a 50mm lens.

[@petermcginty3636]

Thanks for the video. Interesting content, but a very slow process for me.

[@mrgnktevetias]

Thank you for this nugget. People believe this medium is dead, but it couldn't be further from the truth.
This camera takes so much time to take a picture, but it provides the highest quality even compared to any current day digital cameras.

[@motorvelo]

Two immediate comments. There is a ground glass screen and fresnel screen. Usually separate things. Then you are using the cloth the wrong way around. It should be the black to the inside to give the darkest result with no reflections on the focusing screen and the red on the out side, traditionally so the photographer could be seen.

[@ChrisThe1]

I really don't get why large format uses these tiny apertures. Sure, depth of field, but the diffraction will kill any detail in the image.

[@dakman1082]

Larger formats have less depth of field, therefore needing smaller apertures relative to 35mm. It's a topic that can get pretty technical to understand in depth.

[@dantasma]

@ f32 diffraction is a non issue for large format due to the size of the negative, a 20"x24" print diffraction is negligible compared to say and enlargement from a 35mm negative.

[@MykeBatez]

Diffraction sets in differently based on the size of the medium you're exposing, so in the case of large-format film, diffraction will begin to affect image sharpness at a *much* smaller aperture than it would on a full-frame camera, etc.

[@edhannam1127]

The effect of diffraction is dependent on the actual physical size of the aperture that the light is passing through. F stop for f stop, the aperture on a large format lens is physically larger than that of one used in 35mm photography, so you are not comparing like for like. Therefore on a large format lens the physical size of the aperture at say, f45, is similar to maybe f8 on a 35mm format camera (and depending on the sensor size), which is the maximum recommended f stop to avoid diffraction.