Re: What's all the fuss about focus? <or> Hocus Focus !?!

[George L Smyth <GLSmyth@xxxxxxx>]

Adam-HALPID Klyce wrote:
> 

Your points are well taken, but...<g>

>         2.) When you first try HIE, especially, but Konica's 750nm
>      emulsion too, usually you're lucky if you can see through your
>      negatives, much less get the murky shapes to be in focus. I
>      think that from an educators standpoint, it would make sense to
>      counsel people on exposure with slighly less emphasis on the
>      focus shift= too much instruction at one time just causes
>      confusion and frustration.

It depends upon how you expose and develop your film.  I wanted an
"ethereal" quality for "House Of Dreams," so I greatly "overdeveloped"
the film.  Most of the time, however, I don't go for that effect, like
"Rest Gently," where the negative has the consistency of, perhaps, a
Tri-X negative.  Certainly, if your exposure/development demands, your
negatives will be murky, but they certainly don't have to be. Image
references are from my Web page.

>         3.) The very slight (generally) focus shift required to get
>      sharp (whatever that means with B&W IR) images seems to be most
>      appropriate where you are doing critical work, close up work
>      or trying to use depth of field as a compositional technique.
>      These are, of course, all valid uses of IR film, but when you
>      are just starting out with something it's usually best not to
>      try and capture all the nuances at once.

My girlfriend's favorite picture of her was taken with Konica IR (120
format) where I opened up the aperture, focused right on her, and shot. 
The idea was to have her very slightly out of focus.  Perhaps it's her
favorite because this slight "defocus" removes aging lines, but I'll
never tell her that. <g>  If you're just starting out, stop way down,
shoot a variety of EIs developing with a variety of times, and look
carefully at the results to see what's happening.  Of course, that's the
equivalent to point and shoot, which is what we all do when starting
out.  The questions on focus are merely an extension of the basics.

george

-- 
 Handmade Photographic Images     
  http://www2.ari.net/glsmyth


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Topic No. 10