chasing autumn colours on a panoramic 617 medium format film - does it get any better?
Truth be told, these are shots from Autumn 2023! For some reason I got distracted after taking these although I even managed to scan them but then seemingly forgot about them. Luckily it is Autumn time again albeit one year later, but at least I am posting something timely :-)
From recollection these were taken on a Sunday where I had a couple of rolls of Kodak Gold 200 and went in search of some autumn light. I may have shot these over two days considering the different north vs south of Munich locations.
As always, these 617 panoramic shots deserve a big screen and are clickable for full screen enjoyment.
Setup shot. I was intrigued by the bridge and trying for an interesting composition with side a wide 617 negative.
The final image. Not as interesting as I thought it would be - shooting panoramic medium format takes some practice and inspiration for interesting compositions.
Mandatory river shot with nice autumn foliage. The resulting image is quite pleasing.
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I had high hopes for this composition in black and white.
Missing a bit of punch and contrast. From recollection this was Fomapan 100.
I spent ages on this composition setup.
Bit of a flop in black and white I think, or at least too busy and dull.
But the idea was a good one - next time will try with colour!
A really nice lookout over the Alps in the north of Munich, I stumbled across this place by accident. The Alps are directly behind me. The colours in the fields were really nice and just asking for a panoramic shot!
Bit of a light leak but otherwise I nice image, I love the colours in the field.
Straight behind the above image.
I have not quite perfected using an orange filter with this camera, hence the underexposed image. Although a crop of the right hand side provides a more suitable composition underneath (still too dark though).
Windows XP desktop? Actually that image is real and also shot on film, believe it or not.
I like the composition of the final image and the blue skies but somehow the yellow is a bit lacking unfortunately.
This location is a real mecca for cyclists in Munich, and you can see why with these views!
I like how the final shot came out. I was disturbed a bit by the cars parking along the road but actually they give a nice sense of scale.
Some lovely lighting in this setup.
I love this shot, it has everything - bright colours, autumn lighting, strong shadows and highlights, and perspectiv with sizing and distance.
overall observations
I was delighted to have found these scanned images on my hard drive, and also the negatives were very clean so I needed very little clean-up and processing. I really enjoy the Linhof Technorama 617, especially for large landscape compositions. That being said, I need to work a bit on my black and white shots and using an orange filter I think, or shoot in different lighting conditions. But otherwise I remember it was a nice day out and that’s what matters in the end!
Thanks for stopping by!
Neil
