Panoramic

4x5 for 365 project (120/365)

Give me an envelope and I'm going to push it.  This is a first attempt at stitching together five large format 4x5 X-Ray film negatives to form a panoramic sweeping view of a bend in the crypt row section of Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.  It would have been better had it been more overcast so the lighting was more even throughout the scene and that car was not camped out there on the right side.  I only wish there was some way to share the full size, full resolution file because there is a crap ton of detail in this one, end to end.   This is a technique I look forward to using more in the future when I find appropriate subject matter.

Founded in 1836, Laurel Hill Cemetery occupies a 74 acre tract of land in the East Falls section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and overlooks the Schuylkill River.  The cemetery was placed on the National Historic Landmark list in 1998 as one of America's largest Victorian era cemeteries.  It's a great place for a casual walk or a day of photography with its many statues, marble obelisks and elaborate hillside tombs and mausoleums.

Camera: Busch Pressman Model D 4x5 large format press camera.

Lens:  150mm Caltar-S II (Calumet re-branded Schneider Symar-S) F 5.6 lens in a Copal BT shutter with B+W brand yellow filter.

Film: Five individually exposed sheets of Kodak Ektascan BR/A single-sided X-Ray film.  

Exposure: 1/15 @ F45 at ISO 80.

Development: Self Developed film in Rodinal (Adox Adonol) 1:100 in three reel Paterson Universal Tank using Mod54 six sheet 4x5 insert.  Semi-Stand for 15 minutes with initial minute of inversions then 10 seconds of inversion on minutes one and two then let it sit until minute 14 when I do a final ten seconds of inversions. Kodak indicator stop bath. Ilford Rapid Fixer. Photo-Flo. Hung to dry.

Scanning: Negatives scanned with Epson V600 in two scans per sheet and merged back together in PhotoShop since the V600 doesn't natively support 4x5 scans in one pass.  All five negatives (10 separate scanned image files) were then merged together using the Photomerge tool in Photoshop CS 5 to form one panoramic image.