I ran across this website by a photographer named Q.-Tuan Luong last night. He has a project that has gone to all 57 of the national parks. His work is amazing. I am in awe at the color and beauty of the photos that he's taken. The website is here- 57 National Parks
I know :( It's sad. I've gone through about every one of the parks and then some of the other places on there. I would love to do what he did and travel to all the National Parks. I still need to make it to all of them within my state.
Yes, a 5x7 at that. Have you ever gazed upon a 5x7 transparency? They are incredible, I can tell you that. They are so big, and clear and colorful that they can literally steal your breath away. And while digital may be fast approching the quality attainable with standard 35mm film (indeed, many say it's already there). The reality of large format remains in the realm of film, as there is nothing digital that even comes close yet.
I predict that when digital does catch up, the files are gonna be really, really big!
Thanks for posting the link Jeremy, Mr. Loung's work is stunning.
There are large-format digital camera backs which are about as good as film, but they cost $25-125,000 (not counting the 4x5 or 8x10 camera and lenses).
I believe Stephen Johnson of Pacifica, CA, also has a project of photographing all of the National Parks using large-format digital. You might find a link through Adobe's website -- the's the guy who developed all the pre-packaged Duotone settings in Photoshop.
I agree. Tim's is better! It really does have lot more character and compositional balance than Mr. Luong's shot. Nothing in the way of equipment can bring a better vision to the scene.
Also, Mr. Luong's shot was probably scanned from a 35mm slide, not a 5x7. If you read the Information section of the site you will see that most of the shots you are viewing were actually scanned from 35mm slides (though 5x7 transparencies of the same scene exist). They make the point that trying to convey a 5x7 transparency on the web would be a waste of time... I agree.
I will say that I think digital quality has rivaled 35mm transparencies (at least with 6mp cameras and above). But I still think digital has a long way to go to match large format film work.
[quote=Jubei Kibagami]I ran across this website by a photographer named Q.-Tuan Luong last night. He has a project that has gone to all 57 of the national parks. His work is amazing. I am in awe at the color and beauty of the photos that he's taken. The website is here- 57 National Parks
hey paganini, I like the greens in your shot. I love waterfall photos. It would be fun to do something kind of like what he did, but travel across the country and take pictures of waterfalls in every state.
Me too -- i'd take waterfall shots whenever i could (limited to amount of gear to carry... the shot above I did it without a tripod, since there was a nice fence that you can brance against... still wish I had brought a tripod along) i'm heading out to Colorado for a week shortly, visiting RMNP again (one of my favorite places), then driving through the central range and then down to Durango.
Originally posted by Jubei Kibagami:
hey paganini, I like the greens in your shot. I love waterfall photos. It would be fun to do something kind of like what he did, but travel across the country and take pictures of waterfalls in every state.
