Going Back to the Same Location II
Fort Point was built in 1861 during the Civil War and located at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. It is a great place to photograph and practice composition and exposure. In 2013, I set up a 4x5” camera and took the following picture. I liked it and even made a silver print. The issue is the window highlights are blown out. The other thing that bothered me was the pipe at the top of the doorway.
After going back in about 5 months, I tried to enter the fort when clouds filled the sky and the range of light between the stairs and window were closer. Exposed this picture and even used a digital, thinking the dynamic range was greater than film. Not bad and I could probably work on the digital files so it would look better.
Film Scan
Digital File
The third try (or may have been the fourth) was the digital capture. I don’t do HDR so I exposed for the highlight and got this original (as well as about 5 other exposures).
Original Digital File
Chose to work on this one and arrived at this final image.
Final Image
The next step is to try again with film and develop N-1 or N-2 to subdue the highlights and make a silver print as well. It’s always a learning process. It really is practicing and what you learn can apply to other situations. Happy photographing.