Large Format

Katy Suggit and Andrew Farrington recently put on a large format workshop in the studio in the workshop we learnt how to use the hassleblad load and shoot on the 5x4 film we then took the camera on location and shot some more film. Although i enjoyed using the hasselblad and the 5x4 film it didnt fit in with what i had chosen to do for my personal practice and so i didnt use these techniques.The main advantage of large format, film or digital, is higher resolution. A 4×5 inch image has about 16 times the area, and thus 16× the total resolution, of a 35 mm frame.In early photography, large format was all there was, and before enlargers were common, it was normal to just make 1:1 contact prints from a 4×5, 5×7, or 8×10 inch negative.The most common large format is 4×5 inches, which was the size of common cameras used in the 1930s-1950's. Large format, both film-based and digital, is still used for many applications, for example: landscape photography, advertising photos, fine-art photography, scientific applications and generally for images that will be enlarged to a high magnification while requiring a high level of detail.
Here are some examples of 5x4 prints . . .