Welcome to my Ultra Large Format Photography Journal.  I share my personal thoughts and experiences with my family and friends in the hope they will gain a deeper understanding of who I am and how much I love creating ultra large format contact prints.  I consider this process to be the ultimate medium for self-expression. Ultra large format contact printing is slow, contemplative, and never needs to change today or a thousand years from now.  It's already perfect, and no improvements are desired or needed.  If you want to watch some videos of me and Tim Jr. working in the darkroom, then you can follow our YouTube Darkroom Diary, where we bring you behind the scenes with us. 

ULF Diary 11/30/2022

In yesterday's update, I shared Cow Portrait # 1 with you.

For images like this, I take a hybrid approach because using my ULF cameras for animal and wildlife portraits isn't feasible. 

I need the mobility, speed, and flexibility that small format 35mm offers, along with long telephoto lenses to isolate my subjects. 

Once I have the image I want on 35mm, I have several options to make interpositives and enlarged negatives. 

In this case, we enlarged the 35mm negative and cropped it into the 8x20 format on a sheet of Ortho film to make a positive. 

I then contact printed the interpositive to a sheet of Ilford Classic Matte paper and ensured the contrast was a little below normal.  This print (the enlarged negative) is then flattened and taken to my ULF copy stand, where I make a direct positive exposure in the 8x20 camera using my lens of choice. 

This workflow offers incredible flexibility and the option to control many variables in an otherwise impossible way. 

I created this image right after sunrise on a cold winter morning.  I was enjoying just watching the younger cows when I noticed their breath was visible in the crisp morning air.  This little calf captured my attention, so I monitored her breathing pattern and then timed my exposure the second she started her exhale, and I captured this fun image in a single frame. 

Cow Portrait # 2 - Siloam Springs © Tim Layton (www.timlaytonfineart.com)

For this print, since the cow is black in real life, I think a standard developer with fiber glossy silver gelatin paper that is selenium toned is a good choice for the print.  My typical Ilford Multigrade developer with Ilford Multigrade Fiber Glossy are my material of choice.  I always process silver gelatin fiber prints for archival permanence, so I selenium toned this print at 1:25 for 5 minutes. 

You can follow my YouTube Darkroom Diary, where Tim Jr. and I bring you behind the scenes in our darkroom, where we work on our latest Ultra Large Format projects. 

Tim