Large Format Photography: A Guide to Get Started
An 8x10 negative is roughly 52 times the size of a 35mm frame. That's not a typo, and it's the whole reason people fall down the large format rabbit hole. We shot a full 8x10 portrait start to finish, camera setup, movements, loading, shooting, developing, scanning, and it's honestly one of the most satisfying processes in film photography to watch. Here's what you need to know before you press play.
What You Need to Shoot Large Format
The gear list is shorter than you'd think: camera, lens, film holders, a light meter. Large format lenses look complicated but break down into just three parts, front element, shutter, back element, which makes them stupidly easy to clean and maintain. A 250mm lens gives you roughly the same field of view as a 35mm lens on a standard camera, so your instincts carry over more than you'd expect.
Camera Movements: The Whole Point of Large Format
Rise, fall, swing, shift, tilt. This is the actual reason to shoot large format over anything else, the ability to manipulate focus and perspective in ways a fixed camera simply can't replicate. Architectural shots with perfectly straight verticals, portraits with impossible depth of field tricks, it all comes down to these movements. We show every single one in the video, because honestly, this is not a "read about it" kind of topic.
What Happens After You Shoot
Loading the film holders in total darkness, composing an image that's upside down and reversed, developing a sheet of film you're not even sure you loaded correctly, and finally watching the scan reveal just how much detail 8x10 actually captures. We go through the entire thing on camera, including the parts that almost went wrong.
Watch the Full Video
Every step, gear setup, movements explained and demonstrated, a live portrait shoot, developing, and scanning, all in one video.
Shooting Direct Positive Paper: "No Darkroom Required"
Once you've got the basics down, there's a version of large format that skips the darkroom entirely. Direct positive paper turns your 8x10 into an instant camera of sorts, shoot it, develop it on the spot, and you're holding a finished positive image, no negative, no scanning, no waiting. We took a camera outside and shot and developed a full set of images on location to show exactly how it works.
Check out our colleague Austin Fassino, who hosted both of these videos, or book a large format portrait session with him directly.
Videos by @tristanscholteden.
