Since this morning, I’ve been having fun with an app called
Darkr. It emulates well large format film photography, complete with swings and tilts, different black-and-white films and filters. It also emulates a wet darkroom with test strips and multigrade contrast filters, burning, dodging and toning.
I particularly liked the upside-down-and-backwards groundglass large format view, complete with grid etchings and a focussing loupe. It reminded me of the importance of abstract viewing to actually seeing positional and tonal relationships. While I don’t miss the dust, chemicals and water usage of 4x5 work, I do miss the whole groundglass viewing experience.
I’ve written a
blog post where I explain more and encourage you to check it out for iPad and iPhone. It’s free, but the $3.99 in-app purchase unlocks some of the options those of us who used (use) large format cameras will be familiar with.