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Macro Photography Calculator

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When shooting large format, especially 8x10 and up, it is easy to fall into the realm of macrophotography. When your "sensor" is 8x10 inches, any subject of ~10 in size will be reproduced with a magnification 1:1, and even a half-body portrait will be reproduced with a substantial magnification of roughly 0.33 to 1. Image taken at about 1:1 magnification. When I attempted to take close-up images with my 8x10--which as I explained above is fairly common--some questions arose: - what lens can I use? - do I have enough bellows draw to focus close? - how far from the subject should I position the camera? (8x10 viewcameras are always cumbersome to more around when fully deployed) - how much light loss should I compensate for? So, I made a Google sheet that can answer all these questions. Link  (you will have to make a copy of this file to edit it) How to use the spreadsheet You need to input these three pieces of information in the yellow
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Direct Blue Toning

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Direct Blue Toning gives to the prints a very, very brilliant blue appearance. The color comes from the deposition of the compound prussian blue, or ferric ferricyanide, on the print. In this post I will discuss: 1. The formula and procedure for direct blue toning 2. Sample images 3. additional practical toning details  1. Formula for  direct blue toning (makes 1 L) 500 mL warm water Ferric ammonium citrate 8 g Potassium ferricyanide 8 g Acetic acid 28% 265 mL Water to 1 L Toning is achieved by immersing the image in the toner for the desired amount of time. Usually about 2 minutes for complete toning. The toning action weakens considerably after the first few prints, so toning times should be extended accordingly. The following set of images from top to bottom show three toned image (toning carried out for 2 minutes, 30 seconds, and 20 seconds) and then an untoned image for reference. The images can be untoned by washing in basic water (for ex
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