Both of Douglas Dolde's books, Western Dreams and Painted With Light are now available. Western Dreams is more of a photographer's guide with field notes, USGS maps, and a section on the Digital Darkroom. While Painted With Light is the coffee table version with higher print quality and a higher price due to high printing costs.

A special offer is available of an 11x14 matted print for only $95.00. This print size is normally $150.00.

Douglas Dolde shoots using a Contax 645 camera with a Leaf Aptus 75S digital camera back, featuring linear resolution of 6726 x 5040 pixels or 33.4 million pixels.

While many of the images on Dolde's website were made on large format 4x5 inch transparency film, the ones taken since May 2008 were made exclusively with the Leaf Aptus.

The Leaf Aptus 75S has a dynamic range of 12 stops. One stop increment is double the amount of light. 4x5 transparency film on the other hand has about 5 stops of dynamic range. "Images can be made with the Leaf Aptus under lighting conditions I'd not even consider with film," Dolde said, "I am no longer limited to shooting in the first or last hour of daylight or under overcast conditions." While these conditions still provide the perfect light for photography, he is not quite as tied to them as with film.

Dolde has found that prints up to 24 x 30 or so inches actually work better with the Leaf Aptus files. "Even though the resolution is a bit less, the file is much cleaner with no grain or "garbage" data," he said.

Wind is the bane of the large format photographer. The camera presents a large area exposed to the wind and the resulting camera shake and vibration can prevent a sharp exposure. "With the Contax 645 and Leaf Aptus combination this is not so much of a problem," he said, "there is still considerable mass to the system, but the overall profile is much smaller and not as easily shaken by gusts."

So was it worth the investment in the Leaf Aptus digital camera back?
" I am making images that were impossible to do with film. And now that it is paid for, I've cut my costs of buying, developing, and scanning film to zero."

Take a Closer Look: Selected Photographs from Douglas Dolde

Click on image to enlarge

About Douglas Dolde
Edward Douglas Dolde has been photographing landscapes of the American West for the last decade. His portfolio includes images from Arizona, California, Utah, and the Pacific Northwest. Doug captures his images with both a 4x5 view camera and a Contax 645 with a Leaf Aptus 75S 33 megapixel digital back.

He was born in 1947 in South Bend, Indiana and currently lives in Payson, Arizona. His mother was a landscape watercolor painter. Doug received a B.S. in mathematics from Indiana University in 1970. He now works as a full time pro photographer.

Doug’s vision for landscape photography is simple and straightforward: to express the light, grandeur, and emotion he felt while viewing the scene via a photograph. His craftsmanship in both image and printmaking as well as in making his own fine hardwood frames is finely honed.

He is represented by the Crystal Lotus Gallery in Pine, Arizona. He is also an exhibiting member of the Sedona Arts Center.

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