Bartender circa 1880 - Acadian Heritage Village

[Manfred M]

There wasn't a lot of light in the buildings in the Acadian Heritage Village in Bertrand, New Brunswick, Canada, so I took along a speedlight to get images of the places and the costumed interpreters.

This shot was taken in the tavern that was operating at around 1880. The barkeeper was telling us about the types and sources of the drinks that were served back then. Some local stuff, liquor imported from Europe (gin from Holland) and alcohol smuggled from the French islands, St Pierre and Miquelon, Madiera wines from Portugal, etc.

I used bounced flash (from behind and a little above me) to light this very dark room. The walls were a very dark wood, so I had to adjust the white balance in the raw conversion process.

[BobGilbody]

It's a nice photo Manfred but it does not look like 1880. I might be fooling myself but when I look at a photo I like to think I can guess about when it was taken. I enjoy looking at old photos. Maybe if the same scene was taken using camera gear of the 1880 period it would look like an 1880 photo.

[rpcrowe]

Most 19th Century images were very posed and static due to the slow emulsions and the small aperture lenses used in those days. This image captures the subject in a moment of motion...

[Manfred M]

It's a nice photo Manfred but it does not look like 1880. I might be fooling myself but when I look at a photo I like to think I can guess about when it was taken. I enjoy looking at old photos. Maybe if the same scene was taken using camera gear of the 1880 period it would look like an 1880 photo.

In a historical setting, I will often shoot in B&W. I often will process the shot in a sepia tone to give it that period feel. That was not my intent in this shot, as I wanted to capture the warm tones in the main elements in this scene and B&W does not work (I did try it).

As Richard points out, in the 1880s, the ISO of films was very slow and the cameras (view cameras) were quite large. They had a very narrow depth of field, so exposures in the light I was using would have been measured in many seconds if not minutes and the elements in the foreground and background would be out of focus.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Manfred,

Not a criticism, an observation ...

For me, it is (I'm afraid), the decent lighting (you skilfully created) that makes it a modern image.

If you think back to the likely interior lighting of 1880, my guess would be it might consist of many pinpoint sources such as candles or oil/paraffin/kerosene lamps, perhaps supplemented by low angle daylight through windows (in daytime). These sparse, but multiple sources would be apparent in the reflections in bottles and the scene would be much darker and 'moody'.

That said, unless or Joe McNally or similar - and have the full entourage of support and time to shoot historically recreated scene. On a tourist visit, your shot is as good as it gets.

Cheers,
Dave

[pschlute]

I like it. Cracking image.

[Manfred M]

Hi Manfred,

Not a criticism, an observation ...

For me, it is (I'm afraid), the decent lighting (you skilfully created) that makes it a modern image.

If you think back to the likely interior lighting of 1880, my guess would be it might consist of many pinpoint sources such as candles or oil/paraffin/kerosene lamps, perhaps supplemented by low angle daylight through windows (in daytime). These sparse, but multiple sources would be apparent in the reflections in bottles and the scene would be much darker and 'moody'.

That said, unless or Joe McNally or similar - and have the full entourage of support and time to shoot historically recreated scene. On a tourist visit, your shot is as good as it gets.

Cheers,
Dave

Dave - I agree 100%. This is a modern image and that was my intent. As you have correctly suggested, the only way to get that "authentic" look is to use a fairly sophisticated lighting setup, with multiple lights and flags to precisely control the lighting. As you have put things so well, that is the only way to control the light so precisely. The shallow depth of field of an 4 x 5 (or larger) view camera is impossible to replicate with a modern digital camera.

A simple camera mounted flash, bounced behind me onto the dark walls behind me gave me this light and it works very well from that standpoint.