Category: Darkroom

A Helping Hand

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On a shoot last week I found I had not brought enough Ilford Delta 400 film with me. This film is my bread and butter for black and white portraits, and so with some trepidation I was forced to dip into my camera bag for some Ultrafine Extreme 400, an inexpensive film I had not shot before. When it was time to process the film I did some research online and was not happy to see various lousy reviews of the film, until I ran into a post by a photographer I know on Flickr who had managed to tame this beast. I messaged him a couple of questions and in a very short time I had the magic formula (Xtol, 1:1 for 13 minutes @68 degrees). The negatives turned out fine (an example is below).

This will never be my primary film (I got it mainly as a cheaper way to test lighting set-ups), but I still got some great shots, thanks to a helping hand from the Internet

Can't resist posting one more

Most Important Picture This Year, and It’s Not Mine!

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Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting Mike and Dawn, whom I had made contact with via Flickr. Mike and Dawn had expressed an interest in learning how to develop their own black and white film. I had a extra tank and reel for developing film, so we agreed to a trade; I got a bunch of film in return for the gear, and I had them over to give a quick tutorial on developing film. While the negatives were drying we went on a pleasant photo-walk in Bluffers Park, and by the time we got back the negatives were dry. On the way home, Mike and Dawn bought the chemicals they needed to do their own developing, and late last night I got the following email:

“Well John, I did it! I have developed a roll of film! Holy cow it’s easy! I can’t get over how simple it is! I just processed a roll of Arista Premium 400 Professional… I’m just ecstatic about it!  The roll came out great! I follow the directions for the developer (Kodak TMAX) which is 1+4… just fantastic! 
I will be scanning the images in tomorrow, as I just don’t have the time tonight.. 

Thank you so much John!”

It brought such a smile to my face, to see the thrill in Mike’s words, and I don’t think that digital photography can deliver the same thrill; it really is magic.

Mike posted this image of Dawn and baby Noah on Flickr, from the first roll he developed himself. What is really special is that it was taken by Mike and Dawn’s three-year old son! It is great to see the tradition continue to the next generation! This makes it for me, the most important picture this year.

 

A Happy Accident

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In film photography, so many accidents can be fatal: the accidental exposure of film, “developing” your film in fixer first, even loading a roll of film backwards so that no exposures result :-(. Occasionally though, a technical issue can result in a good image. The image below is from a roll that I developed yesterday morning, and there was an issue with the fixer chemical, leaving a fog in some frames. When I scanned the negative, however, the fog in this image resulted in a blue tinge/haze over much of the frame. Even though it was a black and white image, I scan my negatives in colour, hence the blue.

Since the subject matter is ice, the blue really fits in well. I am going to have a go at refixing the negative (since it will just get worse) over time, but in the meantime, I am enjoying this happy accident.

 

Happy Accident

Available Light

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I am trying out Ilford Delta 3200 Professional film, one of the fastest black and white films you can get. When I was researching online on what developer to use, I was amazed at the variety of opinions, and just how tricky it is to get this film “dialled in” in terms of exposure and processing. My first try was using D-76 developer at a 1:1 dilution, which was not completely successful in terms of graininess. When shooting available light (or available darkness!) subjects though this is the kind of film stock I will need to master, so I have one more roll, and I will try another developer next time. The fun is in the discovery though!

Towards the Light