Nude in Pines (2)

[aFeinberg]

Got a couple of scans back recently and getting the hang of it. Been using my d800 to meter and then shooting for that exposure. Seems that the film I'm using, Ilford FP4 Plus 125 BW doesnt like being blown out too much. Though could be the scanner not picking up enough detail (Epson V700) Eventually will probably get some drum scanned to be printed.

Much thanks all!
aF

Shen Hao 4x5

1
First time using this kind of movement. Missed the focus just a bit on her body. But think the film is still usable.


2 (square)
Believe I did a fair bit of dodging to her.

[jp]

The 2nd photo seems nicer to me. I'm not a big fan of needless movements. What is the significance of having the first photo's foreground tree in focus? It should be in or out of focus for a reason. Is there a critter on the bark I missed? It is cool such movements are possible, but to do movements without justification it's easier to use an iphone app to do that in post.

FP4+ is a pretty capable film; keep shooting and you'll eventually get the tones how you want them (scannable), it takes some experience. A compensating developer will tame extreme bright tones a bit if you need.

[aFeinberg]

jp - see your point...for me it was about the texture of the tree. as well as experimenting with something i hadnt tried. with all the trees in the background the fg tree gives a sense of what they are imo. im not doing my own film processing (sending it to oahu), and i assume he's just following the standard developing times. i assume if i get a drum scan and see what is actually there i'll know better.

@jac - well i guess these didnt sit well with you. thanks for the eloquence.

[koraks]

I loved them both! Great work; it inspired me. Thanks for posting! Also, the movements and the high contrast don't bother me at all - to the contrary in fact. It works for me!

[jp]

jp - see your point...for me it was about the texture of the tree. as well as experimenting with something i hadnt tried. with all the trees in the background the fg tree gives a sense of what they are imo. im not doing my own film processing (sending it to oahu), and i assume he's just following the standard developing times. i assume if i get a drum scan and see what is actually there i'll know better.

@jac - well i guess these didnt sit well with you. thanks for the eloquence.

Thank you for explaining that. If the texture contrast is important, I'd move her closer, but that rock isn't moving :-) If you develop it yourself, you can manage contrast ala zone system or use a developer that handles highlight different like pmk or divided pyrocat. Any scan such as custom drum scan or a diy scan on the epson usually beats the tones on a quick photo lab scan.

[Bruce Watson]

Seems that the film I'm using, Ilford FP4 Plus 125 BW doesn't like being blown out too much.

Film doesn't actually blow out. Prints can, and do. But the film just continues to increase density. Modern films like Tmax can carry detail and density well beyond a photographic paper's ability to form an image. So the paper is blown out, not the film. And this will come back to haunt you if you're scanning. Just sayin', and see below.

Though could be the scanner not picking up enough detail (Epson V700).

Could be indeed. It's easy enough for a B&W film to build to a density that can not be easily scanned, especially a flat bed scanner.

Eventually will probably get some drum scanned to be printed.

Don't fall into the trap of thinking that a drum scan will fix everything. It won't. Drum scanners are just as susceptible to Callier Effect as an optical enlarger.

B&W silver negative films increase in graininess as they increase in density. Density is actually formed by the overlapping of silver grains to form grain clumps. The bigger the grain clumps, the more visible "the grain" is in the final print obviously. But less obviously, the bigger the grain clumps, the more the Callier Effect. The visible artifact of Callier Effect in drum scans is that you loose local contrast in your highlights. Which is a PITA to recover in Photoshop, and to my eye it never looks quite right, compared to the same image/film/exposure, developed to a lower Dmax, and scanned the same. The lower Dmax film always scans to better highlight detail, and you can see it in the print. There is of course a lower limit to this; eventually you'll be compressing the tonal scale too much. I found with my camera/processing/drum scanner, my optimum Dmax was a Zone VIII of around 1.0. You will of course have to experiment to find out what optimum is for you, your materials and processing, and your workflow. That said, if you can easily print the negative in the dark room, it will drum scan relatively easily if you're got a drum scanner that is negative friendly (and not all drum scanners are negative friendly, and not all of those that are are particularly friendly to silver B&W negatives).

Want more? See Tim Vitale's awesome paper on the subject. See especially Figure 20. Those five illustrations (20a-e) tell you just about all you need to know about how a silver image forms. The only thing it doesn't illustrate well is the 3D nature of the emulsion. It looks and feels perfectly flat to us, but in fact it has a thickness and the film grains do overlap in that thickness. But Mr. Vitale does discuss this in his paper.

Enjoy. You've made a great start.

[StoneNYC]

How is the density? Is it possible you over-developed rather than over exposed?

[Bill L.]

Nice work! Both images are strong, although I'm also one who doesn't prefer the swing on the first image (look at enough view camera photos, and some images seem more that tilt/swing was used because the photographer could rather than because it helped their vision). Also, your model knows how to strike a pose well.

I don't know what software your using, but silverfast has a multi-exposure option to get a little extra range out of your negative. I have an Epson v750, and it modestly increases the range on tough negatives or transparencies for me.

On the second image, might I suggest a portrait orientation crop emphasizing the model and the three trees? I think that might be an interesting composition. YMMV, of course.

Cheers!
Bill

[aFeinberg]

Thanks for the feedback and info all.

I'm testing out silverfast 8, though looks like i need to upgrade to make the program mostly useful. Cant get 16bit bw scans out without some trickery right now and the multi-exposure scan looks interesting in the other version.

Right now, and for the foreseeable future, I am sending my negatives to Oahu to get processed. So no darkroom for me. I assume he's just developing based on specs from the film. So I have to, in theory, shoot for what I expect him to develop for.

Interesting process. And the movements were experimental. Wanted to see if I could get something useful. I feel though that with my desire for low DOF that I'm running in to the limit of my lens to shoot wide open and be sharp as well.

Appreciate the thoughts and time all!

aF