MF (6x4.5,6x6,6x7,6x9,6x12) B&W film images sharing

[Iga]

As above, cropped a bit.

[paulbarden]

I never tire of spending time with "The Old Man", during the brief time before the river swells and hides him from view for the next 6 months.

Photographed on Ilford Delta 400, with the Kodak Medalist II. Look closely and see what an amazing lens this Ektar is.
Approximately 3 seconds at F22.
Film processed in Pyrocat HD, 16 minutes at 21C.

[Iga]

Beautiful, Paul.

[Alan Klein]

Paul How do you get those wonderful tones?

[SergeyT]

Eggshells and Miracle Gro (American Beauty (1999) )

[paulbarden]

Paul How do you get those wonderful tones?

The answer to that question is less than straightforward, but here goes....

First, and most importantly, is simply knowing what I want the finished image to look like. I want these dark brooding tones, and lot of detail to explore, and that informs me how to accomplish this technically.

So technically, I know I must use a tripod so I can make multi-second exposures The flat lighting demands it) and get small apertures. I always choose one of the modern emulsions for this work, favoring Ilford Delta but Tmax films are just as capable. (I avoid HP5 these days, as I find it far too flat in the upper values for what I do. Its great for portraiture and some other things, but I dislike it for this work I do).
My developer of choice these days is Pyrocat HD, as it seems to deliver the best tonal separation and renders the overall value scale beautifully. For this, I expose at 125 to 160 ASA, to get good density with Pyrocat (You always have to lower the film speed quite a bit with Pyro developers).
Next, the negative is selected (I bracket) and scanned with my V750, and post-processed in Silver Efex Pro 2, to get values and image color as I want it.

Questions?

[gimenosaiz]

Hi!

Romanic church in Sepúlveda, Segovia - Spain.


Cruz by Antonio Gimeno, on Flickr

Iglesia de El Salvador
Hasselblad 503cx : CZ Planar 80/2.8 CF
Rollei Retro 400s : HC-110(h)

Kind regards,
Antonio

[tuco]

Tired Hitachi by tuco, on Flickr

500C/M, CB 60mm, 100 Acros

[Alan Klein]

The answer to that question is less than straightforward, but here goes....

First, and most importantly, is simply knowing what I want the finished image to look like. I want these dark brooding tones, and lot of detail to explore, and that informs me how to accomplish this technically.

So technically, I know I must use a tripod so I can make multi-second exposures The flat lighting demands it) and get small apertures. I always choose one of the modern emulsions for this work, favoring Ilford Delta but Tmax films are just as capable. (I avoid HP5 these days, as I find it far too flat in the upper values for what I do. Its great for portraiture and some other things, but I dislike it for this work I do).
My developer of choice these days is Pyrocat HD, as it seems to deliver the best tonal separation and renders the overall value scale beautifully. For this, I expose at 125 to 160 ASA, to get good density with Pyrocat (You always have to lower the film speed quite a bit with Pyro developers).
Next, the negative is selected (I bracket) and scanned with my V750, and post-processed in Silver Efex Pro 2, to get values and image color as I want it.

Questions?

Very nice. Does Silver Efex 2 have a preset for these tones or do you adjust something else?

[paulbarden]

Very nice. Does Silver Efex 2 have a preset for these tones or do you adjust something else?

Thanks, Alan, glad you like this work. Silver Efex has the ability for the user to create their own presets based on tonal adjustments, contrast choices, etc. I have a couple dozen presets of my own that I've created for specific projects and/or specific films or plate types. IE: there are a couple of presets for FP4 developed in Xtol, presets for Delta 100 developed in Pyrocat HD, etc. I start with one of those presets and then (usually) make other minor adjustments for shadow detail, overall brightness - that sort of thing. I find Silver Efex to be a remarkably versatile tool, if working with digital edits of film negatives is something you find fits in your creative tool kit. I use these tools with the goal of creating inkjet prints that mimic how I print in the darkroom. I prefer silver gelatin prints (on Fomatone Classic, which comes close to Agfa Portriga Rapid!) but I don't always want to limit myself to making contact prints of my large negatives: some of these images work better in larger sizes, to reveal the richness of detail.