Loving BW film more and more......

[jgredline]

One of the things that I really appreciate about film is the last image shot...This roll of 36 exp took me two weeks to shoot and each and every image I took, I took great care in choosing it...I learned with this last roll, that I am setting my exposer a little to high, so I will make a mental note for this new roll...I bought a 5 pack and am storing it in the fridge...I think this is right....

Anyway here are my latest....

Here are some images I shot these past couple of weeks...
The more I shoot with my K1000 the more I love it!!!!

Here are a couple of Black and Whites I shot with my Pentax K1OOO... I was using KODAK PROFESSIONAL BW400CN Film....Anyway, here is an engine on the dyno.

[jgredline]

Here are some I took at the San Gabriel Mission...

[jgredline]

Here I am at Olvera Street.

[jgredline]

These are at A cemetery in Culver city where many ''movie stars'' are in the grave...It would seem appropriate that I end this series with Dracula..

[reverberation]

There are some good shots in there. All this will help you with your K-10.

[Xia_Ke]

Looking good Javier! Glad to see you're enjoying that old work horse of a camera. Have you started playing with filters at all?

[SmartWombat]

I like #5, that crucifix shot.
On here the dynamic range of the monitor doesn't seem quite enough to reveal the detail in the leaves.
I think when you print it there will be enough detail in the black.

[jgredline]

Thanks folks, I am learning, slowly, but slowly.

[photophorous]

Nice shots! Glad to hear you're enjoying your film camera. I know what you mean about being careful with each shot. That is high on my long list of reasons to shoot film. Sometimes I'll burn through several rolls in a few hours, but its much more common for me to leave one roll in the camera for several weeks. My biggest frustration with shooting film is having the wrong kind in the camera, but I recently learned how to rewind it with out loosing the leader, so I can switch mid-roll.

Paul

[jgredline]

My biggest frustration with shooting film is having the wrong kind in the camera, but I recently learned how to rewind it with out loosing the leader, so I can switch mid-roll.

Paul

Thank you so much for the kind words. I know what you mean about the film..For me it was simple, Buy two K1000's...These are so plentiful and so inexpensive, I was able to afford two. One have black and white, which I am using most of the time and the other has color, but since I prefer the black and white, I am only about a third of the way through the roll...

[Ballen Photo]

Here are some I took at the San Gabriel Mission...

Javier, I like this series, and in particular # 3, The Crucifix.
Of course you already know I liked the engine on the Dyno as well.
-Bruce

[jgredline]

Thanks Bruce. Tomorrow I will be picking up a 5 pack of Tri-X film..
I look forward to it.

[w_keen]

Hi Javier - great shots! Do you find the that they are a bit on the gray side (muddy), as opposed to being contrasty? Most of my prints are like that as well and I keep thinking I'm not getting the exposure correct on when I shoot. I don;t think it's something I can change during processing as no matter how I try to change the printing exposure time, I was still not able to get the prints to pop.

[jgredline]

Hi Javier - great shots! Do you find the that they are a bit on the gray side (muddy), as opposed to being contrasty? Most of my prints are like that as well and I keep thinking I'm not getting the exposure correct on when I shoot. I don;t think it's something I can change during processing as no matter how I try to change the printing exposure time, I was still not able to get the prints to pop.

I wish I could help, perhaps Xia or Greg will chime in...I am on a learning curve...I have since switched over to Tri X film, so I am anxious to see how those turn out. I will say this though. The prints look allot better than they do on the web. I don't know why though.

[Xia_Ke]

Hi Javier - great shots! Do you find the that they are a bit on the gray side (muddy), as opposed to being contrasty? Most of my prints are like that as well and I keep thinking I'm not getting the exposure correct on when I shoot. I don;t think it's something I can change during processing as no matter how I try to change the printing exposure time, I was still not able to get the prints to pop.

It's hard to say why you are not getting the contrast you wanted without knowing the details. What were you using for film? Were you processing it yourself? For the prints, were you having a lab do them? Were they traditional prints or from scans? Also, what were the scenes you were shooting?

One of the biggest things I had to get over was how I viewed a scene. Coming from digital I looked at colors and lighting. Lighting still plays a big roll in contrast with b&w but, color doesn't necessarily come into play. It's the tones you want to look for. You could have blue and orange in a scene which are contrasting colors but, they can be rendered the same in b&w. This is where filters come into play. I almost never shoot now without at least a light yellow filter on. CLICK HERE for a thread I did a while ago comparing some filters. This is just the first step in contrast control.

The next step in contrast control comes during developing. You can adjust your developing time +/- to either add or cut back on contrast. During developing lower tones values don't change so much but, your upper tones do. Increasing your development time over your standard will increase the values of your highlights. This can help a lot if you are shooting in a flat light scene.

Last would be the printing stage. Paper grade, or filter grade for vc papers, can be changed to get the desired contrast. Speaking from general observation, seems like most of the time I shoot with filter or I see other's shooting with filter, they usually print around grade 2 or maybe grade 3. A lot of time when I don't use a filter or I see other people not using a filter, most are printing at higher grades of 3 or 4 or even 5.

One final thing to keep in mind is that when we see a print, it is black and white while digital images are grayscale which are 2 very different things.

I picked up an excellent book recently that I can not recommend enough:

Zone VI Workshop by Fred Picker

[jgredline]

Aaron, Thanks a bunch for taking care of him and ''me''....I will look at the filter thread also, I had not really thought about that.
Thanks again...

[w_keen]

Thanks for the tips Aaron. I shoot with a red filter which I think would provide good strong contrasty shots. I do not have those details on my processing time to share. It had been many years ago since I've worked in a darkroom. I'm slowly picking up my camera again and will be looking for a darkroom studio near where I live now. I do remember that the paper I used was a middle grade, grade 5? Sorry, I do wish I was able to share more but it has been a while.

[Xia_Ke]

Hi w_keen, yes a red filter will definitely provide some contrasty shots. For my tastes it can almost be too much under most conditions. It can be easy to loose some detail in the highlights and shadows. Lately I find myself preferring to go with a yellow or green filter which gives more contrast but, keeps all the detail. For printing grades, grade 2 is normal grade, while grade 5 is the highest contrast. I'd love to see some of your old prints if you'd ever like to share

[coa75]

Superb b/w photos. I used Canon AE-1 PROGRAM, and make good photos. Digital b/w is not qite so good as analog. I like old Pentax cameras, K1000, MX or SuperProgram.

[jgredline]

Superb b/w photos. I used Canon AE-1 PROGRAM, and make good photos. Digital b/w is not qite so good as analog. I like old Pentax cameras, K1000, MX or SuperProgram.

I just bought an AE-1 with a Canon 28mm F/2,0, 50mm F/2.8 and 70-200 F/3.5-4.0..So far I can't see any difference between the Canon and Pentax, but the ease of use with the canon is pretty cool....

[reverberation]

I have an AE-1 which I think has the best consumer level lenses available. The body is a mess, but the lenses are top notch.

[jgredline]

Rev,
The lenses are the main reason I bought the AE-1 ...In fairness as I have been learning film, I have been using really cheap stuff, but I just loaded the Canon with some Tri-x so I look forward to seeing what she does.

[Xia_Ke]

...I just loaded the Canon with some Tri-x so I look forward to seeing what she does.

Which you'll be developing yourself, right?...LOL

[jgredline]

Which you'll be developing yourself, right?...LOL

Pondering it, but I think I will practice with some really cheap stuff.

[Xia_Ke]

I know you want to experiment with cheaper films but, honestly, Tri-X is one of the most forgiving films out there and would give you about the best odds for good results off the bat IMO.