Black & White Photo Review, Please

<p>Having been motivated by the quality of the B&W work in this forum, I shot my first roll since the 1980s. I would very much appreciate a review of my results, with two things in mind:</p>

<p>1) What can I do to improve what you're seeing?<br>

2) What do you see that is working?</p>

<p>If you would be so kind as to offer your opinions and guidance, I can improve on subsequent rolls. </p>

<p>These shots were taken on TMAX 400 processed and scanned at NCPS. The camera was a lowly Pentax MG, mainly because I can throw it in my bike bag and not worry if it gets crushed. It was essentially free to me. The lens is almost always the Pentax-M 28mm f2.8, which accounts for some distortion, but necessary in some cityscapes. The only post-processing was cropping. (I work on computers, so I keep them away from my hobby as much as I can). Most shots were hand held at f/8 and 1/250th to 1/1000th. I have no Black and White filters (orange or red, for example), so I think I suffer from "White Sky Syndrome".</p>

<p>Thanks in advance for your consideration. Photos to follow.</p>

 

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/18025430-lg.jpg" alt="" width="768" height="1009" /></p>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/18025436-lg.jpg" alt="" width="951" height="768" /></p>

<p>nice</p>

<p>Brad--tones and contrast looks great to me! Congrats..I really like the train tracks, the building and the car. You're doing quite well, I'd say.<br>

Paul</p>

<p>Nice images. The first image held the skies well even without a filter. Thanks for posting. And please continue to share images. I would invite you to participate in our weekly thread: Classic Manual Camera weekend.</p>

<p>Very nice images <strong>Brad</strong>! I perceive that you are facing the same problems that many of us do with high contrast scenes, that of balancing the highlight areas with the dark ones. I did some reading on this and found that films are made to take a maximum range of only 5 basic gray shades, on a gray scale of 1 to 10 [old fashioned]. So it was suggested that I choose scenes that would fall within that range of 4 or 5 gray shades.<br>

In addition, your pictures show a high contrast range of tones. The old time photographers used less contrast to depict such scenes in gray. Many in the 19th Century used a soft Sepia for the landscapes. I like your pictures, anyway. Thanks for the post. sp.</p>

<p>I think they are great. Congrats.</p>

<p>I'm considering trying Diafine with PanF+ in 35mm. I believe it is supposed to tame the high contrast scenes a bit, even though I really like high contrast scenes! So I will probably shoot the PanF+ in one body, and shoot the same scene, same lens, different body loaded with FP4+ and developed in Rodinal or HC110. THAT should make for an interesting comparison.</p>

<p>Welcome back to film, and again, great images.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>You certainly have a good eye for a picture, <strong>Brad</strong>; there are some great angles here. For images straight off a commercial scanner, I feel they're surprisingly good; without the post-processing it's rather like looking at contact prints as opposed to enlargements, worked over in the darkroom. Overall, the tones are bright and punchy, and the images have a sharp, clean look. As you note, even a yellow filter would have helped with your skies, but it's no big deal in these sorts of locations. From a personal standpoint, I'd be itching to see what I could do with my editing tools, but each to his own. Keep them coming!</p>

<p>They look technically very good to me. </p>

<p>My favorite is the one with the reflection off the window. I'm 62 and also wear a bicycle helmet on my way to work.</p>

<p>It's good that folks are rediscovering B&W film. For me the independent work-flow is a plus. My color lab occasionally scratches my film.</p>

<p>BTW - I sometimes will scan a color neg and set the output to 16 bit gray - which is a lot less hassle than printing to Kodak Panalure, an RC paper that has been long discontinued.</p>

<p>Nice shots. Sharp; nice contrast; well done.</p>

<p>Love the sports car.</p>

I am close to your way of thinking. I do develop and scan

myself on a flatbed but on post I crop and adjust the

levels. I do this because it is similar to what I get when

printing in the darkroom. In the darkroom I can actually

get an even better detail out of the shadows with a little

dodging.

I've been trying tmax and its great. It just wears out the

fixer much faster and needs extra long washes.

You have a great eye for those shots that I hope I would

also have. I do believe you are on the right path if not

there already so keep posting...

<p>If YOU like them, then that's all that matters. If you don't like them, then decide what you don't like and do it some other way. What I think doesn't matter.</p>

<p>They look really good to me,and it's hard to criticize, apart from your aforementioned wonky angles. Also good to keep large dark areas from dominating, especially in the foreground. Keep at it, and if this is just a start then you are well on the way!</p>

<p><strong>Brad</strong>, I can't reply to your email as your filters seem to block mine, according to Photo.net mail service. Please excuse this post, mods, as I can see no other way of responding to a member's query.</p>

<p>I missed the original post but saw it via Rick's site. Nice images and I think you did about as well as the lighting conditions provided, by giving some prominence to the shadow regions over the highlights. The first image seems to suggest that, as the while building in the background shows no texture of the materials on its visible bright side (I went to your portfolio to see a moderate blow up of the image). If you continue with B&W you might try slower higher resolution films and try color filters (yellow-orange, medium red) and even a soft graduated ND filter to compensate a bit for bright skies.</p>

<p>Very fine first attempts!</p>

<p> </p>