Overcast sky photography

<p>Hi,<br />I just hope I'm in the right forum.<br />Tomorrow I'll go out for a photography session with my amteur group. The topic is churches. Since it's gona be overcast, I think I'll forget the interior of chuches and focus on the outside.<br /><br />I'll shoot with a Mamiya C220, tripod, Ilford 50 ISO and a lightmeter. What would be the best exposure/development combination to get "contrasty" or at least interesting pics under diffused light. I develop with X-Tol.<br /><br />Thanks.<br />Pierre</p>

<p>PanF+ will do that for you. I like it under overcast skies because the film is a bit more contrasty that a lot of other films I use. It is slow though, and I suggest you bring and use a tripod. The lenses for Mamiya TLR's are very good but I don't like using mine wide open, and that's what you may need to do to get a fast enough shutter speed with this film under those lighting conditions. <br>

I expose at box speed and like to develop the film in D-76 1+3 for 15 minutes at 68F. Since development times for XTOL are often very close to those used with D-76, I'd suggest starting there. It may not be perfect, but it won't be bad either if you do everything else right.</p>

<p>Don't be too hasty to dismiss the interiors, for its much easier in overcast light to control the contrast between the church interior and the light streaming through the windows. Despite the wide dynamic range of b&w films, it can be difficult to impossible to render both the interior and the windows acceptably in bright light.</p>

<p>Tmax 100 is usually my choice on an overcast day. If you want more contrast than you'd normally get, don't be afraid to give it a bit of a push.</p>

<p>I shoot TMax 100 all the time and have gotten superb contrast on overcast days. I don't know about Xtol, but I know it's great with TMax developer and HC-110. I have gotten great results shooting TMX at ISO 400 as well.<img src="../photo/9008567" alt="" /></p>

<p>Yestreday I shoot tmax100 on overcast and after devloping sky was completely white but it emphasies architecture in my opinion. Do you like B&W with completely white sky or no?</p>