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B&W of India with M6 + 35/2 Summicron


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There are some very nice images. Some of the face-on direct eye contact portraits in particular though are a little static and don't seem to go anywhere, and might be edited. I don't see any reason to limit the size of the scans so much... I'd like to see what's going on in the photos a little better and see the detail the film captured. I also think this group of photos would be better with captions.
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Alan: I hand-coded my site. I did one page and C&P to make more. It's easier for me than HTML editor.:-) The lack of light part is what I love M6 about.

 

Ray: I've taken notes of your comments on the portraits. I'll keep working on it. The scan size is incidental. Thanks also for the caption suggestion.

 

Happy New Year!

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Agreed, some nice stuff, these two in particular to me were standouts (from India B&W) for their strong graphics: <p>

http://www.photo.net/photo/1996238&size=lg <p>

http://www.photo.net/photo/1996248&size=lg <p>

What was your developer and your developing method (for the Tri-X rated at 1600), if you don't mind my asking? <p>

Gotta go check out your other folders now.

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Raymond,

Terrific work...I checked out the galleries on your website, too.

 

A tip for your next trip: if you like both B&W and color (I noticed you have some nice

color work, too), test shoot some ISO 400 color neg, because it might work for both

your color and BW needs. Until recently I used TriX and Delta 100 for almost

everything, with only occasional color usage. I prefer to carry just one camera,

especially when travelling. Once I started scanning my negs for inkjet prints a couple

years ago, I discovered that the current generations of color neg film can give you

excellent BW through the digital route (Photoshop Channel Mixer, plus your

experience with the look of TriX).

 

I know conversion BW is a hotly debated topic on these forums, but try it if you

haven't already, and see what your own eyes tell you. Fujicolor Press 400 can give me

B&W that I like a lot, and that's after 30 years of dedicated TriX use. The grain

structure is certainly a little different (finer), but it prints beautifully on inkjet. It's a

tremendous convenience to have just the one film. When travelling in super colorful

parts of the world, I often wished I had color film in the camera, even for just a couple

shots, when I was loaded with my standard B&W. Also, when you return from the trip,

you aren't facing 50 rolls of TriX to develop--you just drop off your film for C41

development. Of course, this asssumes you're set up to scan negatives. I batch-scan

the rolls at fairly low res (faster) and make contact sheets in Photoshop, which I can

convert to B&W to judge which images work best in BW vs. color. I love the look of

TriX, too, and I was pleasantly surprised with how well this works (for me). Depending

on the image, somewhere between 25R/70G/5B and 50R/50G/0B in Channel Mixer to

greyscale, plus adding a little more toe and shoulder in the contrast curve, gives me

the look of TriX, starting with a Fujicolor Press neg. Try it before your next extended

trip....

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Dexter: I agree "Alex Webb-ish" is a legitimate word. How about "Constantine Manosian"? I like their works.

 

Andrew: I use D76 1:1 exclusively. For Tri-X @1600, the time is 16.5 minutes at standard temperature, in small steel tank (2-4 rolls), inversed for 10 seconds every minute.

 

Timothy: Very recently, I've started to process C41 myself. The primary reason is to pull color negatives two stops to wash off the color and get something like B&W with tinted colors. If done properly, the result can be quite interesting, more subtle and natural than hand-colored B&W. I'm still experimenting, but I've seen one friend's work done fairly well. Your suggestion certainly deserves serious consideration. I'll probably try it out even before my next trip, and I might as well. Thank you!

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Raymond,

About your C41 developing experiments--it sounds like you enjoy film processing

and experimentation. However, this is another instance in which you might be able to

achieve the image qualities you want more easily and with more control in Photoshop.

You can get that hand-tinted look by desaturating one or more of the color channels.

You can even add brushstrokes to the coloration, if you want. More of a challenge,

and perhaps more of a fun surprise to experiment with the darkroom processing,

though.

Tim

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Tim, you're right it's for the fun part I'm sticking to darkroom. I'm getting my hands wet in Photoshop but while there, I actually refrain from performing too much Photoshop trickery. In my mind there's still that thin line between photograph and digital image. Maybe the whole thing is just imaginery. On this I debate with myself from time to time, but I'm keeping my eyes and mind open.
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