Black and White Film

Imperfection With a Paper Negative in the Darkroom

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I’ve mentioned on this blog before that I sometimes like to work with Paper Negatives. When using the Large Format 4x5 camera, paper negatives can be a great way to make images in a very economical way. A sheet of darkoom paper is still pennies on the dollar when compared to the traditional film one would typically load in a camera.

Photographed with a 4x5 View Camera and Ilford RC 4x5 Darkroom Paper

Paper negatives come with two challenges in particular. First, the effective ISO of paper is very slow. I typically expose at ISO 2 or 3 depending on how harsh the light is. This means very very slow shudder speeds at times. Part of the reason most of my portraits using paper negatives are so soft is because it is nearly impossible for the vast majority of people to hold completely still over the course of one or two full seconds. Second, paper negatives tend to have a lot of contrast in the final results. I find this is alleviated to a great extend by simply diluting my paper developer far more than I typically would when making a print from a negative. This tends to result in a more muted effect.

A third challenge with paper negatives can be illustrated in the image that comes with this post. When a lazy photographer such as myself isn’t paying much attention during development paper can get stuck together in the tray. This will result in uneven development as not enough chemistry reaches the paper emulsion. I’m considering this example to be a happy accident. I like the way the top of the model is brighter than the lower half. It’s an interesting segmentation.

That’s what I’m telling myself anyway.

Ilford Pan F 50 and a Figure Study

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I’ve long had a love for Ilford’s Pan F ISO 50 film stock. It captures a ton of detail and its exceedingly low grain can give images a very painterly kind of feel. It is also the film stock that I probably find the most challenging to work with and my results can be a little bit hit or miss with it sometimes.

Photographed with Ilford Pan F in medium format and a Hasselblad 500c/m

I have often found with Ilford Pan F that is it very easy to blow out the highlights and let contrast get out of control. With portraits and figure studies this is not such a great thing so I have to be very careful with my exposures and development. Often I find myself exposing the same shot, bracketing my exposure. In addition, the detail captured with Ilford Pan F can be unflattering with human skin.

Despite these challenges I like the give the film a go every so often. Usually I’ll pull out a roll after working with film stocks that are a bit easier to work with like Ilford FP4 or HP5 so if I don’t get results I like with Pan F then it is no big deal. With the image I posted here, this was exposed at the tail end of a session done in my living room. All I did was move my furniture out of the way giving me a blank wall to work with and a single strobe light to the right of the frame. It was a tight space to work in, but I think the results look rather nice.

Zero Image 6x6 Pinhole Camera at Five O'clock

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I’m one of those cliche photographers who always has a camera with me. Typically it is a 35mm compact camera that I use as a sort of daily diary. Just something I can pull out of my pocket and take the occasional snapshot that catches my fancy. I hardly ever consider the work particularly purposeful or note worthy, but I think it is important to do it all the same.

A few weeks ago however I decided to mix it up a bit and I carried around a Zero Image 6x6 Pinhole Camera around with me instead. The camera can do 12 exposures on medium format film and it is small enough to fit in the breast pocket of the coat I wear on most days. A little different maybe? Yes, but sometimes we all have to mix it up a bit to keep the creative juices moving in our brains.

Photographed with a Zero Image 6x6 Pinhole Camera and Ilford Delta 400 film in 120.

I usually start walking to work shortly before 6am. I tend to be an early riser in my old age, something I never thought I would say out loud. That means for a good chunk of the year I start walking before the sun even comes up. I knew that might make for some interesting opportunities, and interesting challenges with a pinhole camera. My exposures certainly weren’t going to be short!

This image was exposed over a period of about fifteen minutes. I set the camera directly on the ground and pointed it toward an intersection with a car dealership hoping there would be enough light. Even after a fifteen minute exposure the negative came out a bit thin and underexposed, but good enough to get a decent scan and share it here. Long pinhole exposures are a bit of guess work at best and this was no exception.

Natural Light With A Hasselblad 500c/m

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I’ve never been completely comfortable working with really harsh natural light. Living in the Pacific Northwest I’m constantly spoiled with nice and even overcast weather. Every photographer knows, especially photographers who work with film, that overcast lighting is incredibly easy to expose. Bright and harsh light on the other hand can be incredibly difficult. Sometimes if feels like you have dark shadows, bright highlights, and absolutely nothing in-between. Losing out on detail in your final exposure is an incredibly easy mistake to make.

Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Ilford Delta 400 medium format film.

This image is one of those rare cases where I think I made some very harsh lighting work. It was a summer afternoon and the light coming in through my studio window was harsh to say the least. It was so harsh in fact that the entire scene felts sweltering and hot. I wanted to play with the shadows and the light the best I could and I thought it would be fun to let it swirl about the shapes of the model’s figure.

To retain as much detail as possible I exposed a roll of Ilford Delta 400 down to ISO 200 and pulled back my development by about 30%. This tends to work pretty well lowering contrast and keeping detail in both the shadows and the highlights. I also won’t deny I bracketed the heck out of each exposure, working with three frames per pose. One and a half stops over, one spot on, and one and a half stops under. Not surprisingly, the image I liked best was the spot on exposure. I should learn to trust my light metering skills…

Landscapes on Sauvie Island with the Hasselblad 500c/m

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It is very much feeling like warmer weather is just around the corner. I won’t deny I’m excited and thrilled at the prospect of getting outdoors with a few rolls of film and just enjoying a little bit of nature. I haven’t made enough of a point to do that lately and some sunshine will really do me good.

Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Rollei RPX 100 medium format film.

I don’t know if this is the result of being cooped up for too long with COVID, spending too much time at work, or just the fact that I’m changing with my old age, but I’ve been feeling more and more like working with landscapes over people. That is quite a shift for me. While I’ve always liked getting outdoors I’ve never thought of myself as a particularly successful landscape photographer. Getting older, I realize one of the huge reasons behind that is the fact that I’ve always been intimidated by other far more famous and well known landscape photographers.

Growing up in California, every photography and art student is bombarded with the ghost of Ansel Adams (among others…) and my technical skill, not to mention levels of patience, will always pale in comparison to him. However, it is really silly to let something like that stop me from trying and from gaining enjoyment working with outdoor spaces.

This image was made late in the afternoon on Sauvie Island just a few short weeks ago. All the trees are bare on the island right now which meant the environment felt incredibly flooded with light. The air was cold for sure, but you’d never know it looking at the images. It was fun to work with, especially as the sun dived lower and lower toward the horizon casting some long shadows across the ground from the largely naked trees.

For film I used a couple of rolls of Rollei RPX 100. I absolutely love the tonal range of RPX 100. There is a very cinematic look to it. It feels like I’m capturing single frames of some 1970’s German New Wave movie. Deep black and bright whites manage to creep into the negative in equal measure. This stock seems like it was born to be paired with Rodinal as well and even when exposing a negative directly toward the sun, as was the case here, I still get nicely exposed frames. It’s an expensive film stock unfortunately, so it will probably never fully replace my tried and true Ilford HP5, but when I’m in the mood to splurge a bit I like working with the Rollie stock.