Weekly Black and White Photography Discussion Thread #1 for 2 February 2025

I remember when the first C41 B&W film came out. I think it was Ilford XP1 back in the early 1980's. It made shooting 35mm for other than street an very viable options in that it had a nice tight grain and a lot of speed latitude and could be shot from ISO 100 to ISO 800 and held together really well and kept the tight grain structure. Then XP2 could be pushed on up to ISO 1600 with no problems. The real beauty was you could expose a half a roll at ISO100 and 1/4 of the same roll at ISO 800 and the rest at ISO 400 and just have it developed. The ISO 400 rating was really just a suggestion. Really flexible. After about 1985 the only 35 mm film I used was XP. Dang this conversation makes me want to dust off my M4 and get the shutter recalibrated and head out with it.

@tprevatt I do like the XP2 film also and the standardized C41 processing with that film, but I do use other films/brand also.
At the moment I do have some Rollei, Kentmere and Ilford films in the fridge waiting.
Those will be developed in Ilfosol 3 or my own Caffenol-C-L recipe Depending on the film😎

Thanks Folks, I have learned heaps. My B&W film experience is well behind the times. I'm still thinking D76, HC110, Ilford Microphen and Rodinal B&W. Film lwas all about playing with the asa then varying temperature, dilution and agitation to give a little control over grain, contrast and edges. Photo discussion was a hotbed of recipe swapping. tprevatt;s "my own recipe" had my heart singing with nostalgia. Folks, you introduced me to a name I'd never heard of. Cinestill. My head is blown to find there is now a one shot developer/fixer.
Let's not do it yet, but I think there is a whole resource to be put together here on film development. Another," let's not try to do it all in the first week," I'm more than a bit curious about the printing y'all are doing with these images.

Yes, a classic B&W image. I like all the lines, especially the crossover on the left, that develop from the corners then fade into the snowfall. Plenty of grain here and it feels fine with the contrast and restricted vision caused by the weather.

Yes, you are probably correct. I hadn't thought about it. Today there will be B&W photos that were planned that way from the start and there is B&W where the B&W version came next.
When taking photos, I feel I see first in B&W. It comes from years of working in B&W pre digital. I'm mainly shooting and processing in colour but its the B&W elements that I'm usually looking at when I compose the shot, even though I know it will be in colour.
Perhaps not in the case of this shot of yours. I assume the leaf is green? I might have liked the contrasts of the spiral for B&W and then thought about the possibilties of adjusting the tone of the green leaf as part of the B&W conversion.
Just spotted that you used a Sigma. Is that a foveon sensor? If it is I have no knowledge of whether the usual conversion of colours to B&W works in the same way. It's possible that a foveon sensor is much closer to a monochrome sensor. If that's a foveon, model, I'm especially interested in seeing more seeing more B&W from it.

The snail

I almost walked past.
When I turned around, I saw this opportunity.

Alan,

If you crop out the lower part of that handrail, it goes from crying to downright sobbing..

😃

Steve Thomas

Alan,

Thanks for being good natured.

Steve Thomas

Much better. And if you maybe moved a bit so the rail ran slightly diagonally it might have worked a bit better balanced. There is little on the left to balance the building. Nice capture though.

interesting story. Makes one want to ask questions. As walking past and turning back, there is a famous image titled "V-J Day in Times Square," a.k.a. "The Kiss" that goes to show you should always look back. When Eisenstaedt heard commotion and turned around the image was there.

Film is coming back. I did start using XP1/2 for 35 mm in the 80's. However, for medium format I used conventional film mostly Pan X or Tri X. For Pan X Rodinal was my go to. For sheet film - good old Tri X and HC110 Solution B or Rodinal - depending on what I wanted. In about 2005 or so I discovered Photographers Formulary and I discovered Barry Thornton. At that time good film scanners for medium format and large format were being made by Epson and I already had a Nikon 35 mm scanner. Printers were getting much better a printing black and white with new inks. So the option of film/scanning and printing became real.

onlinedarkroom.blogspot.com/p/barry-thornton-articles.html

Photographers Formulary stores.photoformulary.com/film/ is a source of all sorts on chemistry and dark room accessories. Some of the developers are remakes of old formulas with some of the really nasty components replaced. Some are even new formulations - several developed by Barry Thornton. I, however, haven't had the urge to pick up a film camera since I picked up Leica Q2M. I might do some more in the future - especially if I get back to my 4x5.

Earlier, Steve asked how depth could be added to photos. Steve, you have given an answer yourself here. The crop emphasizes the lines coming in from the closest lower corners. Best of all, the lines are continued up into the far chimney and the chimney links the foreground and background highlights. A good shot made even better by the crop.

The curves down from the building ribs make an elegant frame of the face and upper body. The building rib forms are somewhat echoed in the contrasting lines of the street lights. Very promising. It would have been better if the guys in the street had done their bit by doing something, anything, of interest over on the left for out watcher to have been watching. The fallen wheeled trolley hasn't helped the photographer either. It isn't adding interest in meaning or shape.
It's a spot worth returning to and seeing if the photography gods help a little more next time.

A tree in February. Lonely little guy, I think.

This was the first time I ever took a picture I in a 4:3 aspect ratio

.

Steve Thomas

A good photo.
But the lady still caught you taking photos.
She is looking directly into the camera, so she was still aware of her surroundings.

It's a very interesting and good photo.
The way the sheep jump after surviving the ordeal made me laugh.
And, the sheep don't look pretty afterwards.