I am thoroughly enjoying my return to shooting and developing film. I have to be honest though, while I do like the more muted colours I am getting from shooting Portra, colour film, my preference is B&W film because B&W offers no distraction., which is what colour can sometimes bring. Often times the colour in an image is more noticeable than the image itself.
“When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in Black and white, you photograph their souls!”
Ted Grant
I agree with this.
Why do I love B&W
I love B&W principally because of what I said above, there is no colour to distract the eye. However, something that is right up there with that……..heavy contrast.
If you look at my B&W images, film or digital, you will see that my images are contrasty. With digital much if this comes in post processing because digital has less dynamic range than film. With film I get the contrast I want by using the Zone System:
https://www.alanrossphotography.com/ansel-adams-zone-system/
In short, the Zone System uses a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 is pure black and 10 is pure white. Zone 5 is middle gray or 18% gray.
I use an old Pentax Digital Spot meter, which when pointed at something within the scene, typically the darkest shadow detail, gives me an exposure reading number. I put that reading into Zone 5, which is 18% gray. As I don't want my shadows to be 18% gray, depending on the scene and what image I have in my mind, I will place the shadows in Zone 3. In doing this I can retain some details in the shadows.
“Expose for the shadows and develop for the highlights “
Granted the Zone System was really developed for sheet film but I have been happy with the results i get from rolled film, 35mm or 120.
I typically shoot at box speed and develop normally.
Truth be told, where I have pushed the film, that is shooting ISO 400 film at say ISO 800 or ISO 1600, I do get more contrast but I also get more film grain. I love grain but as I primarily shoot Kodak Tri-X 400 I tend to get sufficient grain shooting at box speed, with normal development in Rodinal developer.
So, the bottomline is I am thoroughly enjoy going back to my roots in film and for 2019 I have only used my digital cameras twice, both times for sporting events.
