brothernature
Established
Does anyone have any examples of Ilford Delta 120 pulled ~0.5-1 stop? I've been loving these slow shutter speed daytime photographs by Sergio Purtell: Real IV — Sergio Purtell
Pulling Ilford Delta 100
- Thread starter brothernature
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Vince Lupo
Whatever
Exposing Delta 100 at ISO 50 is all I do when using that film. I have a number of examples.
Mud Bay in Winter by Vince Lupo, on Flickr
Upper Canada Village Flour Mill by Vince Lupo, on Flickr
Seed & Feed by Vince Lupo, on Flickr
Mud Bay in Winter by Vince Lupo, on Flickr
Upper Canada Village Flour Mill by Vince Lupo, on Flickr
Seed & Feed by Vince Lupo, on Flickr
Vince Lupo
Whatever
Gananoque4 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr
Pears on the Window Ledge by Vince Lupo, on Flickr
Garrett by Vince Lupo, on Flickr
trix4ever
Well-known
Thank for bringing this photographer to my attention, some of his work is lovely.
I hope you realise he's using 5x4 film for this.
blakeandrews.blogspot.com
You may have seen this interview but it gives a great insight into his approach, with zero references to film or developer...
I hope you realise he's using 5x4 film for this.
Q & A with Sergio Purtell
Photo by Edward Mapplethorpe Sergio Purtell is a photographer and printer based in Brooklyn, NY. • BA: C an you tell me about growing up i...
blakeandrews.blogspot.com
You may have seen this interview but it gives a great insight into his approach, with zero references to film or developer...
brothernature
Established
Yes, I think I've read every interview I can find on him. I was aware that it was 4x5, I was curious about getting finer grain and detail by pulling low speed 120 film.
trix4ever
Well-known
I get that, I also think it’s a big part of how he's got such a lovely tonal quality. I personally have never made Delta 100 work for me but I literally have thousands of 5x4 negs that are FP4 and FP4 plus rated at asa64 and underdeveloped by 20%, has a similar effect.
Buggered if I know why it's so trendy online to upgrade the speed and overdevelop even in contrasty light.
I totally see why you would want to aim for his sort of image quality, it's lovely.
I was actually most intrigued by the fact he uses 5x4 both handheld and on a tripod. Not many do this. I've been using my Linhof Technika and Cambo Wide both handheld and tripod bound for 40 years. Great fun. Mind you I generally went to tri-x at asa320 for handheld to keep the shutter speed up.
Sorry for going on but his work is great discovery for me, so thank you.
brothernature
Established
Very happy to have passed it along! I have all of his books and they are wonderful.
I have never shot 4x5 before and talking about it is getting me thinking. When you shoot 4x5 handheld, how do you focus using the ground glass? You don't need to be under a dark cloth? The Littman modified camera he is using for this project seems really interesting.
trix4ever
Well-known
Ok, I have a Linhof Super Technika which has a rangefinder with interchangeable cams for each lens and a hood to check the ground glass if on a tripod. I have 2 Monorails both of which need ground glass focussing with a loupe although I have 90 degree finders for both. The cambo wide has a 65mm lens so although there is no rangefinder one can zone focus, or as I prefer 'wild-ass guess' focus. It can also be focussed on the ground glass with a 90 degree finder but I generally use 6 shot graphite film holders on it so I leave the ground glass in the case.
The Littman camera is a converted Polaroid camera so is fixed in focal length. Littman will tell anyone that listens that he holds the rights to this conversion, but plenty of others also make similar cameras. Somewhat clunky to use and expensive.
Do some research on Speed Graphics or Crown Graphics if you want to experiment with handheld 5x4, they're cheap, not too heavy and can be used handheld with the rangefinder or on a tripod using the ground glass. Good luck, that's a hell of a rabbit hole you're going down.
The Littman camera is a converted Polaroid camera so is fixed in focal length. Littman will tell anyone that listens that he holds the rights to this conversion, but plenty of others also make similar cameras. Somewhat clunky to use and expensive.
Do some research on Speed Graphics or Crown Graphics if you want to experiment with handheld 5x4, they're cheap, not too heavy and can be used handheld with the rangefinder or on a tripod using the ground glass. Good luck, that's a hell of a rabbit hole you're going down.
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Vince Lupo
Whatever
I had a look at the photos in your link to his work. Tonality-wise much different than mine. His appear (at least on my screens) much flatter and not as ‘heavy’ (which seems to be my default), his shadows appear more grey/open and there aren’t many hard blacks. Interesting approach though I don’t see any info on his website discussing his use of Delta 100 or anything technical — likely not that important to him?
When I expose Delta 100 at 50 I develop in D76 with 1:3 dilution and intermittent agitation. This will give good shadow detail through the exposure but keeping the highlights in check with the development (so your negs will be flatter). This gives me good flexibility in post-processing because I’ll have all the information I need, so the image can be moved around in a number of ways. I think the one drawback is that with the 1:3 dilution there can be an increase of grain but I accept that as a tradeoff.
I don’t think there’s anything magical about Delta 100 but it just happens to be one that I’ve ended up using. However I just paid over $15 CDN for a 24 exposure roll so I may be making a change to the less expensive Kentmere 100 (I shoot Delta 100 in both 35mm and 120 and use the same method). I’m sure you could make any film work for you.
When I expose Delta 100 at 50 I develop in D76 with 1:3 dilution and intermittent agitation. This will give good shadow detail through the exposure but keeping the highlights in check with the development (so your negs will be flatter). This gives me good flexibility in post-processing because I’ll have all the information I need, so the image can be moved around in a number of ways. I think the one drawback is that with the 1:3 dilution there can be an increase of grain but I accept that as a tradeoff.
I don’t think there’s anything magical about Delta 100 but it just happens to be one that I’ve ended up using. However I just paid over $15 CDN for a 24 exposure roll so I may be making a change to the less expensive Kentmere 100 (I shoot Delta 100 in both 35mm and 120 and use the same method). I’m sure you could make any film work for you.
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Freakscene
Obscure member
Vince’s work is great, and this is under-rated advice. Particularly if you are willing to adjust your chemistry and procedures, you can make any film look great. Having worked in labs for a long time, we had to figure this out for dozens of products. Some combinations are classics - Tri-X in D-76 1+1, HP5+ in DD-X or the old APX100 in Rodinal 1+50 because they are (were) simple to work out, but there is a combination that works for all films. And it’s usually just a matter of experimenting and paying attention.
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