Shooting B&W - question

[charjohncarter]

Like DougFord says, over expose and under develop. Keep agitation minimal. Become skilled at burning and dodging, and learn to print through more than one filter for different areas of the print. Ilford makes, or used to make, a #00 filter that was VERY low contrast.

A lot of people are happy just getting some tone in the highlight areas, and a low contrast filter can do that, but it can also make the midtones lack "punch" and turn detailess white bright areas into detailess grey not-so-bright areas. Sometimes what's really needed is a LOT of long burns through HIGH contrast filters.

The shadows can also be a problem in contrasty light, and dark skinned people of African ancestry tend to have oilier skin, which can reflect light and sometimes cause burned out highlights on the same face that borders on under exposure on the shadow side.

Some single coated lenses from the 1960's or earlier can do wonders in contrasty light.

http://thepriceofsilver.blogspot.com

Exactly right, but as Doug said, to paraphrase, expose for the shadows and develop for the midtones, AND agitate for the highlights.


I've lived in the equatorial areas and in high contrast California, this works, give Doug a hand.

 

[Haigh]

I have this dificulty in South Australia so 1) I shoot in overcast conditions 2) I overexpose and under develop.
I use Tri X in Rodinal and this helps flatten out neg contrast. If shooting in thos conditions you have to decide which is the area you want detail in and which you don't. I think many of the previous posts have said pretty much what I' ve said.

Regards,

Gary Haigh

 

[andredossantos]

I've found FP4 plus rated at box speed deals well with harsh light conditions.

 

[wray]

Tri-X shot at 200 ISO,20% reductiion in D76 development. High noon and near 100º.

 

[Al Kaplan]

One benefit of working with film is that it doesn't have a linear response to light. The contrast flattens out in the shadows as well as in the highlights. This gives it a much longer useful tonal range, but in order to make use of it you need to deal with constantly varying contrast gradients from shadows to highlights.

 

[kshapero]

I shot XP2 at 320, maybe I'll go down to 200. So far TRI-X is fine. Just picked up some 400 ISO Fomapan....hmmmm

 

[charjohncarter]

OK (I wanted to quote Al a couple of posts above, but I goofed it), these are two very poor images, BUT they are from the same roll (35mm). One in harsh light at the pool, and the other in heavy overcast fog. If you develop for midtones you will get something that is at least printable. I didn't work on these I just dug them out of my rejected junk.