Some cool b/w images from downtown, Bringing it back to film!

mr peas · August 20, 2008

A good friend of mine has been bugging me to shoot film again, so back to unload-reloading again! Lmk what you guys think, I happen to love the natural grain. Film scanned and cropped. Taken 8.15.08. Efke400 film (some old film laying around!).

1 Busy Wheelin' Busy Sleepin'

2 All American Indian

3 Let There Be Light ... on Drugs

4 BK Love

5 Slutty Slots Open For Business

6 Reflecting Lamug

7 Winabagel

8 Fincity Caddi

9 Stop at Main

10 Home Sweet Home

Thanks!

InsuredDisaster · August 21, 2008

Wow! Some cool shots. I like the grain.

I have a question about the processing. Did you just print them at Walmart or wherever or did you do darkroom yourself? I was recently looking at those digital film imitating plugins and thought about grabbing a used film camera and some BW film, but then i thought that I'd not be able to do much with the processing, so whats the point? Or did you do any PP after scanning? (I'm not critisizing the development, I'm just curious how much PP/developing one has control over these days with BW film. I don't want to have to buy tons of Darkroom equipment to compete against what I can do with Photoshop and RAW files.)

My favorite 2 are the Burger love and the self portrait. I'd almost crop in further for the burger love. I like the diagonal angles, and the shadow behind the lovers. I'm not sure the sky helps. While cool, I think it takes away from the lovers themselves. I'd even cut out the burger sign. Still, I'ts one of my favorite.

I like the first self portrait reflection (window). Actually, I like the grainyness of the image. Its cool. I also like the snarl you are sporting. Looks intense!

My only real technical complaint is that it appears there were large hairs or dust in your scanner or something that has given your images stray white lines here and there. The trailer for example is glaring. There's also a hair or something near the woman's face. I'm not sure if this is the film, but perhaps your could clone that out or use a healing brush? Some of them sort of ad to the gritty feel of the photos but the trailer really stands out.

Eia · August 21, 2008

Ah...tried and true film! Like it alot. Where did you get them developed?

mr peas · August 21, 2008

I.D. & Eia ~

Thanks, that photo that looked like a self-portrait actually wasn't, that was a friend of mine shooting with me. Actually, the same guy who developed the film. He bought a kit online that consists of several do-hickies that aloow yout to submerge your film into a developer solution allowing it to well..'develop' then scan it on a scanner. The scanner used was not a true film scanner, rather its a dual scanner, scanned through the glass with white-backlighting from the scanner, therefore hairs/lint and such easily get attached to the glass and becomes a part of the image. Probably didn't use a blow can before hand haha.

I did some curves adjustment on the images after scanning them. Post processing on film requires much experience (and money!), I rented a book on a darkroom workshop containing skills and techniques to processing tricks you can do, and it was a doozy to get started, gotta' have a darkroom for sure (my buddy used a mini dark room, in a black developing bag instead). Also, if you wish to push pull on film, I believe it must be done on print then scan the print afterwards. There are several film scanners out there however that allow you to take 'HDR's of your film shots by pushing more or less light on the film as you scan it, but you'll have to research that yourself, I just read it from several film scanner reviews.

I cropped it to the way I saw the image through the viewfinder, I should have cropped the images differently like the BK shot, but I said screw it, why mess with what you saw, plus, I like BK! Hahah..

Also, on another note. I actually enjoy using this plug-in filter for PS, "Alien Skin, Exposure 2". It mimics a lot of the film available today, plus film that is no longer in production, PLUS it has a special two-tone setting thing, allows you to use two colors to make your own custom duo-color film. Kind of neat to try out. I think they have a free trial version on their site, look it up!

I actually dont mind the hairs or what not, the same way I don't mind using crappy film, or expired film. It's like a surprise in a box, you never know what your photo will look like. And heck, I always tell to this to my buddy, if I ever want super high quality color shots, I'll use the digital body. But for film, I shoot strictly b/w.

Cheap film is cheap, go on ebay, find some old expired film, just to try out. The equipment to develop at home isnt too expensive either, lets say 100-150 bucks for the equipment, however, the chemicals are NOT cheap. If you can get a discount from school or what not, do it. I'm still trying to get on the good side of the photography/art dept. people.

Thanks again, PM me if you have any other questions or reply here.

InsuredDisaster · August 21, 2008

Wow, thanks for your reply. I think the difficulty and cost in developing and scanning the film would be the problem.

I'd like to of course try BW film but at this time, I don't think its a possibility or else I'd lose all control over things.

mr peas · August 22, 2008

InsuredDisaster wrote:

Wow, thanks for your reply. I think the difficulty and cost in developing and scanning the film would be the problem.

I'd like to of course try BW film but at this time, I don't think its a possibility or else I'd lose all control over things.

I.D.~

My friend who is getting me back to it actually switched from digital to film. Total opposite of what should happen.

For me, I just can't part with going all the way. However, if you want to get into it again, just buy any regular body of your choice which mates with your current lens line-up. Some people w/ Canons enjoy shooting with old FD mount cameras, but I like using normal updated mount bodies so I can use the same lenses I already use. Look for film that has c-41 processing if you don't wish to develop them yourself. You can send those away to almost any place.

PM me if you want to buy some really good but inexpensive b/w film. I have a few places I can refer you to. But they're not c-41. If you want to get on it quick and send it away with no worries, try Kodak BW400cn (c41 process film in b/w). You can send those to your nearby photo places.

InsuredDisaster · August 26, 2008

Hey Mr. Peas.

Thanks for your topic. I decided to take the plunge and grab some BW film and an old fashioned fully manual camera.

I set of to find the film first and ran into a bit of difficulty finding it. And when I did I was unable to find anyplace that developed it. So I bought the chemicals and stuff to do it myself. Leica cameras are a bit more than I realized and besides, I figure its best to work with one variable at a time before tackling a potentially worthless used antique camera. A friend loaned me his Nikon F50 and I have to admit, I love seeing my 50 1.4 and 35 F2 lenses function at their true values without the conversion factor. That alone has made the first few rolls of film quite enjoyable, even without seeing the results.

I hope to have the negatives scanned tomorrow so with any luck, I'll have some BW photos on my computer. Thanks a lot for you help.

Some cool b/w images from downtown, Bringing it back to film!

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