Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
Coloured filters have been popular amongst black & white film photographers for decades. Typically, these are blue, red, orange, yellow and green. They help to increase contrast in skies and reduce the appearance of blemishes on skin, but are they still useful today with black & white digital?
That’s what photographer David Bergman explores in this video. He thinks that they are still valuable.
Photographer Kevin Mullins is often asked why he chooses to shoot his camera in black & white, even when shooting raw. So often, in fact, that he finally made a video explaining why he chooses to work this way.
Lighting scenes for shooting in black & white is a little different from working with colour. For a start, you don’t have to worry about colour. Brightness, direction and quality of light come into play a lot more. This can simultaneously make shooting for black & white both easier and more challenging at the same time.
In this video, Nerris from the A-Team gets together with cinematographer Justin Jones to walk us through the thought process of shooting for black and white. [Read More…]
Let’s talk about black & white photographs for a bit, shall we? It always has been and continues to be my favorite style. It’s classic and timeless and easy to match any decor. Personally, I think there’s a lot of misconception and a lot of misuse of this classic style.
Most people know that using color can evoke emotion and mood. Similarly, using light, contrast, clarity, shadows, tonality & edge treatment can completely change the look and feel of a black & white picture. Take a look at the top and next few pictures to see what I’m talking about.
Oh boy, he’s finally here! Welcoming little Street Candy ATM400 to the world…! It mesures 35mm, weight 21 grams and mommy is fine 😂 Yes that’s right, there’s a newborn in the Black & White Film family.
Over the past few months I’ve been working on making this new film a reality and it’s finally available!
As popular as film has become, a lot of people still mention the cost of shooting film being quite high. And we’re not talking about the price of gear, because that’s dirt cheap these days. It’s the actual shooting process that can be expensive. As the rolls are made in fewer quantities, manufacturing is more expensive. Because labs are developing fewer films, their costs go up, too.
The biggest way to help knock down this cost, though, is to develop your own film. In this 36 minute video from photographer James Stevenson, we see the complete process from start to finish. James covers the kit, chemicals, accessories and entire the process from start to finish. James covers a whole lot of information, with some great tips. And best of all, you don’t even need a darkroom to do it.
[Read More…]
I’m not the biggest fan of digital black and white conversions. They’re often just far too much work and effort to get the look that I want. There are a million different ways to make black & white conversions. Until you try a bunch of them, though, you usually don’t really know how quite they’re going to turn out. So, if I know I want black & white then I usually just shoot them on film.
But it is possible to make great black & whites digital conversions from colour shots, though. This video from Blake Rudis at f64 Academy talks us through his three-stage process to make his black & white images.
I love the immediacy of digital photography. In fact, I’m puzzled how anyone managed to gain expertise in the days of film: it takes hours, sometimes days, to get any feedback on the shot you’ve taken. By that time, I’ve usually forgotten about the camera settings I used or even what I was trying to achieve with the photograph.
That said… there’s something about the tangibility of using and developing film that’s missing from digital photography. I find film photography thoroughly more enjoyable—even if the resulting images are no better than I could get with a digital camera. It feels like there’s more craft and expertise involved.
About this time of year, when the days are lighter, I get the itch to load a film camera and mix up some chemicals. So this week, I thought I’d tell the story of how I develop a black and white film. I’ve found lots of great advice on the internet, but there was little for absolute beginners, so that’s where I thought I would start.
It was only a few days ago that Film Ferrania announced its triumphant return with their new ISO80 speed P30 black & white film. Now, French company, Bergger have announced Pancro 400. It’s a super sharp, fine grain, ISO400 black & white film. This isn’t simply a re-issue or a remake of a past film stock, though. This is a completely new emulsion.
Pancro 400 is a two emulsion film composed of silver bromide and silver iodide on an acetate base. Bergger say this provides for a wide exposure latitude. According to the datasheet the film will be available in rolls of 35mm and 120 medium format. But, it will also be available in sheets including 4×5, 5×7, 8×10, and 13×18.
A couple of months ago, we showed you some of Film Ferrania’s hardware. The equipment they’re using to bring back the company, as well as some much loved films. The plan then seemed to be starting fresh with E6 slide film. As it turns out, though, black & white has become the priority. The company has now announced shipping will soon begin for Ferrania P30 in a limited Alpha edition.
Film Ferrania P30 is a panchromatic (sensitive to all colours of the visible spectrum) black and white motion picture film for stills photography. It was originally released by Ferrania during the 1960s. With a rating of ISO80, it’s a fairly slow film, but with “ultrafine grain” and a high silver content (5 grams per square metre), it could become a tough one to beat in terms of sharpness and detail.
You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube and Facebook.
His videos have over a hundred million views, have been extensively published by news outlets, and has even received recognition from a few film festivals, such as International Ocean Festival
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