Advanced Black and White Photography

[aaronmichael]

Taking Advanced Black and White Photography this semester which is a class dedicated to the 4x5 view camera! Woo hoo! I've shot 4x5 once before and it wasn't too bad. My professor emphasized the importance of keeping dust off of the negatives. Any other helpful tips in terms of developing, loading, shooting,...etc?

Or any recommendations on film? Our professors suggested Kodak TXP 320. Adox CHS 50 sounds like fun to shoot but not sure how applicable it would be for the class.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

any fast film and a good tripod will do.ask her why dust seems to prefer to get stuck in the sky portion of the image.

 

[LJH]

What will you be shooting?

 

[Doremus Scudder]

Ralph has iterated one of the mysteries of the universe: That's why you need to keep everything as dust-free as possible, since even if you have only one speck of dust, it will end up in the sky, or some other continuous-toned portion of the image and be a PITA.

Seriously, keeping things clean when loading holders is essential for dust control. Clean the holders well before loading paying particular attention to the light trap. I vacuum mine. Pick a dust-free place to load. You don't want a lot of dust floating around in the air or try to load holders inside a dusty changing bag. In my darkroom, I keep a small air-filter running. Settle the dust by increasing the humidity. I run some hot water a bit. Once you are ready to load, try to minimize the emulsion surface's exposure to possible dust contamination. I start with my film stack emulsion-side down and turn the film over to load. Close the darkslide immediately after loading.

Once you have your holders loaded, get them into individual zip-loc style bags to keep dust off them. Before shooting, make sure you have dusted out the inside of the camera bellows (don't want dust floating around inside the camera either). When you remove a holder from its bag, check again for dust on the holder surfaces (there always seems to be some!). Brush or blow it off before loading. After exposure, dust is not such an issue, but any dust on the negative at the time of exposure will block light to that area (i.e., the sky), causing a "pinhole," which will result in black speck on the print, which is not fun to spot or etch off.

Hope this helps.

Doremus

www.DoremusScudder.com

 

[markbarendt]

any fast film and a good tripod will do.ask her why dust seems to prefer to get stuck in the sky portion of the image.

Nice to have you in good humor Ralph.

 

[Edward_S]

ask her why dust seems to prefer to get stuck in the sky portion of the image.

Dust particles are kept in suspension above the negative by electrostatic levitation over areas of high silver content (the darker portions of the image). Naturally they tend to disperse sideways by brownian motion and consequently settle on the less dense portions of the negative such as the sky, where there is less silver.

 

[L Gebhardt]

For dust you want to make sure there is no dust in the air (impossible, but try). And no dust in the film loading area. I vacuum my holders in a different room from where I load them, or at least make sure the exhaust port on the vacuum is not in the darkroom. Then I run an air filter in the darkroom before loading. But turn it off during the loading. Finally wipe down you loading area with a damp cloth and then dry it. Doing all of that you will only find dust in the sky of your best image for the day. As others have mentioned, keep your film holders in bags, and the bellows clean.

TXP is a good film. So is TMax 400, Ilford FP4+, and many others.It really depends on what you are shooting. I think TMax400 is probably the best all around film on the market today. It has fine grain, develops easily in many developers, and has nice tonality. I much prefer it over Tmax100. I do like TXP a lot for portraits though.

 

[daleeman]

In the fall of 2011 I took a class focused on the 4x5 as well. Prof wanted everyone to do contact prints so he could see the edge lines and cut down on the cheaters photoshopping in a border with notch codes.
Anyway, I really got to like tx320 in that class. Ran it in Diafine all the time. Shot all portraits, working long times with each person was the rewarding part and no one jumped up to chimp the back of the camera to see how good they looked.

Enjoy your class. Will share some of my work if you share some of your.
Lee

 

[snederhiser]

Hello;
Would only use the tri-x indoors or low light, my choice would be fp4. This film has a wide exposure latitude. Can be rated safely from 50-250 asa, most large format camera shutters are rated at 1/200th second. Have an old ilex 215mm lens, top speed of the shutter is only 1/150sec. Good luck, Steven.

 

[JBrunner]

Dust particles are kept in suspension above the negative by electrostatic levitation over areas of high silver content (the darker portions of the image). Naturally they tend to disperse sideways by brownian motion and consequently settle on the less dense portions of the negative such as the sky, where there is less silver.

Wow. I thought they just showed more against large even areas of the print. Shows what I know.

 

[jeffreyg]

Since the dust issue has been thoroughly covered, I would like to add a simple but important piece of advice. I don't know which film holders you will be using but be sure there is film in them and once it is exposed indicate it so as not to double expose or develop unexposed sheets. Also keep some record as to your camera settings so you can evaluate your results.

I agree on the faster film. Learn the nuances of one film and chemistry before switching around.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

 

[keithwms]

Nice to have you in good humor Ralph.

+1

 

[jp498]

If it's a portrait photo, the dust will not be in the sky, but somewhere impossible to clean up, like on an eyeball or eyelash.

I keep film holders in anti-static ziplock bags when not in the camera (like electronic components would be shipped in). Gotta keep the camera inside clean too; every time you move the bellows in or out, you are pushing airborn dust around.

Tri-x is sometimes favored over T-max in school because it fixes and washes a lot faster as their is often limited lab/class time scheduled. Tmax needs twice as much time to fix and needs time for the pink to diffuse out in the wash water. It also is less tolerant of inconsistent timing/agitation during development. A traditional film doesn't need that. Tri-x, tmax400, hp5+ are all good film.

 

[pgomena]

Another nod for Tri-X for the reasons mentioned above. You will find yourself in situations where the film speed is helpful. A 50 ISO film offers no advantages beyond price. A good Tri-X negative will show no grain in an 11x14 enlargement and is more forgiving in exposure and development. It is my go-to film for 4x5, followed by FP4+.

Peter Gomena

 

[aaronmichael]

Thanks everyone for the great responses about film, keeping dust off of negatives, and film holders. The film holders we have to have one side that is marked white for non exposed and black for exposed, which is good because I'd probably forget what I shot and end up making double exposures unintentionally. Our professor told us that the dust ends up in the sky because when the film is in the camera, the sky is at the bottom and the gravity makes dust fall to the bottom of the negative. Made sense to me. He's quite experienced with the 4x5 so I trust whatever he says - hahah. I'll be sure to post if I have any more questions or if anyone else has any more advice, I'd love to hear it! Thanks again.

 

[aaronmichael]

We have cameras at school to use but this looks awesome and is so tempting to buy!

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/pho/2816503422.html

I need to start looking around my room for things to sell

 

[markbarendt]

Our professor told us that the dust ends up in the sky because when the film is in the camera, the sky is at the bottom and the gravity makes dust fall to the bottom of the negative. Made sense to me. He's quite experienced with the 4x5 so I trust whatever he says - hahah.

If he asks on a test that's the answer that will get you the grade.

I'm betting he's not a physics professor though, and I'd suggest keeping an open mind about where dust might land and why you might see it in one place and not another.

Have fun.