Ooops, should have mentioned that I'm talking B&W. Yes, of all the B&W films I've used with strobes, FP4 seems to be my favourite and I agree with you about box speed. Anytime I've rated it at EO 64 I get poor skin tones with strobes which is a bit weird as a studio setup is usually a low contrast situation so as long as the skin tones are on the straight line there shouldn't be a problem.Portra. Exposed at box speed; commercial processing at a pro lab.
FP-4 in DD-X. Box speed.
You should test your exposure assumption before your “assignment”.
I have an upcoming assignment that will be portraits shot with a soft box indoors. Somehow I'm never happy with studio shot skin tones. A while ago I realised that flash meters seem to overexpose film and I got better results by taking a reading and closing down a stop. So what are your favourite films/developer combos for nice skin tones using strobes/
Kodak Tmax400 in D76 1+1I have an upcoming assignment that will be portraits shot with a soft box indoors. Somehow I'm never happy with studio shot skin tones. A while ago I realised that flash meters seem to overexpose film and I got better results by taking a reading and closing down a stop. So what are your favorite films/developer combos for nice skin tones using strobes/
Ooops, should have mentioned that I'm talking B&W. Yes, of all the B&W films I've used with strobes, FP4 seems to be my favourite and I agree with you about box speed. Anytime I've rated it at EO 64 I get poor skin tones with strobes which is a bit weird as a studio setup is usually a low contrast situation so as long as the skin tones are on the straight line there shouldn't be a problem.
This was done with a softbox and T-Max 400, but the softbox was set up to give very strong and directional light:
I've found HP5 is better at rendering flattering skin tones than most other films: it has less tone separation in the higher values, which tends to deliver a softer look in light skin tones.
I find the softness of the light and the skin texture to be a big deal - getting hard posterized highlights from shiny skin often looks a little harsh.
Great photo Matt and yes, that’s pretty much the skin tone I’m after. Did you just take the diffusion cloth off the soft box?The other question I should have asked when I asked about the skin tones is what sort of portraits do you like to make.
If you prefer the classic, Karsh like portrait, the film you want is likely to be very different than if you prefer portraits with a more ethereal look.
This was done with a softbox and T-Max 400, but the softbox was set up to give very strong and directional light:
View attachment 299195
I'm intrigued to find that I don't have much flash photography in black and white that has been scanned. I used to do more of it than I am doing right now, but none of that is in digital form, so I can't share it here.
It was back in 2011 and I was actually using someone else's light kit - it was a portrait session that my Darkroom Group did together. Several different light setups in several locations, and several amateur models (and volunteering group members) acting as subjects.Great photo Matt and yes, that’s pretty much the skin tone I’m after. Did you just take the diffusion cloth off the soft box?
What are we missing here? For one thing, we don't even know the color temperature of the strobe setup involved. And that can make a big difference as far as film choice and filtration is involved. For example, a warm light source combined with TMax can often lead to overtly pale, paste-like Caucasian skin tone reproduction, calling for a light yellow-green filter to offset that tendency. And then, the age and gender, and exact complexion of the sitter is yet another factor. A "rugged" manly portrait might call for a deep green filter more reminiscent of the ortho look. But not many women like that amount of detail showing. Do some experimentation.
Well, I don't trust anything unless I test it with a color meter myself. And TMax has a somewhat different panchromatic sensitivity than most pan films, which certainly affects how light complexions turn out, not so much darker ethnic complexions. But what's nice about TMax is its sheer contrast range, making outdoor portraits containing mixed ethnicities, or containing both dark fabric and white fabric, much easier to bag well.
I think that rating FP4 at 64 ISO is your problem. Caucasian skin is pretty close to 15% grey that flash meters are calibrated to. So you're overexposing the skin tones by 1 stop. If you manually compensate that overexposure, skin looks fine again you say. So meter with FP4 at 125 ISO. I use Ilford Delta 100 at 100 ISO (box speed) with studio flash and a flash meter. Skin tones come out fine to my eyes.
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