Film type, film iso, push/pull advice needed

silvercloud2323 · Mar 29, 2022

Hello

I like to ask your opinion for use of certain film type, film iso and also push/pull techniques in India.
Since there is lots of light, I imagine there will be moments with lot of contrast. So I guess I'd have to "pull" the film then.To decrease contrast.
Another thing is , what ISO would you recommend. I'm not sure whether 400 or 100 iso film.
In the evening i would push film to get the more contrast and bring in the highlights.
What are other options?
Thx.

ic-racer · Mar 30, 2022

In camera exposure changes are not contrast control. Contrast control in the print (B&W) is by changing development parameters and differences in printing paper.

Alex Benjamin · Mar 30, 2022

lieven2323 said:
Hello

I like to ask your opinion for use of certain film type, film iso and also push/pull techniques in India.
Since there is lots of light, I imagine there will be moments with lot of contrast. So I guess I'd have to "pull" the film then.To decrease contrast.
Another thing is , what ISO would you recommend. I'm not sure whether 400 or 100 iso film.
In the evening i would push film to get the more contrast and bring in the highlights.
What are other options?
Thx.

Hi lieven

Having a lot of light doesn't necessarily mean having a lot of contrast, and means even less having contrast you absolutely need to control. The other thing is that pushing and pulling are techniques that do have an impact on contrast but are not primarily used to control contrast. They are used to adjust to the amount of light you have and need. The general rule is if you have a lot of light, use a low ISO (or slow film), if you don't have much light (indoors or outdoors at night) une a high ISO (fast film).

My advice is bring both 100 and 400 ISO films and, even more important, a good meter. The 100 ISO will come in handy outdoors in full sunlight with little shadows. The 400 is very practical in the daytime in the city streets when the sun is bright but shadows are deep. For night time, that's when you would push your 400 film to ISO 800, 1600 or 3200. This, as I said, is not in order to boost the contrast but to get the amount of light you need for your shots. Other means, of course, is to bring with you a few rolls of 800 or 3200 film (don't know if you are shooting black and white or color).

MattKing · Mar 30, 2022

Alex Benjamin said:
The other thing is that pushing and pulling are techniques that do have an impact on contrast but are not primarily used to control contrast. They are used to adjust to the amount of light you have and need.

On this we will have to disagree .
Pushing and Pulling are adjustments made to development. They can be used to partially help counteract the effects of under-exposure and, in some cases, over-exposure. They do that by adjusting the contrast of the negatives.

Alex Benjamin · Mar 30, 2022

MattKing said:
On this we will have to disagree .
Pushing and Pulling are adjustments made to development. They can be used to partially help counteract the effects of under-exposure and, in some cases, over-exposure. They do that by adjusting the contrast of the negatives.

Totally agree with you Matt. I was erring on the side of oversimplification in order not to confuse the OP, as he seems to be talking about when shooting, not when developing. The OP doesn't make it clear if he does his own development, or if he shoots black and white or color.

I also wanted to dispel the idea that contrast is a bad thing. Blocked shadows or overblown highlights are a bad thing, not contrast. In a country like India, I would totally embrace the contrast (talking from Montreal where it's been grey after grey after grey after grey...). But I'd make sure I'd bring an excellent meter.

Sirius Glass · Mar 30, 2022

In absence of a need, there is no reason to push or pull. If one takes the time to see the many articles posted by PE, there is no real pushing of speed, instead an increase in contrast and pushing really results in the decrease of contrast range. In this thread the cart is before the horse since the conditions of subject matter and lighting as well as film choice, film speed, shutter speed choices and apertures are all absent from the discussion.

silvercloud2323 · Apr 1, 2022

Alex Benjamin said:
Hi lieven

Having a lot of light doesn't necessarily mean having a lot of contrast, and means even less having contrast you absolutely need to control. The other thing is that pushing and pulling are techniques that do have an impact on contrast but are not primarily used to control contrast. They are used to adjust to the amount of light you have and need. The general rule is if you have a lot of light, use a low ISO (or slow film), if you don't have much light (indoors or outdoors at night) une a high ISO (fast film).

My advice is bring both 100 and 400 ISO films and, even more important, a good meter. The 100 ISO will come in handy outdoors in full sunlight with little shadows. The 400 is very practical in the daytime in the city streets when the sun is bright but shadows are deep. For night time, that's when you would push your 400 film to ISO 800, 1600 or 3200. This, as I said, is not in order to boost the contrast but to get the amount of light you need for your shots. Other means, of course, is to bring with you a few rolls of 800 or 3200 film (don't know if you are shooting black and white or color).

Hi Alex,
Thx for your advice.
I'm shooting black and white.

Alex Benjamin · Apr 1, 2022

lieven2323 said:
Hi Alex,
Thx for your advice.
I'm shooting black and white.

No prob. One piece of advice I forgot to add: always bring with you a permanent-ink marker. If you're planning to go out at night and pushing your 400 film to a higher ISO, it's important to note on the film roll which ISO (800, 1600, 3200) it will be shot at right before you put it in camera (Ilford's films have nice little boxes you can check). There's no worse feeling at the moment of developing than not remembering at which speed your film was shot. I learned this the hard way with FP4+ which I sometimes shoot at 125, sometimes at 200.

Film type, film iso, push/pull advice needed

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