How can I make richer looking Black & Whites?

[Photo Engineer]

Thanks very much, PE. With three active pre-school aged subjects, containment is key. LOL.

- CJ

Cheryl;

I tried that type of shot just a few times with 4 of them, and what I ended up with was unusable, as I probably would have been accused of child porn.

They are hard to photograph and that scene is absolutely perfect. I know how hard that was.

PE

 

[Jean Noire]

You don't have to use the zone system, nor do you have to be overly technical, but one way or the other you do have to understand how your choices and procedures will effect results, or you will be simply mucking about in a competely half assed way, looking for a magic bullet that doesn't exist.

This, together with the tip on lighting, is the most appropriate information you have been given.
You will not get the results you seem to want any other way. You have no choice but to learn some basic sensitometry and apply what you find out.

Regards,
John.

 

[Chuck_P]

I've been following this thread and I agree that JB has hit the nail on the head----that there are no majic bullets. But for me it was not until I learned the ZS that I really understood that, and I'm sure BTZS or any other technique can be equally gratifying-----if you let it. If gratification is hard to come by with: shoot, develop, print, see what happens----change something-----shoot, develop, print, see what happens----change something again and on, and on...., then you should take a hard look at the validity of that technique. I've done that crap so I can make fun of it, and it was ultimately proven to me that it was largely a waste of time and materials. I simply could not get things to "gel" with that approach, so I tried something else.

Chuck

 

[jmal]

To the OP if you are still reading this thread: read Cheryl Jacobs post again. Lighting, lighting, lighting. It is the most imporant element in my opinion. Of course, composition and subject matter are important, but lighting can transform a flat photo into something startling. My other bit of advice, assuming you want to develop and print in your own darkroom, is to read a book/website for the absolute basics and then buy a couple hundred sheets of paper and get to work. For many people, the zone system and other similar approaches are very useful, but as others have mentioned they are not necessary. What I am suggesting is that more actual darkroom time is more important than rigorous material testing and jargon slinging. You will pick up the general concepts of these systems anyway, as they are fundamental to the practice of photography. How far you want to delve into their rigorous application is up to you.

Mateo: good call. the first thing I thought when I saw the OP image was that the photo was a cut and paste.

Jmal

 

[RobC]

Hi,

Please help me learn how to make rich black and whites. I don't develop my own film, is this what I need to learn?

I like ones like the cover shot for this page: http://pervalentin.com/index2.htm

Thank you very much.

Well first you must learn to analyse a photograph. So taking the cover shot from the link you gave we'll look at how it was made. Firstly look at the beach hut. Where is the light coming from? Looks to me like its coming from almost directly above but there is shadow to the right of the hut so the light is coming from slightly left but high in the sky. The shadow of the figure bewteen the hut and the foreground figure seems to confirm the positioning of the sun.
Now look at the sky. It is very obviously heavily burnt in from the top to just above the level of the clouds. Vey badly done IMO.
Now look at the foreground figure. Given that the sun is coming from above and slightly to the left, we would expect to see deep shadows on the right lapels of his jacket. They are missing! Infact the light is slightly brighter from the right hand side which is the opposite from the rest of the image. There is no catchlight in the eyes so on camera flash is unlikely to have been used.

Because of the burning in of the sky and the light from the right on the foreground figure, I would suggest to you that the image is a montage which has been heavily and very obviously manipulated. Most likely digitally.

So how do you get rich blacks?

You test for your film speed so that you retain shadow detail when making your prints. You develop your paper fully. You then use a toner such as selenium to deepen your blacks. You experiment with different papers and paper developers and toners to see which gives the look you like. But always develop your prints fully.

If you are using a lab then you are at their mercy. If its a pro lab, explain what you want and they should be able to achieve it assuming you provide negatives which have been properly exposed and developed to allow deep blacks. If they are machine prints, you'll get what they give you.

Never judge print aesthetics/quality from something you see on a screen.

 

[Kekhotep]

Thank you all very much. I have learned darkroom and it has helped me learn BIG time.