dlin said:
I've made my first attempts at night time photography with 35mm Ilford Delta 3200. Two example images are posted in the Technical Gallery. The film was developed in Pyrocat HD diluted 1:1:150 with semi-stand agitation for 20 min, with the hopes of reigning in the extreme contrast range of the subjects. The resulting grain was enormous with grain 'clods' visible under the focusing magnifier. What factors may have contributed to these results and what film/exposure/development options are available to minimize these effects? Thanks for your suggestions and help.
Daniel
I saw the pictures and there are a few things that came to mind.
1- Your reciprocity compensation is way off, the pictures are way underexposed.
2- Pyrocat is an excellent developer but you have to choose the right technique. IMO stand or semi stand developer is not the appropriate technique if you want smaller grain. The more time film spends in the soup the more pronounced the grain becomes.
3- Why use 3200? For night photography my choice would have been hp5, or tri x, films that have inherently low contrast.
If you want to do night photography you better arm yourself with a boat load of patience. Do some reciprocity testing as well as using film with less contrast.
BTW, even a little bigger neg will give much better results. Look at the night photography by Michael Kenna, most of his photographs are taken with a Hasselblad.