Pushing 400 ASA film.

[nightfire]

I must say that Tri-X @ 1250 in general is a bit too thin for my taste. It works best at 800 for me in Diafine if significant shadow detail is still desired. For gloomy street photography in the early evening, 1250 is ok for me too though.

 

[markbarendt]

To my eperience, for taking pictures in low light, whatever film you use, at whatever EI, measuring the essential parts of the scene is essential. For instance measure the faces and give +1 stop. Don't worry too much about drowned shadows. You aren't doing landscape photography, nobody is interested in what's in the shadows.

I'd suggest that it is important for each of us to test and understand where we want the tones to fall on our prints. Placing faces at +1 isn't always where I want them on a print and shadows aren't always unimportant in dark scenes. For example many/most times for darker scenes I'll actually shoot to place the major portion of a face at 0 or sometimes even at -1 on the negative.

My choice here is a matter of personal taste, experience, and judgement. I do this because I have learned that I don't normally want faces in dark scenes looking like they are lit by the mid-day sun, instead I generally want them to "fit" the scene, I want them to carry the mood.

Because I have tested the limits of my system and understand that I generally want faces to fall a bit darker than others might, my shutter speed choice for dark scenes can typically be faster or aperture smaller than others might be using and that can help me avoid changes to development. It has become really rare for me to need to push.

Another concept to keep in mind. I find it truly rare to get all the right tones in the right place on the negative for a perfect straight print. I understand that this is normal, that almost everybody's shot can benefit from a bit of tweaking with burn & dodge or bleaching or whatever. It is not terribly tough to adjust a face from 0 or -1 up a stop to +1 or 0 in the print and I'm happy to do it because it normally makes a big difference in the print.

The only way I have found to get reliable straight prints with all the tones exactly in the "right" place for a straight print is in studio work with a nice set of lighting tools.

 

[Ulrich Drolshagen]

I'd suggest that it is important for each of us to test and understand where we want the tones to fall on our prints. Placing faces at +1 isn't always where I want them on a print and shadows aren't always unimportant in dark scenes. For example many/most times for darker scenes I'll actually shoot to place the major portion of a face at 0 or sometimes even at -1 on the negative.

That's where the 'for instance' part comes in . My point was about the compromises which you'll have to deal with when it comes to low light conditions and pushing. In low light photographs onlookers intuitively do not expect detail in the deep shadows. So the best strategy can be to concentrate exposure on the most important parts of the scene to get right, whatever that may be and don't make too much compromises with shutter speed as you can not check on location if you got a sufficiently sharp exposure. (Provided unsharp pictures with detail in deep shadows is not what you are after)

 

[pentaxuser]

You may not need even a monopod. Have a look in the recent gallery pics o,f I think, the Flying Camera's shots of the Paris Metro. He has an amazing pic where the bricks on the Metro wall are extremely sharp at 1/4 sec. It sounds unlikely that in the light conditions you expect to experience that as long an exposure as his will be required

You've had everything from: "It'll be OK" to "It'll be a disaster"

So let us all know how it goes and post the pics if you feel so inclined. I'd love to see how it turns out and I am sure I am not alone.

Best of luck

pentaxuser

 

[TareqPhoto]

Well, i was thinking to shoot the house indoor, there are lights, but i will use a tripod in all cases, with faster film or iso i can use faster shutter speed, at least to that speed when i don't need to wait longer if i will take many shots or finish the whole roll, for me 1/10" is better than using 2-4 seconds, i can use iso 100 and then maybe it will be longer than 4 seconds, i may do for 2-3 frames shots, but not 8 shots or more, i may try that with my 6x9 so i get less frames, but with my 6x6 or 6x7 10-12 frames is too much for me if i shoot each at longer than 4seconds, i am impatient