Long, long ago.
Mar 12, 2021 15:38:56 #
I just subscribed to this new section. I don't know, however, if I have much to contribute. Frankly, I haven't shot film, except on the odd job, especially in my commercial photography business, for about 10-years when I made the decision to transition to digital. Prior to that, I had a very extensive in-house black and white darkroom and a production-grade colr lab in the studio. We purchased film and chemistry by the case-load in all formats from 35mm up to and including 8x10 and printed everything in-house, on large-format enlargers, also including 8x10. We also ran an E-6 line for transparency production.
In the black and white section, I did lots of exotic processes, formulated special developers (such as Pyro) from scratch, did archival custom printing, (Nelsons) gold toning, using domestic and imported papers with very different and rather incredible image tones and more. That the par I miss but sadly most of the material has been discontinued, difficult or almost possible to find, and that is not practical in a commercial operation. This issue, the additional cost of space and utilities for maintaining the lab, and a fall of demand were someof the reasons for closing that part of the operation down.
May believe that film. analog/chemical.wet-darkroom photography is somehow superior to digital capture or that it requires a higher level of craftsmanship. Yes, it's a different "animal" or species but many of the skills can be applied to digital camera work and post-processing. A careful and artistic worker can do equally well in both mediums.
I noticed a thread on colour negative materials. The specification quoted are accurate as per Kodak's description of its characteristics, however, it goes much deeper than waht's written in the catalogue or guide books. At one time there were at least 30 choices, between Kodak, Fuji, and Agfa, of various emulsions, each with specific usages and characteristics, dynamic range, and colour temperature specifications. Now there are precious few but generally spekig, color negative films are often under-appreciated and underrated.
The current emulsion from Kodak has an enormous dynamic range but remember, the film was originally designed for making colour prints. Reflection prints, simply stated, do not have the same dynamic range as transparency viewed by transmitted light (transilluminated) or a screen made up of electronic light sources. The film therefore must have a vast range but prop exposure and contrast control will allow highlight and shadow detail to survive in a print.
These films have great latitude but underexposure can be problematic in printing. Overexposure of up to 1 full f/stop will yield more contrast and better colour saturation. Unlike transparency film and digital exposure technique. colr negative film reacts well to exposing for the shadows and printing-down for the highlights. If you understand how to read and utilize the charismatic curve of the film you can expose for the shadows and print down or post-process for highlight detail as long as you stay within the limits of the curve.
In the olden days, Kodacolor was a good general-purpose film that was intended for amateur use. It had wide latitude, relatively fine grain, and long shelf life before and after exposure. The so-called professional films such as Ektacolr type C (CPS) and Varicolor, touted good skin tomes (warm) and clean whites for portrait and wedding shooters. The pro film was red-biased to the point that foliage in outdoor portraits tended to go gray or somewhat unsaturated. The pro films were rather grainy because of the multi-layers AND a retouching surface added to provide "tooth" for retouching mediums. May pros shot in large format so grain was not as problematic but in roll film and 35mm formats, the same emulsions could present problems at high degrees of enlargement. In the manufacturing stage, the pro films were "aged" longer so they required refrigeration in storage prior to use and need to be processed promptly after exposure. There is immense latitude but underexposure would cause a kind of crossover where there were unwanted colours in the blacks when the prints were balanced for skin tone. The improved emulsion such as Portra and Ektar were/are substantially improved and most of those issues have been eliminated. Once you master the exposure techniques, you will get an incredible rate, especially when you view your images on a screen.
If anyone is interested in mixing up some Pyro developer of the black and white film- the ULTIMATE in shadow detail, or Nelson's formula for gold doing- made with real gold chloride- incredible image tome and gold-plated permanence. The smell, however, is not good- a kind mixture of rotting eggs and skunk! If you can hang in with that stuff, in the name of art- you are a real dyed-in-the-wool darkroom person!
In the black and white section, I did lots of exotic processes, formulated special developers (such as Pyro) from scratch, did archival custom printing, (Nelsons) gold toning, using domestic and imported papers with very different and rather incredible image tones and more. That the par I miss but sadly most of the material has been discontinued, difficult or almost possible to find, and that is not practical in a commercial operation. This issue, the additional cost of space and utilities for maintaining the lab, and a fall of demand were someof the reasons for closing that part of the operation down.
May believe that film. analog/chemical.wet-darkroom photography is somehow superior to digital capture or that it requires a higher level of craftsmanship. Yes, it's a different "animal" or species but many of the skills can be applied to digital camera work and post-processing. A careful and artistic worker can do equally well in both mediums.
I noticed a thread on colour negative materials. The specification quoted are accurate as per Kodak's description of its characteristics, however, it goes much deeper than waht's written in the catalogue or guide books. At one time there were at least 30 choices, between Kodak, Fuji, and Agfa, of various emulsions, each with specific usages and characteristics, dynamic range, and colour temperature specifications. Now there are precious few but generally spekig, color negative films are often under-appreciated and underrated.
The current emulsion from Kodak has an enormous dynamic range but remember, the film was originally designed for making colour prints. Reflection prints, simply stated, do not have the same dynamic range as transparency viewed by transmitted light (transilluminated) or a screen made up of electronic light sources. The film therefore must have a vast range but prop exposure and contrast control will allow highlight and shadow detail to survive in a print.
These films have great latitude but underexposure can be problematic in printing. Overexposure of up to 1 full f/stop will yield more contrast and better colour saturation. Unlike transparency film and digital exposure technique. colr negative film reacts well to exposing for the shadows and printing-down for the highlights. If you understand how to read and utilize the charismatic curve of the film you can expose for the shadows and print down or post-process for highlight detail as long as you stay within the limits of the curve.
In the olden days, Kodacolor was a good general-purpose film that was intended for amateur use. It had wide latitude, relatively fine grain, and long shelf life before and after exposure. The so-called professional films such as Ektacolr type C (CPS) and Varicolor, touted good skin tomes (warm) and clean whites for portrait and wedding shooters. The pro film was red-biased to the point that foliage in outdoor portraits tended to go gray or somewhat unsaturated. The pro films were rather grainy because of the multi-layers AND a retouching surface added to provide "tooth" for retouching mediums. May pros shot in large format so grain was not as problematic but in roll film and 35mm formats, the same emulsions could present problems at high degrees of enlargement. In the manufacturing stage, the pro films were "aged" longer so they required refrigeration in storage prior to use and need to be processed promptly after exposure. There is immense latitude but underexposure would cause a kind of crossover where there were unwanted colours in the blacks when the prints were balanced for skin tone. The improved emulsion such as Portra and Ektar were/are substantially improved and most of those issues have been eliminated. Once you master the exposure techniques, you will get an incredible rate, especially when you view your images on a screen.
If anyone is interested in mixing up some Pyro developer of the black and white film- the ULTIMATE in shadow detail, or Nelson's formula for gold doing- made with real gold chloride- incredible image tome and gold-plated permanence. The smell, however, is not good- a kind mixture of rotting eggs and skunk! If you can hang in with that stuff, in the name of art- you are a real dyed-in-the-wool darkroom person!
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