Tag Archives: Black and White

Oct 26 2013
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Ilford, Ilford Delta

Ilford Delta 3200 pushed to 12800

Delta 3200 is one of my favourite black and white film available on the market, it produces fantastic contrasts and stunning grain which is irresistible to me. Already being pushed from manufactured 1000 ISO to box 3200 i pushed to 12800 to see what affect if had on the film. The results, i think, are exceptional.

Pushing the Delta punched the contrasts right out, creating deep shadows and punchy highlights. It has also blown out the grain massively but does not create a horrible look to the images, in fact i believe that it has created an old school film look.

Before i continue i have a confession…due to being insanely busy with University projects and my dissertation i couldn’t develop this film myself, i was close to doing it however i just haven’t got the time at the moment. Genie used Neotonal Developer –  23 mins at 21º C

Before sending the film off i was considering to develop in Microphen Stock at 16 minutes which according to www.digitaltruth.com this is the correct time for processing this push. The results from Neotonal are good to say the least!

The photographs span over a month period, this is the slowest roll of film i have shot as i have been shooting a lot of digital lately.  The photos are shot around The The Britain & Elephant & Castle. The last few shots of this film were shot when i was in Charing Cross and Waterloo station after having too much to drink! The multiple exposure of an e-cigarette has some movement as i didn’t carry my tripod.

Whilst the sun was out i shot with my ND16 filter which gives a 4 stop reduction of light entering the lens so i could keep my aperture lower. I tried to stay indoors as much as possible while shooting for obvious reasons.

I will be shooting 12800 again, perhaps even 25600 or higher to see how far this film can go and how much i can squeeze out of developer. Yes, next time i will develop this film myself.

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Oct 09 2013
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Retro 80s, Rollei

Rollei Retro 80s

This is the second roll of film that i shot in New York City. The first roll is in my previous post Fuji Provia 100F

I was eager to load a black and white film into my camera as i typically favour shooting b/w over colour. I believe this is because of my admiration over the years of photographers such as Vivian Maier, William Eggleston, Henri-Cartier Bresson and others.

This film travels over the Highline, Brooklyn Bridge, Lower Manhattan, Parks and Sidewalks. Unfortunately this is the last roll of film i shot in New York City as i was shooting digital too. The digital work can be seen on my website www.bradleychippington.co.uk

I opted for 80ISO as the weather was astonishing. 30c all week and clear blue skies. Even at 80ISO i had to raise the shutter higher than i expected because of the strength of the sun. The low ISO creates a gorgeous soft fine grain coupled with the contrasts and sharpness of the film produces some strong images.

Once again, not so much with this film as the last but there are a few typical ‘touristy’ shots. I included them in this post as everyone likes to view different types of photography. I however prefer my street work over my architecture work.

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Sep 02 2013
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Kodak, Kodak 400TX

Kodak 400TX (TRI-X)

The Kodak Tri-X is the first but not last roll of film that i personally developed for this project and it was a pleasure!

My early years of photography were spent in the darkroom learning to develop and print film and ‘retouch’ photographs using various techniques, unfortunately this practice was short lived as i quickly migrated to Digital because of its speed, ease and cost effectiveness.

I had always missed being in the darkroom though so decided for this project that i must start developing my own film again to fully appreciate shooting in 35mm and to please myself in the process.

I shot a roll of Tri-X and booked a brief induction to the darkroom as well as a refresher course on developing film, of course i hadn’t forgotten the process of developing however it had been almost 7 years since i developed my last roll of film so i had to make sure that i didn’t leave anything out.

I met a guy called Dave and there was 2 other people on the refresher evening, one of them i knew, Mike, who works at the Camera Club. Dave is insanely knowledgable and deeply enthusiastic about film photography, perfect! We got chatting and he guided us through the developing process, mixing solutions and the various techniques and tools available when developing film.

After this we each went into our own darkroom, shut the doors, mixed the chemicals, turned out the lights and started spooling! Fantastic! It’s like riding a bike.

Chemical process: Rodinal at 1/25 solution for 300ml 7 minute develop (12ml Rodinal topped up to 300ml water). Agitate for 30’s then tap, leave 30s, agitate twice, tap, repeat agitate every 30s.

Empty developer, rinse for about a minute then Fix with Ilford Hypam. Agitate 30s on, 30s off. All solutions at 20 degrees c. Empty and dilute with water for 15 min, didn’t use stop bath.  Note: Kodak state that you can stand tri-x with little agitation and high developer concentration, using this technique you can push the film to 3200 and beyond, this is something i will be doing in future.

I chose 7 minutes as this was the recommended time by Rodinal for Tri-X. I could also double the time for a slower develop however i wasn’t worried with that this time, in the future i will alter development times depending on the results i want from the grain. So faster develop will make the Silver Halide clump together to produce bigger grain, slower develop will have finer grain.

Film was clear after 3 mins so to permanently fix i leave for another 3 minutes. The reason for this is that film is opaque to stop light bouncing around inside the camera when you take a photo and causing the photo to expose incorrectly, fixing removes the opaque look as well as fixing the image to the film, once the film is clear during fixing make a note of that time then continue to fix again for that time duration (so 3 mins to clear, fix for another 3) this will mean that the film will stay constantly fixed and will last hundreds of years. Rather than going 20 years down the line and it becoming faded or coloured because it wasn’t fixed properly.

Once film was fixed i used some Photo Flow which helps alleviate drying marks then removed the film from the spool and hung to dry in the drying cupboard. 15 minutes later 1 perfectly developed film.

A great website for getting film development times is www.digitaltruth.com

Scanning results where fantastic, there was minimal dust and scratches on the film and the overall quality seems much better than when i have used lab’s to develop. I am tentative to speculate as to why there were minimal dust and scratches, i could of just been very lucky and the film emulsion was perfect however the past Lab results  scratches are too frequent, a part of me thinks that they’re not as careful as i would expect them to be. Suffice to say i will be developing all of my film myself from now on.

Shot on Canon EOS 620 with 24-70mm 2.8 USM L Mk II lens. I am very happy with the results of this process, the highlights have details in them and the shadows are strong, the grain desirable and consistent.

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Aug 06 2013
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Kodak, Kodak BW400CN

Kodak BW400CN

This is the third post in a series of four rolls of film shot over London Pride 2013. Please take the time to look back through the previous post’s to fully appreciate the event and various film types used throughout the course of the evening.

The previous posts are Kodak Ektar 100 and AgfaPhoto APX 100

By this point in the evening i was getting quite drunk, i had great friends around me and the streets were alive with thousands of people celebrating Pride. The city had an energy surging through it. It was exciting to scan and see the results of the 400CN as i couldn’t remember some of the shots i had taken (oh dear).

This film delivers excellent deep contrasts and tones with a very desirable fine grain considering the ISO. Skin has come out clear and the highlights are giving a gorgeous glow.

I will shoot the next roll pushed as i am eager to see the results first hand as i feel it will not be able to handle a massive push due to it already being quite a contrasty look, however i could be wrong as processing will play an important factor.

Leading me on to some important news! I have signed up for Kennington Camera Club, which is only a stone’s throw away from me. I can now use the studio for larger shoots and i will also be using their darkroom to develop my own film.

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Jul 25 2013
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Agfa, AgfaPhoto APX 100

AgfaPhoto APX 100

This blog is a continuation of my previous post Kodak Ektar 100

Please take the time to read back so you fully appreciate published film. This film is the second of four film’s that i shot at London Pride 2013.

By this point the evening was starting to get quite intoxicated with the streets crawling in cans, bottles, plastic cups and people racing to the nearest Wok to Walk or Opuz. My friends and I however decided to grab an Ed’s Burger, which is one of the nicest 50’s themed diner’s around Soho.

The atmosphere around Soho was filled with happiness and people coming together which made this was one of the easiest events i have ever photographed, other than London Fashion Week, however people go out just to get their photo taken at LFW and very often need some help to ‘look alive’. It may have been because i was drinking too.

I digress, people where ecstatic to see the camera, coming together, making faces and just a little bit of tom foolery to give a warmer more playful feel to the photos i captured.

I opted to stay within a 100iso film type as the evening was very bright, this also let me save the 2 higher iso film’s i have left over for use later on in the evening.

The results from the Agfa are exceptional, the contrasts are very appealing, the grain isn’t as fine as i would of expected from 100ISO however it doesn’t hinder the quality of the image, nor is it intrusive giving even and beautiful coverage of the photos. I used my Sigma 50mm Prime throughout the entire film alternating my f/stop from 2.5 to 5.6.

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Jun 25 2013
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Ilford, Ilford HP5+

Ilford HP5+ 400 Pushed to 3200

Yesterday I finally received my replacement negative scanner, hazar!

For this film i asked a few of the lads that go to the same gym as me if they would be happy to have their photo taken whilst they do a bit of training, being the friendly bunch they are they of course said yes!

The lighting in the gym was not fantastic but good enough to get some moody shots, i didn’t want to use flash as i didn’t want my subject to look too flat, also i wanted the nuances to show more elegantly in the photographs rather than killing them with flash. “Use bounce/catchlight or reflectors” i hear you cry  – this did cross my mind however the ceilings are far too high for bounce plus i didn’t have an assistant with me.

Delta 3200 has been used a fair bit already in this blog so i clearly couldn’t shoot with that, i tried looking for some other manufacturers that rate their film as 3200 and was astonished that NONE are available. After a bit more digging i found Kodak was one of the last (other than the current Ilford range) however they unsurprisingly discontinued their P3200 range in October 2012 (recently i acquired a roll after a bit of searching which will appear at a later date).

Before shooting i did a hefty amount of research on film types and pushing as i didn’t want the photographs to be insanely contrasty that they’re unperceivable nor did i want there to be so much grain that it actually begins to impair the photograph quality. I needed to find a film that pushed beyond 2 stops fairly well and gave decent results at the same time.

Kodak Tri-X is the classic with HP5+ not too far behind, it all depends on the developer though, xtol and microphen are meant for pushing and reducing grain at the same time, while rodinal is good for a smooth, grainy classic look. There are some great examples of Tri-X pushed to 3200 however i wasn’t sure of the developer the company i use practice with so i opted for the HP5+ which Ilford state on their website it will easily push 3 stops to 3200.

The contrasts on the HP5+ i shot are quite even considering such a big push, there are some areas that are a little over done however it doesn’t ruin the photograph nor does it step into a more avant garde type of photography as the photo is still clear and detailed. The grain has increased dramatically which is to be expected however it’s fairly pleasing to the eye. Unfortunately it’s a bit snowy looking in the blacks which is a little off putting, the grain on the Delta 3200 is much more appealing.

I would happily push this film another stop or more to see the results as it has coped fantastically well with the 3 stop push.

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Jun 17 2013
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Ilford, Ilford Delta

Ilford Delta 3200

I couldn’t wait to shoot another DP3200. I absolutely adore this film and feel that it will appear frequently during this project albeit using different pushed/pulled settings and exposures over the next year.

This time i visited Bank as well as the subways of Elephant & Castle and Cafe’s in Wardour Street i’ve also included a self portrait, an unsuspecting fellow traveller on The Underground and EDF Energy’s mascot Zingy! I used the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 and Canon 24-70 f/2.8L Mk II for this film. It has been great using the zoom lens, especially when photographing in smaller spaces. Over the coming weeks i’ll start pushing and pulling film to see how this affects the contrasts and tonal range. I’m also interested to see how pushing affects grain properties.

The grain and tonal range is as i would expect, beautiful. There is a huge amount of data that can be pulled from the highlights. Unfortunately the emulsion mustn’t of covered properly as there was considerable damage to a couple of the photographs which had to be retouched.

After shooting this film i looked for some more 3200ISO and was astonished to see that it was unavailable from any other manufacturer. There is the option of pushing slower ISO film however a lot of films start to become considerably contrasty when pushed more than 2 stops, although sometimes this is a desired effect.

In light of this I had eventually found and ordered some Kodak P3200TMAX which was unsurprisingly discontinued in 2012 however i managed to find some online!

My friend Ameila Hallsworth appears in this film a few times, Amelia is a fantastic up and coming Photographer that has a love for everything coffee and cake! Make sure to check out Amelia’s blog www.ameliahallsworth.com and her Twitter @AHallsworth

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Jun 07 2013
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Ilford, Ilford Delta

Ilford Delta 400

On May 9th my friends at University and I held our own 4 day exhibition for our year 2 ‘The Unexplained’ final project. It was a huge success for us both professionally and within our University, full information and photographs of the gallery space can be found at the LSBU Newspaper LINK.

Loaded with Ilford Delta 400 I brought my camera along with me to document how the preparations for the exhibition took shape. The Gallery was well lit so i didn’t need to push the ISO any higher which was fantastic!

I used my Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM for this roll of film as i wanted the adjustable focal length along with a fairly decent sized aperture, i attempted to use my 50mm f/1.4 however having a fixed focal length made me feel quite restricted especially as i was working within a space sensitive environment, also the DOP (drop off point) for the DOF (depth of field) is reduced massively at lower f stops and as i was shooting to document, a faster f/stop would clearly be better to use.

There’s a minimal amount of dust and scratches on the film so retouching was quick and easy with only slight fixes required, during retouching i was astonished at how much ‘data’ the negative contains. I scan at 3600dpi (my scanner does go to 7200dpi however after conversion to web quality there is not any perceivable difference, this is questionable for print though) and after scanning (even in pre-scan setting exposure to minimum) there are some burnt highlights, in post i was able to pull these down and i was amazed at how much i could retrieve from the burnt areas, digital doesn’t have such a wide tonal range to be able to do this especially with highlights, digital works better pulling and pushing darks and mid-tones yet i find still struggles at times with highlights.

I am impressed with the clarity and contrast of this film the images are strong and contain a fairly attractive classic filmic looking grain. Although the Kodak T-MAX has a beautiful fine grain at the same 400iso speed i feel that the Delta has better contrasts and tones which i tend to favour.

I have included a shot on the underground, originally i was going to remove this photo from the final publish however i feel that it works well, i shot with a very wide f/stop so that the focal point would be almost impossible to make out (near the woman sitting down) although the focus is a little out on the woman i look at this image and feel that it adds an eeriness and solitude to the image.

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May 01 2013
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Ilford, Ilford Delta

Ilford Delta 3200

Following from my previous post Kodak Portra 800 this is the second part of the day shot on the beautiful Ilford Delta 3200.

This was the first time that i have shot on DP3200 and and to be honest with you i’m blown away by the quality of these photographs, the grain, contrast, quality and overall look is just stunning (especially when looking at the original scans).

This is truly a breathtaking film and I love shooting with it, so much that i have another DP3200 ready to be developed. I used my Sigma 50mm f/1.4 as i prefer shooting with a wide aperture to create a gorgeous bokeh surrounding my subject. Typically when shooting people i cycle between f/1.8 and f/2.8 however with the higher speed 3200 it can be difficult to reach this aperture unless in lower light conditions. I could of pulled the film which would have given me room to use a lower f/stop however i think the results of this shoot were fantastic and i didn’t want the grain etc to suffer. I will try pulling/pushing film at a later date. Technically the 3200 is actually 1000 iso that is set to push to 3200.

Thank you to my friends involved in the creation of this film.

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Apr 24 2013
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Ilford, Ilford Pan

Ilford Pan 400

My negative scanner has arrived and i’ve been playing with a mixture of settings.  So far I only have 2 rolls of film that have been developed. Strangely one film had hardly any photographs on it! What a waste!

Anyway, the images that I have started with are quite old, some dating back a few years up until early last year.

To note I never liked this film type very much however my tutor loved it when i was at college and supplied countless rolls however i felt that it lacked the qualities of other film types offered from Ilford.

I vaguely remember trying to use this film up so i could get other old rolls used up (still being developed).

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