Weekly Black and White Photography Discussion Thread #1 for 2 February 2025

Thanks Folks, I have learned heaps. My B&W film experience is well behind the times. I'm still thinking D76, HC110, Ilford Microphen and Rodinal B&W. Film lwas all about playing with the asa then varying temperature, dilution and agitation to give a little control over grain, contrast and edges. Photo discussion was a hotbed of recipe swapping. tprevatt;s "my own recipe" had my heart singing with nostalgia. Folks, you introduced me to a name I'd never heard of. Cinestill. My head is blown to find there is now a one shot developer/fixer.
Let's not do it yet, but I think there is a whole resource to be put together here on film development. Another," let's not try to do it all in the first week," I'm more than a bit curious about the printing y'all are doing with these images.

Yes, a classic B&W image. I like all the lines, especially the crossover on the left, that develop from the corners then fade into the snowfall. Plenty of grain here and it feels fine with the contrast and restricted vision caused by the weather.

Yes, you are probably correct. I hadn't thought about it. Today there will be B&W photos that were planned that way from the start and there is B&W where the B&W version came next.
When taking photos, I feel I see first in B&W. It comes from years of working in B&W pre digital. I'm mainly shooting and processing in colour but its the B&W elements that I'm usually looking at when I compose the shot, even though I know it will be in colour.
Perhaps not in the case of this shot of yours. I assume the leaf is green? I might have liked the contrasts of the spiral for B&W and then thought about the possibilties of adjusting the tone of the green leaf as part of the B&W conversion.
Just spotted that you used a Sigma. Is that a foveon sensor? If it is I have no knowledge of whether the usual conversion of colours to B&W works in the same way. It's possible that a foveon sensor is much closer to a monochrome sensor. If that's a foveon, model, I'm especially interested in seeing more seeing more B&W from it.

The snail

I almost walked past.
When I turned around, I saw this opportunity.

Alan,

If you crop out the lower part of that handrail, it goes from crying to downright sobbing..

😃

Steve Thomas

Alan,

Thanks for being good natured.

Steve Thomas

Much better. And if you maybe moved a bit so the rail ran slightly diagonally it might have worked a bit better balanced. There is little on the left to balance the building. Nice capture though.

interesting story. Makes one want to ask questions. As walking past and turning back, there is a famous image titled "V-J Day in Times Square," a.k.a. "The Kiss" that goes to show you should always look back. When Eisenstaedt heard commotion and turned around the image was there.

Film is coming back. I did start using XP1/2 for 35 mm in the 80's. However, for medium format I used conventional film mostly Pan X or Tri X. For Pan X Rodinal was my go to. For sheet film - good old Tri X and HC110 Solution B or Rodinal - depending on what I wanted. In about 2005 or so I discovered Photographers Formulary and I discovered Barry Thornton. At that time good film scanners for medium format and large format were being made by Epson and I already had a Nikon 35 mm scanner. Printers were getting much better a printing black and white with new inks. So the option of film/scanning and printing became real.

onlinedarkroom.blogspot.com/p/barry-thornton-articles.html

Photographers Formulary stores.photoformulary.com/film/ is a source of all sorts on chemistry and dark room accessories. Some of the developers are remakes of old formulas with some of the really nasty components replaced. Some are even new formulations - several developed by Barry Thornton. I, however, haven't had the urge to pick up a film camera since I picked up Leica Q2M. I might do some more in the future - especially if I get back to my 4x5.

Earlier, Steve asked how depth could be added to photos. Steve, you have given an answer yourself here. The crop emphasizes the lines coming in from the closest lower corners. Best of all, the lines are continued up into the far chimney and the chimney links the foreground and background highlights. A good shot made even better by the crop.

The curves down from the building ribs make an elegant frame of the face and upper body. The building rib forms are somewhat echoed in the contrasting lines of the street lights. Very promising. It would have been better if the guys in the street had done their bit by doing something, anything, of interest over on the left for out watcher to have been watching. The fallen wheeled trolley hasn't helped the photographer either. It isn't adding interest in meaning or shape.
It's a spot worth returning to and seeing if the photography gods help a little more next time.

A tree in February. Lonely little guy, I think.

This was the first time I ever took a picture I in a 4:3 aspect ratio

.

Steve Thomas

A good photo.
But the lady still caught you taking photos.
She is looking directly into the camera, so she was still aware of her surroundings.

It's a very interesting and good photo.
The way the sheep jump after surviving the ordeal made me laugh.
And, the sheep don't look pretty afterwards.

For those interested in the best way to convert various color images to grayscale, here is the ultimate evaluation:

cadik.posvete.cz/color_to_gray_evaluation/ worth reading more than once ...

...scroll to the right to see the result of the many methods of converting color to grayscale.

caveat: there is no particular method that is best for all images, meaning anyone who "only uses one method" could be suffering from tunnel vision!

For example, although 'CIE Y' (the ever-popular "luminance", or'luma" found in drop-downs for conversion) rates quite well for image #19, Method 'Bala 04' does much mo' better.

Even so, although most drop-downs don't provide you with all possible conversion methods, we should be aware that what we selected should at least be quoted in any post of a presented conversion apart from anything else.