random prints

Some random prints made last week and over the weekend. Not very satisfied but then again, my standards are going up (although I like this first one very much).

Middle two were taken in New York city.  Everything is Tmax (100/400).

Thanks for looking. Btw, anyone know a good way of cleaning negatives, so that I obtain nice clean prints?  Any help would be appreciated.

 

boring roll is boring printing

Crappy negatives give crappy prints. I shot 20 frames, of TMAX 400, of a parade in Ottawa recently.  It was a cloudy day, and the parade was interesting, but do my shots ever suck. Boooring. Check the contact sheet if you don’t believe me:

The lack of contrast really bothers me. Maybe it’s the film, maybe it’s the cloudy weather, maybe it’s not using a filter, maybe it’s the way I developed the roll, maybe it’s the way I printed the contact sheet.  I don’t know really. But I did make two little prints (5×7s on ilford sepia using 2.0 filter and ilfosol 1+9) which I don’t really like:

So live and learn. Maybe I should have tried using a 3.0 or higher contrast filter. Some frames are ok.

Finally I made a print that I really like from a previous roll, but I left it to dry, so I’ll scan and post it tomorrow.

Thanks for looking.

 

one of my brother

My brother here (fomapan 100, printed on 8×10 ilford pearl paper with ilfosol 1+9 developer):

Today I developed a roll of tmax 400.  Results (contact sheet, some prints) this week.

Thanks for checking.

 

more fomapan prints

I managed to print a couple of more negatives from my fomapan roll.

The first one is an 8×10 of an alley way somewhere in the Plateau (neighborhood in Montreal):

And a 5×7 of some friends from the lab:

Prints turned out well, but I fooled around a bit so I didn’t have time for much else (one print is still drying but it’s mediocre). Once again, best results happen with the 2.0 multigrade filter.

Thanks for checking.

 

fomapan 100 prints

Fomapan turns out to be quite the decent brand. I’m quite happy with the results. So today I printed the contact sheet along with some preliminary prints I liked.

In case anyone is a complete newbie (which I sympathize with), I used a 2.0 multigrade filter. As for the exposure, it’s slightly different in each darkroom so the easiest thing to do is expose the whole sheet for 10s at f8 and then increment 3s per strip. Then figure out which strip looks best and use that exposure time. Pretty simple.

Now for the prints, first a couple of 8×10s:

and a few 5×7s

(the scan over highlights the bottom left corner, it’s not that bad on the print)

So all the prints were done with a 2.0 multigrade filter. That may have been overdoing it but I do like the results for the most part. Damn, printing is so much fun, I’m addicted. I could seriously spend all day and night doing this. Well as long as I’m printing my own photos, haha.

Thanks for looking.

 

martina on her cell

I had this one drying in the darkroom over the weekend. Tmax 400 on 5×7 Ilford Pearl paper using Ilfosol 1+9.

Today I developed a roll of Fomapan 100, which is a Czech brand that I bought in Bulgaria two years ago. Negatives look good. I developed the roll with proper agitation and all. I even used Photo-Flo (or whatever it’s called) so hopefully no marks. And I will most likely make a contact sheet and post it here.

Thanks for looking!

 

some 5×7s

I was in Ottawa over the weekend, and went with a friend to the darkroom at the Ottawa School of Arts (which is conveniently located in the market). Decent darkroom, similar to the one in McGill but with 10 or so enlargers. I still prefer the darkroom at McGill, probably because I’m used to it a bit more. Here are the prints I made, Tmax 400 on 5×7 Ilford Pearl paper with D 76.

Please note that the scans are shit, I’m lazy about perfecting them, so the white specs do not exist on the prints.

Finally, I learned a couple of things, such as that I probably shouldn’t treat test strips so well. That is, they should receive a minimum amount of time in the stop and fixer baths (in the order of seconds). Also, I should probably change the fixer and stopper more often at McGill. One new problem I had was dirt on a negative, which was a real hassle. I would clean the negative but then find that the dirt just moved to another place. Very annoying. Eventually (2 crappy prints later), things worked out alright.

Thanks for looking.

 

a couple of more b/w prints

I’m spending about 1-1.5 hours in the darkroom at a time (extended lunch break) which I find is a good enough time to perfect one print. So in the two days I’ve only made two more prints but I like them. They are both shot on TMAX 400 and printed on 8×10 Ilford Pearl paper using Ilfosol 1+9 paper developer.

Both photos are taken from a bike path here in Montreal near the port area. There are quite a few things to shoot there. Printing wise, the first print (silos) took two tries until finally on the third print I obtained something I liked. Second print took only one try since I simply used the same settings as the first print. In general, I have discovered that a good place to start in terms of filters is using a 2.0 grade for the test strips, and first full print. That seems to offer the best flexibility in terms of decreasing or increasing the contrast later on.

Thanks for looking.

 

darkroom success (somewhat)

Well the reason for my disappointing prints last week had to do with very very stale paper developer. With fresh developer things moved along smoothly. So first I reprinted two photos, which look much better than before (if interested check my blog entry from a week ago for comparison).

and finally a new print that i like very much

I hope you ignore the bad quality scans. Most of the white marks are from the dust on the scanner.

So to anyone printing, if you are not achieving dark (almost black) shades then your developer is stale. I wasted a couple of sessions before I figured this one out.

So more stuff to come. Thanks for looking.

 

How about some half-ass digital photos

It’s Formula 1 weekend in Montreal. This means the downtown streets are packed with tourists, flashy cars, and girls in miniskirts. So how about some crappy night photos of some cars? No? Well too bad, it’s my blog so I choose.

and my favorite one:

Thanks for looking. Some black and white prints coming next week (if all goes to plan).