Black and White FILM - some critique

[aim54x]

Hey All,

I had a bit of trouble deciding which board to post this in but I ended up here. I have been printing some images off black and white film recently and thought I would share this image. Apologies for the poor printing (this is a scan of a print).

A bit of background:
Camera - Nikon F80
Lens - Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.8
Film - Fujifilm Neopan 1600 (shot at 1600 ISO, processed using T-Max developer)
Paper - Ilford Multigrade RC - 5x7
Scan - Samsung CLX-2160 (laser multifunction) scanned as greyscale in Photoshop, some dust removal has been done (got rid of the big ones)

This was taken on a roll of film that I shot for a uni assignment (Photo 1 course) and the image was printed last week. There is actually nothing in the blown out white areas to recover (I tried a fair bit).

[biggerry]

Nice shot cam, i love the film feel to it, there is an essence to film photography (and this image) that just cannot seem to be replicated in digital.

I think film photography, particular in this case, takes you back to really nailing the composition, this image says so much with only a very small portion of the whole statue. My only suggestion would be (have been) to adjust the composition to the right a bit to get all of his LH shoe in, this and maintaining some of dead space on the LH would have improved it in my opinion.

Anyway to sum up, i really like the composition, the flower and the shoes creates quite a powerful and emotive scene.

[aim54x]

I will have another look at that negative to see if there is anything else on the left....but I have cropped to keep the flower away from the centre and to focus the image better having shot a bit wider to try and get more in.

I love shooting film and am really hoping to get some more film shot soon. But I have not had much time nor the money to buy more film. I have a roll of Pan F (50 ISO) and a roll of HP5 (400 ISO) so I may make the effort to take the FM2 out for a spin in the coming days. The F80 is on extended loan again (lols it has been away for the year so far).

[surenj]

Love the feel to this shot... Does the film have less latitute in terms of exposure?? [compared to digital]

As long as the focus is ok, I am loving this. I assume the softness is due to the scanning process.

[aim54x]

Thanks Surenj!

I am not sure where the softness is coming from (resizing scan?) This would have been shot at f/1.8 with the flower as the focus point (hence the flower and the soldiers left boot being in focus). The film is a 1600 ISO Neopan (amazingly fine grain) so I dont think it is the film's fault.

[gstark]

Cameron,

Why were you using a 1600 ISO film for this? Just because it was on hand, or some other reason? This image looks to me as if it could have been shot on much slower stock, which would have yielded an even nicer image than you have.

Surenj,

As a general guide, negative film has more exposure latitude than digital. Reversal film (transparencies, or slides) has a similar latitude to a D70, but as digital technology is improving, the latitude available on digital is improving. I'd rate the 5D2 and D3 as coming closer to negative film stock, but with a number of advantages: you can't change your ISO setting mid roll, and film obviously imparts significant delays in terms of how long before you can see your processed image, as well as cost.

And HDR techniques, which can help in this regard, in post are way easier in the digital darkroom than they are in a wet one.

[aim54x]

This image was shot at night, hand held with a fairly slow shutter. I doubt any stock that is much slower would have let me get this. I was also mid roll. Ironically after printing the neopan 1600 next to tmax 400 i would say the fuji is finer grain, i could be doing something wrong with the kodak though. I feel the need to go out and shoot more film now.