stillshunter
Super Moderator Emeritus
- Location
- Down Under
- Name
- Mark
Some advice appreciated from the more experienced film old hands out there
I'm currently shooting TMY (TMax 400) and love the richness and depth of the midtones. However one thing I noticed is that I rarely get much in the way of black or white - especially in micro-contrast. I realise these terms might be wrong so I hope to better demonstrate with two photos showing the global adjustments I usually defer to in LR3 post scan.
This is the straight scan (Epson V300 using Epson Scan @ 4800dpi with medium unsharp mask)
...and here are my preferred LR adjustments - small boost to the Blacks, Contrast and Clarity with about 20 up on the sharpness and slight S to the curve.
Like I said this is demonstrated with global adjustments for this purpose and if I were working harder I'd do more local tweaks to preserve the highlights.
But I wondered whether there is something more I could be doing during capture or development to better approximate the look (especially on the face) of the PP image straight out of the soup? Otherwise is this simply a property of the emulsion or developer, or a failure in my naive scanning abilities...Or am I simply still stuck in a rarefied digital mindset.
Details:
Shot with M2 & ZM Planar 50/2 loaded with TMax 400
Developed in Xtol 1+1 (fresh) at box speed (9:25min) with agitation every 30 seconds (as I wanted a little more contrast)
Like I said I simply love the TMY midtones, but would like to see a little more on the extremes and micro-contrast. So your advice would be greatly appreciated - as my next step is wet printing and so would like to get the negatives as right as possible.
TIA
Mark
I'm currently shooting TMY (TMax 400) and love the richness and depth of the midtones. However one thing I noticed is that I rarely get much in the way of black or white - especially in micro-contrast. I realise these terms might be wrong so I hope to better demonstrate with two photos showing the global adjustments I usually defer to in LR3 post scan.
This is the straight scan (Epson V300 using Epson Scan @ 4800dpi with medium unsharp mask)
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
...and here are my preferred LR adjustments - small boost to the Blacks, Contrast and Clarity with about 20 up on the sharpness and slight S to the curve.
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Like I said this is demonstrated with global adjustments for this purpose and if I were working harder I'd do more local tweaks to preserve the highlights.
But I wondered whether there is something more I could be doing during capture or development to better approximate the look (especially on the face) of the PP image straight out of the soup? Otherwise is this simply a property of the emulsion or developer, or a failure in my naive scanning abilities...Or am I simply still stuck in a rarefied digital mindset.
Details:
Shot with M2 & ZM Planar 50/2 loaded with TMax 400
Developed in Xtol 1+1 (fresh) at box speed (9:25min) with agitation every 30 seconds (as I wanted a little more contrast)
Like I said I simply love the TMY midtones, but would like to see a little more on the extremes and micro-contrast. So your advice would be greatly appreciated - as my next step is wet printing and so would like to get the negatives as right as possible.
TIA
Mark