b/w grained film for portrait photography

[Filippo Caroti]

I'm looking for a good B/W 35mm film for indoor portrait photography. I
have watched many pictures on the web and had the opportunity to discover
the different effects of different kind of films and speeds, but I'm not
able to recognize what they are, or what they're like, from the simple
picture.
I hope someone could tell me what kind of film (speed, type, minimum print
dimensions, ...) is needed to get the grained effect over the skin of the
models,
and maybe what kind of develop process is needed for that. I really like
those
not-sharp, particularly grained borders of the human figures.
I found out some good examples of this kind of pictures I have in mind in
Mr.Debenport
gallery (http://www.debenport.com) - whose work I liked very much -, if
someone wants to better catch my idea.

Another (the opposite !) question: what B/W film should I try, instead, to
get a sharp picture with definite contrast, where the black is black, the
white is white and don't fade in a dull grey ?

Thanks a lot.

--
Sincerely,
Filippo Caroti

[A.R. van Ekeren]

Are you talking about colour print fi, or Black and white ?
I've seen some nice photos taken with black and white film, and really grainy.
It gave a soft dreamy effect to the pictures, definitely not taken with a soft
focus filter.
Thought it was Kodak P 3200.

Alexander van Ekeren

> On 10 Mar 1998, Filippo Caroti wrote:
>
> > I hope someone could tell me what kind of film (speed, type, minimum print
> > dimensions, ...) is needed to get the grained effect over the skin of the
> > models,
> > and maybe what kind of develop process is needed for that. I really like
> > those
> > not-sharp, particularly grained borders of the human figures.
> > I found out some good examples of this kind of pictures I have in mind in
>

> Are you sure this isn't the effect of a soft focus filter in front of
> the lense? I've taken grainy colour portraits and it's not a nice
> effect at all (Kodak zoom/ max at 1600 ASA, urghh).
>
> Andrew

[Altdude]

Fuji neopan 1600 or Polopan

[Tammy Whitney]

Filippo Caroti wrote:
>
> I'm looking for a good B/W 35mm film for indoor portrait photography. I
> have watched many pictures on the web and had the opportunity to discover
> the different effects of different kind of films and speeds, but I'm not
> able to recognize what they are, or what they're like, from the simple
> picture.

> I hope someone could tell me what kind of film (speed, type, minimum print
> dimensions, ...) is needed to get the grained effect over the skin of the
> models,
> and maybe what kind of develop process is needed for that. I really like
> those
> not-sharp, particularly grained borders of the human figures.
> I found out some good examples of this kind of pictures I have in mind in

> Mr.Debenport
> gallery (http://www.debenport.com) - whose work I liked very much -, if
> someone wants to better catch my idea.
>
> Another (the opposite !) question: what B/W film should I try, instead, to
> get a sharp picture with definite contrast, where the black is black, the
> white is white and don't fade in a dull grey ?
>
> Thanks a lot.
>
> --
> Sincerely,
> Filippo Caroti

the grain on the b & w could be a couple of things. first, it could be
the film, such as fuji neopan 1600 or kodak tmax 3200. the other thing
it could be is pushing of regular 400 speed and different developers or
extended developing times.
as for pure b & w with no grays, try agfa ortho 25 or kodak tech pan 25.
both these with the right developer will produce what you're looking for
with very fine grain. but, both are very slow films.

rob whitney
scoop...@yahoo.com