Films for Studio Portraits
Arthur
I am looking for films for studio portrait works. Both color and black and
white and preferably slides, but it really doesn't matter. For the B&W I am
looking for one that provides high contrast and ULTRA-fine grain. For the
color, I am looking for nice skin tones. Any help is appreciated! ;-)
Thanks,
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Arthur
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Arthur
"To see the thing itself is essential: the quintessence
revealed direct without the fog of impressionism."
Edward Weston
JArnold975
>white and preferably slides, but it really doesn't matte
B&W: Ilford Scala
Color: Fuji Astia or Kodak E100SW
Jim Arnold
Dallas, TX
http://members.aol.com/equineact/jarnphot.htm
Mr 645
I am looking for films for studio portrait works. Both color and black and
white and preferably slides, but it really doesn't matter. For the B&W I am
looking for one that provides high contrast and ULTRA-fine grain. For the
color, I am looking for nice skin tones. Any help is appreciated! ;-)
Thanks,>>>>>>>>>
For sharp, fine grained, contrasty B&W I would go with Kodak Tmax 100.
Color, I like the new Kodak Portra films and Agfa XPS 160.
Jon
David L. Glos
Never have been that thrilled with Tmax 100 for people work, although, I have
the lab skills and experience to make it work. Tmax doesn't really shoulder
off with increasing exposure, like most of the more traditional emulsions, and
what will print as highlights can end up pretty dense on the negative. A real
snappy highlight contrast looks good with some subjects, but I often knock
some of it down by burning in with a lower contrast filter. If knock overall
contrast down, to try to contain the highlights, you can end up with muddy
shadows.
If you are shooting medium format, Kodak's Verichrome Pan (despite the name,
it is a B+W negative film) is a must try. Plus-X and Ilford FP4+ or Delta 100
can look mighty nice too. The newest B+W chromogenic dye emulsions (Kodak Tmax
400CN and Ilford XP2plus) are also worth trying, especially if you don't have
access to a darkroom. The Tmax 400CN is way different than the Tmax 100 in its
highlight response. If fact, you almost have to work to get blown out
highlights with the 400CN. Almost like using a compensating developer.
If you have a patient subject, and are willing to use a tripod, you might try
a roll of Agfa APX25 for truly 'blow me away' image quality. I shoot it at EI
16 and develop in Rodinal at 50:1.
If you have access to a darkroom, try printing some portraits on any Ilford
B+W paper with the 5K "matte" surface. This is NOT the pearl surface. It used
to be available in Multigrade III, RC and fiber, but I think it only comes in
the Multigrade IV fiber now. Not sure if they have it in the warmtone. This
stuff is very unique; no real surface texture, yet completely 'dead flat'
matte. The final print looks like it was made on very high quality water color
paper.
lemonade
Glos) wrote:
> If you have access to a darkroom, try printing some portraits on any Ilford
> B+W paper with the 5K "matte" surface. This is NOT the pearl surface. It used
> to be available in Multigrade III, RC and fiber, but I think it only comes in
> the Multigrade IV fiber now. Not sure if they have it in the warmtone. This
> stuff is very unique; no real surface texture, yet completely 'dead flat'
I agree with this assessment, but there is one caution: the surface is
extremely prone to "burnishing", i.e. damage from fingernails, or anything
else. The "scratch marks" will be invisible from certain angles but very
visible from others. I am referring here only to the fibre base version;
I've never tried it in RC, if it is the same thing.
--
Due to the intolerable volume of spam these days, I no longer supply a
valid email address.
Jan Sandvik
>
>>I am looking for films for studio portrait works. Both color and black and
>>white and preferably slides, but it really doesn't matte
>
***************
What???
Here's my list:
For B/W: Ilford XP-2 (400), Ilford PanF+ (50)
Color neg: Agfa Portrait 160, Fuji Reala 100
Slide: Fuji Astia (100), Kodachrome
-Jan
http://www.multi.fi/~jsandvik/photo.htm