The 52 Project, Week 27: Winnie the Pooh & Katie Too!
Thursday, February 17, 2011 at 3:25PM The last of the series of Hasselblad images from my little two week excursion, this week features one aspect of film that I've really yet to embrace...grain. If you can't tell what I mean from the thumbnails, just click them to see a bigger size, it should then become much more apparent.
Tigger, Piglet, and Winnie the Pooh...kind
After hanging out in NYC with Mike and Duane from the Film Photography Podcast, I made my way out to Amherst, MA to visit a good friend of mine, Katie O'Neil. She's a jack of all trades: horse trainer, rider, pre-vet student, film photography enthusiast (you're welcome Katie), and even a licensed Zamboni driver. As of Feb. 2011, she's in Ireland interning with a horse stable having the time of her life;color me jealous. During my brief visit with her, I managed to stay over for a fun Halloween party at her hometown employer, Lonebirch Farms.
For Halloween, horse enthusiasts pull out all the stops. Not only do they dress up, but so do the horses. Katie herself dressed up as Piglet, with her dog Maggie as Winnie the Pooh, and her horse as Tigger. Its all cute and fun, until you get roped into painting a horse. >__<
A witch, her horse, and jack-in-the-box hubby.
Increasing grain = decreasing sharpness :(
Did I mention what my biggest pet peeve was?
A maiden/damsel and her trusty steed/unicorn.
Something Good: For ISO 3200 film shot at 3200, the shots are more than usable, with decent shadow detail and well controlled highlights. These even look good optically printed as 10x10's.
Something Bad: Ilford Delta 3200 isn't cheap, and at times is more expensive per format than even high speed color film. Also, it's available only in 35mm and 120, sorry older and large formats.
Something Learned: Diluted XTOL is the way to go for sharpness in very high speed shooting situations. Its ability to keep the grain patterns tight and shadow detail present are phenomenal! Be sure to check out the scans at full size to see for yourself.
Next Week: The large format side of this trip. To call these shots a fresh persepective is an understatement!
Reader Comments (2)
This is grainy? What, are you one of those people who has to chew their food thirty-seven times with each new bite?
All kidding aside, why diluted XTOL? Wouldn't a more concentrated developer give you less grain? Personally, I'm thinking of mixing up some Mytol to see if (a) I can do it, and (b) it gives good results.
Hey Dan, not sure if you're still looking for an answer on the XTOL, but I use it and most all other developers in dilute form so I can better tame highlights in my negative. In such a super-fine grain developer, I'm not worried about a slight increase in size when in exchange I can be sure to retain good highlight detail while trying to resurrect the shadows.