Now, as I've said, this was my first roll of black and white. And I guess I was confusing it with digital black and white a bit, otherwise known as greyscale, because my feeling when I look at these images is, where are all the shades of gray??
I see the black. (Or almost black.)
I see the white. (Or almost white.)
But where are the in betweens? Did I do something wrong? Screw up my exposure?
Or is this how it's supposed to be? Look, the cats were NOT in super contrasty light. There was contrast, yes. But not as much as the pictures make it look like.
After I pondered this for a while, I felt better. The pictures aren't that terrible. I judged about 50% of them blog worthy, for one reason or another. That's a high percentage!
I just feel like I know my digital cameras so well. I take a photo, and before I take it, I know what it's going to look like. Film is still a mystery. An intriguing one.
You might remember these sprinklers from the color photos in this post.
And of course, I had to take a photo of Evan.
And then he had to return the favor. (Not my best moment.)
And then here's that gardenia I stole. Looks better in color, doesn't it?
So, all in all, film = still a mystery. Me = still going to pursue it. You all = get to come along for the ride.
You're welcome!
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Hi Jessica, The tonal scale and contrast of analog film is determined by many factors: exposure, developer used, development time, temperature. My advice would be to go back to the lab that processed your film and talk to them. I am sure they will help you get the results you want. I like what you've got going on so far. If you found this info useful please check out my company, Digital Silver Imaging. We make real black and white silver gelatin prints from digital files, we also develop b&w film by hand and do some other cool stuff. www.digitalsilverimaging.com - Viva Black and White - Andrea
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