Topic started by Srini (@ 203.117.167.130) on Tue Jul 24 03:29:48 .
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Hello:
I am sure many of you may have evinced interest in viewing/clicking timeless, classical B & W photographs. I have a passion for them.

So far, I have never owned a camera and I intend buying in the near future. I want it to be conducive to snap B & W photographs.

I sincerely welcome your valuable opinions, either as amateurs or as professionals, on:
1) The type/make of camera best suited for B & W photos
2) Rolls to be used - again the possibilities/make etc.
3) Other valuable tips to ensure quality photography, with specific regard to B & W photos.
4) Specific URLs that you would like to recommend on this (search engine results are rather unwieldy on this !)

Awaiting for a downpour of knowledge ! Thanks & Regards,

Responses:

• From: Srini (@ 203.117.167.130) on: Tue Jul 24 03:30:33
  
  >>Prove<< "Provide"..sorry for the typo
  
  
• From: stg (@ st53-new.aramco.com.sa) on: Tue Jul 24 07:23:09
  
  Regarding the camera, it makes no differnece. Go for a 35 mm SLR camera preferable a manual one or one with both auto and manual. Use 100 asa films.
  
  As to the websites any search engine will cough up a plethora of sites that it will take a life time to go thru all those.
  
  
• From: Srini (@ 203.117.167.131) on: Tue Jul 24 22:42:49
  
  stg,
  
  Thanks.
  
  
• From: era.murugan (@ dialpool-210-214-128-159.maa.sify.net) on: Wed Jul 25 11:10:51
  
  Srini,
  
  Pl visit one of the web sites about the black and white photography wizard Henri Cartier Bresson. His photographs are breathtaking. At 92, he is still energetic when discussing about photography and films (the legendary French director Jean Renoir was his best friend). I remember watching his interview in London a few years back.
  
  
• From: Photo Friend (@ adsl-64-169-108-133.dsl.lsan03.pacbell.net) on: Thu Jul 26 18:15:10
  
  Srini,
  
  I was impressed with this site and would recommend
  http://www.photozone.de/
  
  
  
• From: raju (@ host62-6-131-207.host.btclick.com) on: Thu Aug 2 18:17:58
  
  srini,
  i take 1000's of BW photos and have had exhibitions,papers etc...
  any camera will do.
  also anyfilm will do though generally 100asa might be better but it's upto the ph'gfr.
  start to take using xp2 film,so you can take the roll to a normal photo shop and they will print it...so it'll be cheaper...though it does come back either blueish or vignette, but i like that effect and print the ones i want separately.
  if u r going to develop and print your own be patient and love to love the darkroom.
  get a grey card(i'll explain later).
  
  
• From: Srini (@ 203.117.167.131) on: Thu Aug 2 23:16:08
  
  era.murugan, Photo Friend, raju:
  
  Thanks a lot for your valuable tips. I have noted down your points. Though I currently dont have a darkroom to do the development myself, that's one of my cherished dreams for the future. Please keep adding your thoughts as each of them matters to me. Thanks again.
  
  
• From: Sheker (@ 202.88.232.196) on: Fri Aug 3 01:04:40
  
  Srini,
  Get yourself a yellow and an orange filter for cloud and sky separation. Also a polarising filter to cut down unwanted reflections on the subject. To judge the tones and to remove color from the subject you are to shoot, close up your eyes, almost closing them. This will give a fairly good idea of the light and tonal values in the frame.
  
  The slower the film ie. the smaller the ASA/ISO number, the more fine-grained will be the film, meaning your photos will have a beautiful smooth grain pattern. 100 ISO/ASA Ilford is excellent for portraits. The skin tones look poetic!
  
  Lastly, congratulations for choosing a medium that is unfortunately going out of fashion.
  Twentyfive years from now , when all the "computer developed color photos" have faded away to a dirty red-brown, B&W photos will remain as fresh as the memories they enshrine.
  
  Good luck!
  Sheker
  
  
• From: Srini (@ 203.117.167.131) on: Fri Aug 3 01:34:40
  
  Sheker,
  
  My gratitude for sharing your thoughts; Your conclusive words are as poetic as the B&W photos that we both seem to relish. Thanks for being here.
  
  If possible, please let me know your email address for I might like to disturb you occassionally for future clarifications. Other contributors too may kindly let me know their email IDs please, just in case this thread gets lost or if I need your opinions later. Thanks.
  
  
• From: Sure Thing (@ adsl-64-160-22-27.dsl.lsan03.pacbell.net) on: Fri Aug 3 14:16:02
  
  Sheker,
  
  I'm catching up with you on this forum as well. An advice I could do with. I hope it's ok with Srini to discuss Color here.
  
  Though my camera (Pentax Super Program, 35-105 mm) has the program mode, I still try and use the manual mode to take indoor portraits. With the flash fully charged, the flash sync speed at 1/125, the aperture set between 3.5 and 5.8, I still get the pictures under exposed often. Perhaps by 2 stops. BTW, the film speed is 200. What do you suggest? The widest is 3.5. Do you think the flash is not good enough or it's batteries are weak? But then the full charge light does come up. Again, though the flash is TTL capable, I use the manual mode.
  
  On another note, do you suggest any specific filter for indoor flash photography? Sometimes I find a few colors appear strong. Specifically the yellow and the red.
  
  Thanks in advance.
  
  
• From: Sheker (@ 202.88.233.248) on: Mon Aug 6 05:55:43
  
  Sure Thing,
  If you have done a thorough trouble shoot on all other things ( such as ASA setting, proper aperture setting etc.) that can go wrong, then I can only think of one thing. This is also because you say that you get pictures underexposured *often*. Meaning it is not a constant problem. In such cases usually the flash unit is the culprit. An old (+8 years, amateur model) flash may tend to give weak intensity illumination. This problem is compounded as the batteries drain. I have had the experience that with an aging flash unit, after about one and a half rolls, the flash ready light is not dependable. It may light up, but if you shoot the flash won't have enough power to give you the proper illumination. You can see if this is your problem by testing.
  
  1.) Shoot flash subjects on one roll using new and old batteries. 2.) Try borrowing a friend's new flash unit for your camera.
  
  If this is indeed your problem and since it is not exactly predictable, I can only state the obvious. Get a new flash unit!
  
  Incidentally, there are very few occasions wherea TTL can prove more correct than good educated guesswork.
  
  Some good news for ordinary daylight photography. Negative film (as opposed to tranparency or slide film) has a lot of latitude. This means, after you have worked out the exact exposure for the subject, you can go ahead and overexpose by one to one and a half stops!! This will catch all the details in the shadows without burning out the highlight details. Good printing can give you a well-exposed print. The exact exposure is not a sacred cow (especially if it's TTL).
  In transparency shoots, of course, you will have to underexpose by one full stop for rich, saturated (halwa, halwa!) colors.
  
  Re. corrective filters for color photography, unfortunately the very nature of the medium precludes the use of color filters. Filters for effect is another matter. Any photograhy magazine will have ads for fancy filters, which you may like to try depending on your taste for such things.
  
  Re. colors that appear strong, the only way is to, if your subject permits, compose without the offending colors. Some films are advertised as being more color-faithful than others. But I feel the difference is very marginal.
  
  Sheker
  
  
• From: Sure Thing (@ adsl-64-169-111-45.dsl.lsan03.pacbell.net) on: Wed Aug 8 19:37:23
  
  Sheker,
  
  I was travelling, hence the delay. Thanks for your suggestions and feedback. The Flash is old, but I feel it could be the batteries that mustbe the reason.
  
  Thanks again
  
  
• From: Dave Macdonald (@ proxy.ia3.marketscore.com) on: Mon Jun 3 21:37:49
  
  They say any camera will do,and that is true.
  I love B&W photography, and highly recomend the Pentax Super Program. Made in 1983 fully manual with great options. perfect for apature photography.
  
  
• From: raju (@ host62-7-155-73.webport.bt.net) on: Tue Jun 4 14:15:59
  
  i am spending a lot of time in the dark room at present and the machine i am using has an easy changeble grade system..so i can print half a print in grade 2 and the rest in grade 4.great for shading etc....
  
  
• From: Srini (@ 203.197.239.1) on: Wed Jun 19 09:25:07
  
  Reviving . . .
  
  
• From: raju (@ host62-7-166-27.webport.bt.net) on: Wed Jun 19 20:06:26
  
  funny....today i used photoshop 6 to clean a print and it was just amazing.
  
  

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