In Sync But Unslated

Digital vs. Film Again

The more I explore the digital vs film question the more I realize that I like both for entirely different reasons and therefore projects but the cost of shooting film really makes it necessary to consider when to use either of the mediums. I am looking at treating the two as separate mediums rather than separate tools.

One of the things that I am finding is that shooting B & W film really requires tight quality control regarding developing and scanning to get the results I want. Leaving development of B & W film up to a lab has returned results that have been inconsistent. And since me doing film development is out of the question I am a little perplexed about what to do? Before I give up on B & W film I am going to do a search for a better lab situation. I'm not going to publicly out the lab I am disatisfied with but I will say that I do believe that there are others out there that are better. I just wonder at what cost?

Grain

Shooting B&W film has brought grain back into the picture. Many of the B&W photos on the blog so far have been shot on HP5 400 and the resulting grain in the photos has presented me with opportunities that I need to understand more to exploit properly. The gritty nature of the images that result from large spatial areas with small details can sometimes be great and at other times be a distraction.

Using sharpening tools results in distorting the grain in ways that can be unappealing. I will have to print some of these images to see them more clearly. Viewing on the web and making prints is truly two different animals.

Does The Box Always Lie?

First I would like to be clear about where I stand and swear on everything I love that I really enjoy taking pictures. That  said, I would also like to say I believe  photography  can be a truly dishonest medium. That it can not in anyway display truth but is wonderful for making art.  Whether we are talking about still images or motion pictures the potential for dishonesty is so enormous that it is practically inescapable.

This photo is a perfect example of the power of the rectangle for creating an illusion. In the photo it appears that the man is engrossed with the woman sitting across from him when actually he is busy listening to another man who is seated outside of the frame. So any ideas you may have about this picture that do not include the second man (which you cannot see) are founded on unreliable information. Does the fact that I cropped the photo create the lie?  Or is my having cropped the  photo make it art?

B & W Film

I started a new category called B&W Film so that I could track the shots I made on film from the ones that I converted to B&W that were captured digitally. I think that I will also do the same process for the stuff I do in color so I can make comparison there too.

Actually this film or digital question is making me a bit sea sick. The controversy generally rears it's ugly head when I see something in one of my digital captures that I'm sure would have turned out better on film. I am also frustrated when I go into Penn Camera here in DC and one of the salesmen (actually it's only one guy but he shall remain nameless) starts in with all the bad news about his favorite film being discontinued or how his wedding clients are digital crazy. So today I have made a decision to call a truce....

Whether or not film will be around forever I've decided (at least for today) to take the Zen approach and be in the now. So I'm shooting film more and more and more...... and more