"1940s look" on B/W enlargement

"Lloyd Erlick" Lloyd at @the-wire. dot com wrote

I prefer to work with a numbering system so
each exposure on film has a serial number,
and each print has a number derived from
that. Each print gets a tiny number ...

Sounds like a job for a PalmPilot and a darkroom
computer.

I can make lengthy notes to my
heart's content in a notebook (with pages
numbered ... you get the idea ...).

I take the most notes when taking pictures
that need not and should not be taken: boring,
pedestrian, uninteresting, so what, hum ho...
usually bracketed to a fair-thee-well.

If it is the perfect shot there are no notes.

I suppose I can only do one thing at a time:
take pictures or take notes.

The most useless notes are ones noting the
shutter speed and aperture unless there was
something special about the ones picked.

Now what sort of dance I did with the spot meter
that led me to the (invariably very wrong) exposure I
used is useful information.

My notes are a compendium of what _not_ to do.

--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Darkroom Automation: F-Stop Timers, Enlarging Meters
http://www.darkroomautomation/index.htm
n o lindan at ix dot netcom dot com

On Thu, 15 Mar 2007 18:33:35 GMT, "Nicholas
O. Lindan" wrote:

"Lloyd Erlick" Lloyd at @the-wire. dot com wrote

I prefer to work with a numbering system so
each exposure on film has a serial number,
and each print has a number derived from
that. Each print gets a tiny number ...

Sounds like a job for a PalmPilot and a darkroom
computer.
....

My notes are a compendium of what _not_ to do.



March 16, 2007, from Lloyd Erlick,

Yeah, lots of button pushing. I employ a
device with but a single button on the end of
a short cylinder, out of which protrudes a
tiny pointed tip suitable for writing with
the digits whenever the little button is
pushed.

But lately I've caught myself in the act of
scanning the papyrus on which I've scribed my
notes. I now have a burgeoning computer file
of printing notes. I put an image file of how
I've cropped the neg for the print, too,
numbered appropriately so it stays with the
note page.

The Google product called Picasa2 is a
wonderful image filing and cataloguing and
viewing program. I literally use it to read
my notes (which are all stored as jpg files).
So who sez I haven't come into the modern
age, even though I use film?

My notes really have been no more than the
compendium you mentioned. But also, I've
never been interested in much out of my notes
except for what I did wrong, and very
occasionally what I chanced to do right when
I thought I was doing something else.

Sometimes I make prints that I know will look
very much like each other, but have slight
differences. My notes make it easier to
eventually get around to comparing them when
they've been finished.

Also, over the long term the notebook turns
into a special form of personal diary. Once
in a while during a darkroom session I have
insightful thoughts, and they get into that
notebook.

regards,
--le
________________________________
Lloyd Erlick Portraits, Toronto.
website: www.heylloyd.com
telephone: 416-686-0326
email:
________________________________
--

Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
How much has Tri-X changed since it was introduced?

That's beyond the scope of this group. A few years ago Kodak closed their
factory that produced their black and white films and sold the equipment
to Lucy in China.

Hmmm. The Tri-X I bought from B&H in January says "Made in USA,
Finished in Mexico for Eastman Kodak Company."

Note that there were two films sold as Tri-X and they were (are)
slightly different. One in 35mm and 120, and the other Tri-X Pan Professional
in 120, 220 and sheet film.

What does "professional" mean on B/W film? I know what it means on
color film, regarding the color shift.

I'm not (yet) seriously into duplicating
the "1940s look," just wondering what I can do to print one
already-developed negative.

I think you still need to define the "1940's look".

I agree! I think that is probably the biggest reason that I'm not sure
how to obtain it.

B&H is a good place to order from, but you should look at Freestyle in
L.A. They have a much wider selection of film, paper and chemicals.

I have a catalog from Freestyle that I requested online last fall. They
do have a much wider selection, but I really think I'd better
concentrate on learning the basics of darkroom work before I get into
specialties.

BTW the college is 70 miles from NYC, so it's an easy day trip by car or
train. On the first day of class, the instructor said something like,
"Here is a list of supplies you have to buy. You can get most, but not
all, locally, but you'll pay twice as much. You can get all of them
from B&H, Adorama, or Alkit in NYC." Some students went to NYC, some
bought locally, I ordered online from B&H, except for the few things
that couldn't be shipped, like compressed air. Example: 35mm Tri-X, 36
exposures: all those big stores charge around (US) $3.69 per roll. The
one local store that has it charges $6.09.

Adam

On 16 Mar 2007 in rec.photo.darkroom, Adam wrote:

I agree! I think that is probably the biggest reason that I'm not
sure how to obtain it.

One suggestion I haven't seen yet is to research the Zone System. Even
if you decide not to use it, you'll get some insight into how people were
thinking about tonality in the first half of the 20th century.

--
Joe Makowiec
http://makowiec.org/
Email: http://makowiec.org/contact/?Joe

Lloyd Erlick wrote:

Yeah, lots of button pushing. I employ a
device with but a single button on the end of
a short cylinder, out of which protrudes a
tiny pointed tip suitable for writing with
the digits whenever the little button is
pushed.


Most excellent. Thanks for that!

Adam wrote:

What does "professional" mean on B/W film? I know what it means on
color film, regarding the color shift.

For Kodak B&W films it means a film base that can be retouched.

pico wrote:
Adam wrote:

What does "professional" mean on B/W film? I know what it means on
color film, regarding the color shift.

For Kodak B&W films it means a film base that can be retouched.

It also means different exposure/development. For example I have no idea
if Tri-X and Tri-X Pan Proffessional are different emulsions, but
but the exposure (ISO 400 vs 320 for proffessional) is different.

The difference in development may just be compensation for the greater
exposure.

Geoff.


--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 Fax ONLY: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838
Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/

"pico" wrote in message
...
Lloyd Erlick wrote:

Yeah, lots of button pushing. I employ a
device with but a single button on the end of
a short cylinder, out of which protrudes a
tiny pointed tip suitable for writing with
the digits whenever the little button is
pushed.


Most excellent. Thanks for that!

Mr Erlick (whose knowledge of photography, IMHO, ranks right up with Mr
Richard K.!) forgot to mention that his high tech record keeping device
requires no battery or AC adapter. Also, the "Mark I" version of his device,
which has no button and the point is always exposed will work upside down or
in zero gravity. The "Mark I" version does require an accessory honing
device, which may require a power source; manual honing devices are
available.

Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:

It also means different exposure/development. For example I have no idea
if Tri-X and Tri-X Pan Proffessional are different emulsions,

They are very different. It's just a bit of bad judgment that Kodak
named them both Tri-X. Look at the stock number. Professional is
entirely different.

Joe Makowiec wrote:
One suggestion I haven't seen yet is to research the Zone System.

Thanks, Joe! I have a copy of "Zone System Manual" by Minor White (4th
ed., 1967) but haven't really looked at it seriously yet. In fact, I
have a small pile of books about photography that I've acquired over the
years, and keep meaning to read. The most imposing is the textbook for
the course I'm in ("Photography" by Bruce Warren, 2nd ed.) which is 600
pages!

Adam