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Taking Photos in dimly lit JAZZ CLUBS spell corrected

Hi Rick,

Just to add to the sound advice offered by the previous posters (I can certainly confirm John's statement that a lot of shadow areas will inevitably reproduce as pure black) I would also make a couple of suggestions regarding film. If you're shooting B&W, then Ilford Delta 3200 is worth a try, as the grain seems a bit tighter than TMax 3200 in most cases. If you can shoot at 1600 then do so, as the grain looks a lot cleaner at that speed compared to 3200. If you are home-processing, then consider using a two-bath or compensating developer formula such as Emofin. I haven't tried this myself, but I've seen glowing recommendations for Fuji Neopan 400 in Emofin which gives an effective 1000 speed. (Neopan 400 is normally considered a contrasty film, but the compensating effect of Emofin counteracts that.) At a guess, Neopan 1600 in Emofin might be a good way to get the speed you want without too much contrast and lost shadows.

If you are shooting colour, I can highly recommend uprating Fuji Provia 400F. This stuff is amazing, I've shot it at 3200 and while the grain size is large, it is still perfectly usable even in 35mm. A pro friend of mine tells me he's used it at 6400 before now with usable results. Of course, you will get serious contrast, so only the directly lit parts of the subject will show up above the black background. The only other drawback is the expense; this stuff must have platinum in it, not silver, considering the price Fuji charge for it.

HTH

-= mike =-
 
> I agree with Mike on the two-bath developer, but caution that Tmax p3200 as well as Delta 3200 are not good choices for two bath development (unless you lower the effective film speed ie. p3200 to 1250) because these are not true 3200 speed films. I read somewhere that P3200 was actually 800 speed basicaly pushed to 3200 (the manufacturers evidently do something to help counteract the contrast issues so that they can be pushed)

Two-bath development does give an increase in film speed in most other films though. I am currently testing Neopan 1600 in a two-bath, my own variation of D2D (sorry not available in package form. . .well maybe Photographers Formulay carries D2D) I'm rating at 2400.

I Also Plan on trying an new technique I read about in "The Darkroom Cookbook" sec ed page66 for pushing film . You use Hydrogen peroxide fumes (do not get directly on the film) to push the film between first wash and fix. The book "claims";

Plus X 125, Fp4 125 pushed to 800 to 1600! Hp5+ 400 pushed to 3200 to 6400!

I have not yet tested this myself. But can you imagine the possibilities if true!

Hope this helps Kevin

P.S. I am a big Jazz fan myself! Oh and if you try this Please let me know if it works.
 
> Thanks Ludwig Interesting. Exspensive though. Do you use one of these? Have you ever tr= ied the technique I described?

Kevin
 
Hi another trick with B&W neg film is to pre-flash film giveing a very-low exposure,this not only increses speed but reduces contrast. Please do not ask for details of pre-flash exposure as it was the early 80's when I played with this.
John.
 
This might be the worst suggestion you've had so far, but it is something I will put out there anyway. I was just looking at a photograph John Shaw did of some flowers. In it, he made two exposures. So, say your time would be 1/4 .... he shot one image at 1/8 focussed sharply, and then a second image at 1/8 slightly out of focus. The effect was that the first image burned a sharp although not completely exposed flower on the film ... the second image made a glowing sort of halo around the (yellow) flowers. I was wondering if somehow making two exposures on one frame might be applied in the jazz clubs? I haven't tried it. But if you could get yourself up to a 1/2 second or so, maybe you could end up with something interesting? If you could stop action with the first exposure, then let the slight blurring of movement occur in the second you'd end up with a brighter image overall, and possibly of some artistic interest. Like I said, this might be the worst suggestion - maybe someone who has practiced this method on other subjects will know if I've blundered on this. Good luck though, Lynn PS: Why not speak with the photographer who you said you saw with good images from these clubs? Unless he's very unusual, he probably won't mind helping you figure things out.
 
Hi Kevin,

>>> Thanks Ludwig Interesting. Exspensive though. Do you use one of these? Have you ever tr= ied the technique I described? >>>

No, I have never used hypered film (the only Astropictures I've made have been from the Sun and Moon (please, see http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=320303), and these requiere short exposures. In fact, I don't know anybody using hypered film for "conventional" photography, but I'm sure it can be a very interesting experience.

Cheers, Ludwig Argüelles
 
> Posted by Mike Nunan on Monday, August 04, 2003 - 12:13 pm:

> If you are shooting colour, I can highly recommend uprating Fuji > Provia 400F. This stuff is amazing, I've shot it at 3200 and while the > grain size is large, it is still perfectly usable even in 35mm. A pro > friend of mine tells me he's used it at 6400 before now with usable > results. Of course, you will get serious contrast, so only the > directly lit parts of the subject will show up above the black > background. The only other drawback is the expense; this stuff must > have platinum in it, not silver, considering the price Fuji charge for > it. Mike - This is interesting to me because I just got a lens test back that I did and found that when I'm not hitting at least 1/250 at an effective f11 (large slow lens with a doubler) I get vibration problems and soft images. At 250 or above, everything is sharp edge to edge. ( I previously cursed this lens as soft, and now I'm humbly apologizing to it) Anyway - I need to shoot something of 1600 speed to pull off what I want to do. Do you have any s&le at all of shooting Provia 400 pushed to 1600 just so I can get a vague idea what it might produce? (Not a dimly lit club, but actually outdoors in marginal early morning or late evening light). If you have anything you can email me at Lynn@turnkeydesign.net I don't care if the image is large. Thanks very much, -Lynn
 
Hi Lynn,

YHM
happy.gif


Regards,

-= mike =-
 
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