Could someone reccomend a suitable B&W film for my project.

S

stellarbeam

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Name
Jessica
Edit My Images
Yes
Subject - Portraits of a girl I know
Setting - A very old, but beautiful library (much like a church)*
Requirements - No flash, possibly no tripod, allowed
Desired affect: Low grain images, not too contrasty. Want it to look quite graceful/serene.

Prob going to need a 1600 / 3600. Any sugestions?

Thanks you.

*not my flickr page.
 
What's the general lighting like in the Library ?

If its not too dingy, fuji neopan 1600 might be good enough, grain but beau blacks.
Dingy = Ilford 3200, plenty of grain but fast.

lol, I read you're requirements again :bonk: ......fast film does not produce grain free shots, slow film does, but you'll probably need a tripod, and the fuji is high contrast, so not much help there then..
 
Thanks. I was wondering about the neopan. I probably worded my post badly. What I meant was although 1600/3200 will have grain, which will be the least grainy/smaller grain.

I'll search flickr for images taken with those 2 films to see what the results look like. I think i'll prob have to comprimise a bit.
 
You know, you ought to do a rekky of the site before you shoot there, you can scope out a good spot, take a light reading, know what the problems might be and be prepared for them.
The fact that you won't be in control of any light at all, makes this advisable.
If you get a light reading, you will know what the slowest film you can use is handheld.
 
Why I didn't think of that I don't know. The shoot is Monday so I'll pop there this weekend to work things out.
 
Lovely setting. I'd think if you could take your shot somewhere near that large window and choose your time, you'd be OK with FP4. A meter reading would help though, so you'd know what you're dealing with.
 
I don't have a light meter, would taking a reading with my digital camera be ok? I'm wanting to do some of the shots by the window and I'm hoping for a day with good light (fat chance!). Will prob be doing the photos about 11am ish. Do you think this will be ok? (I don't know if it's N, E, S or W facing)
 
Well it depends whether it's a nice tight portrait shot of your gf in nice soft available light from the window, in which case, I don't think you'll need anything too fast and grainy - or a more general view showing your gf in those surroundings, in which case light levels will drop off further into the room quite noticeably.

Photographically, I'd want to avoid direct sunlight on the window as it can be too harsh.

If you can use a tripod I'm sure you'd probably be OK with FP4 and the more general view, even if you have to ask the lady to keep still, you should be able to get away with exposures around half a second, possibly less.

Do you have the exif data for that shot you linked to?

Sorry..yep metering with your DSLR on evaluative/ matrix should be fine.. bracket to be on the safe side.
 
500 ISO 1/4 sec at f9... that would seem to indicate that if you open the aperture up a bit you should be OK. Perhaps try Ilford HP5 Plus - 400 ISO? Not very grainy.
 
just an idea but what about Ilford delta 3200 but shot at 1600?

will have a nice amount of grain but not too much and will have a nice contrast. and if your printing in the darkroom you can always dodge and burn the images as appropiate if need be.
 
I'm not a big lover of grain, unless it ends up in a bottle :D but if you don't mind it, a faster film will make things easier for sure.
 
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