April 2023 - April 2023 on Island in the Net by Khürt Williams - Technology and Photography Musings. Established circa 2000.

Happy Earth Day

I am so excited. The native plants in my native plant planter are making a show. Soon, they will be covered with flowers, bees and, hopefully, hummingbirds.

Trillium · Saturday 22 April 2023 · FujiFilm X-T3 · XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR

Allium stipitatum · Saturday 22 April 2023 · FujiFilm X-T3 · XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR

Eastern red columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) is a herbaceous perennial plant native to much of eastern North America, from Canada to the southeastern United States.

The eastern red columbine typically grows to a height of 1 to 2 feet (30 to 60 cm) and has delicate, lacy foliage that is bluish-green. The plant produces distinctive and showy flowers, with five red petals that curve upwards to form a tube and a cluster of yellow stamens extending from the centre.

I bought my specimen several years ago. At the end of the growing season, I spread the seeds around the planters in my home. I get a big show of flowers each year when the flowers bloom in spring and early summer and are pollinated by hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees.

Sisyrinchium angustifolium, commonly known as narrow-leaved blue-eyed grass, is a herbaceous perennial plant native to much of North America, from Canada to Mexico. I planted it in my patio planter last year and am excited to see it spring to life this week. The plant typically grows to a height of 6 to 20 inches (15 to 50 cm) and has narrow, grass-like leaves that are up to 10 inches (25 cm) long and ¹⁄₈ inch (3 mm) wide. The leaves are typically green but may have a bluish-grey or purplish tint. The plant produces delicate flowers up to 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter and has six blue to purple petals with a yellow centre. I am so excited!

Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium) · Saturday 22 April 2023 · FujiFilm X-T3 · XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR

Heart-leaved aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium) is a herbaceous perennial plant native to New Jersey and much of eastern North America. The leaves are typically green but may also have a purple tint. The plant produces clusters of small, daisy-like flowers that are pink to lavender and bloom in late summer and early fall. My specimen gave me a great show of flowers last year. The flowers attract a variety of pollinators, including bees and butterflies. Shaan saw a hummingbird among the aster the previous year.

Saturday 22 April 2023 · FujiFilm X-T3 · XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR

Kodak Professional Portra 400BW - Expired

I exposed another expired 35mm roll of Kodak Portra 400 BW.

I'm unsure why or how it happened, but I exposed almost an entire cartridge of expired Kodak Professional Portra 400BW with pictures of my orange tabby, Alphonso Mango. I had written "snow day" in my notes, but when I looked at the scans, I realised that I had also written the same thing on the notes for the expired Ilford HP5 400 I had exposed the previous day. I intended to expose both cartridges from the box of expired 35mm film during the snow. But ... I didn't.

Kodak Professional Portra 400BW was a multi-purpose chromogenic black and white negative film designed to be processed in standard C-41 chemistry alongside rolls of colour negative film and printed on traditional colour paper. It was developed like a colour-negative film in the C-41 process and delivered monochrome images like a black-and-white film. The film was intended for exposure with daylight, electronic flash, and artificial illumination. Kodak Professional Portra 400BWW was a versatile film for 35mm and medium format cameras. It was made with a Kodak T-Grain emulsion and had a wide exposure latitude. Production of the Kodak Portra 400BW was discontinued and replaced with Kodak Professional BW400CN, which was also discontinued. This film incorporated Kodak T-GRAIN® emulsions, which provided wonderful grain and sharpness at a relatively high speed. This film was used for portrait and wedding applications and many commercial applications.

The first time I used Kodak Porta 400BW, I exposed it at box speed. I realised then that I needed to overexpose the expired film. I exposed this 35mm roll of Kodak Professional Portra 400BW at ISO 100. The results are much better. But I think ISO 160 may have produced better results.

The film cartridge was developed at Boutique Photo Lab and scanned on my Epson Perfection V600 with VueScan 9. I processed the negative scans using Negatvibe Lab Pro, adjusted the exposure by -1/3 EV in Adobe Lightroom and cropped out the film borders.

Name	Kodak Professional Portra 400BW
Price	FREE
Native ISO	400
Format	35mm
Features	chromogenic black and white negative
Exposed ISO	100
Lab	Boutique Film Lab
Process	C41
Scanner	Epson Perfection V600
Software	VueScan 9, Negative Lab Pro, Adobe Lightroom

Alphonso Mango · Tuesday 7 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 400

Tuesday 7 March 2023 · Minolta XD-11 · MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 · ISO 400

Ilford HP5 400 - Expired

Ilford HP5 400 35mm film was a black and white photographic film that gained a reputation as a versatile and reliable choice for both amateur and professional photographers.

We have had very little snow this winter. One morning in early March, we had snow that lasted more than a few minutes. It was early morning, and I had no pressing meetings. I grabbed the Minolta X-700 and loaded an unlabeled black cartridge from the box of expired 35mm film. The film cartridge was inside a smaller box labelled Ilford HP5 400. I went outside for a quick walk along Salisbury Road.

I have not exposed snowy scenes with any film stock. Snow confuses the camera's exposure meter. It will most likely underexpose your shots because it can't recognise the brightness of the snow. The X-700 doesn’t have the advanced "WYSIWYG" preview features of my Fuji X-T3, so I expected that my exposure would all be shit.

Ilford HP5 400 35mm film was a black and white photographic film that gained a reputation as a versatile and reliable choice for both amateur and professional photographers. This film has been a staple in the photography industry for decades, known for its fine grain, high contrast, and excellent tonal range.

The ISO rating of 400 made this film suitable for many lighting conditions, including low-light situations. It was ideal for capturing sharp, detailed images with a high level of contrast and emphasising deep blacks and bright whites. This made it particularly well-suited for portraits, street photography, and documentary-style photography.

Ilford HP5 400 was also known for its wide exposure latitude, which means it could handle a wide range of exposures without sacrificing image quality. This made it an excellent choice for photographers who needed to work quickly in changing light conditions or who wanted to experiment with different exposure settings.

The film was sold in 35mm format, one of the world’s most widely used film formats, and came in 36 exposure rolls. It was processed using standard black-and-white processing techniques and was compatible with various developers and fixers.

Ilford HP5 400 35mm film was a classic black and white film that has stood the test of time. Its current iteration, HP5 Plus, continues to be famous for black-and-white photography. Its versatility, reliability, and high-quality results have made it a photographer’s favourite for decades. It remains a popular choice for those who value the timeless beauty of black-and-white photography.

To compensate for the number of years that have passed since the film expired, I overexposed this cartridge of expired Ilford HP 400. I exposed it at ASA 50 and sent it to Boutique Film Lab for development. The cartridge was listed for 36 exposure, but I got 38 usable frames from the cartridge. The negatives were scanned with VueScan 9 on my Epson Perfection V600. I added meta-data using Exif Editor and imported the images into Adobe Lightroom, where they were converted to viewable images using Negative Lab Pro. I asked my regular lab, Boutique Film Lab, to pull the film -3 during development. At least, that’s what I have in my notes. I’m not sure if they did that or not.

Name	Ilford HP5 400
Format	35mm
ASA	400
Features	High contrast. Wide exposure latitude.
Camera	Minolta X-700
Lens.	Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm F1.7
Exposed ISO	50
Price	FREE
Lab	Boutique Film Lab
Process	B+W, pull -3
Scanner	Epson Perfection V600
Software	VueScan 9, Negative Lab Pro, Adobe Lightroom

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