Island in the Net by Khürt Williams
Technology and Photography Musings. Established circa 2000.
After trying Jean-Pascal Remon’s Classic Negative recipe, I tried Ritchie Roesch’s Classic Negative recipe, which is based on the Pro Negative Standard film simulation recipe.
I do not have a Fujifilm X-Pro3 or Fujifilm X100V so I don't know how closely Ritchie's recipe matched Classic Negative, but I do like the look.
For this 36 frame "roll of film" for the Film Simulation Challenge, I chose to use Ritchie's "Not" My Fujifilm X-Pro2 Tri-X Push-Process which is Luis Costa's Black and White recipe which is based on ACROS. I'll let Luis describe the recipe.
When it comes to monochrome images, I still use the same recipe that I came up with once I upgraded to an X-trans III camera a few years ago. I’m a fan of contrasty, grainy images when it comes to B&W, so I experimented a bit and discovered that the Acros film sim when shot at high ISOs produces some very film-like grain, which looks much more natural than the grain effect in the film sim settings. This works particularly well with older legacy lenses, because of their natural imperfections compared to current lenses.Luis Costa
And here's what Ritchie wrote about that recipe:
The film simulation recipe that Luis invented produces results that resemble Kodak Tri-X 400 film that’s been pushed one or perhaps one-and-a-half stops, and I would add using Agfa Rodinal. The grain pattern and structure isn’t a 100% match, but for straight-out-of-camera results, it’s pretty darn convincing. I’ve only been using it for a week, but it has already become one of my favourites! It’s better than my Acros Push-Process recipe that I use frequently, and I like that one a lot, too.Ritchie Roesch
And the following set of images is what results when I don't read the fine print, and my wife drives me into Princeton on a sunny, cloudless fall afternoon w, here I spend 45 minutes walking around capturing high contrast scenes at ISO 400. This recipe is meant to be used at high ISO, between 3200 & 12800, and I shot the whole roll of 36 on the wrong ISO setting.
This is one reason why shooting film sucks and why most professional photographers that I know, including ones who were in the industry for several decades, switched to digital a long time ago. Whether it's sniffing chemicals in some dark, dingy hole or clicking and dragging, their clients don't care how you got the shot. They don't care about "slowing down" or "decisive moments" or shooting only in manual or with primes or any of that other mental junk that amateurs spend their time debating. They get paid for results.
If you shoot film and process film, I hope you enjoy it. If you shoot and process digital, I hope you enjoy doing that. Just don't tell me that one or the other has some sort of magical property. I rarely post straight-out-of-the-camera images on this website.
I have a roll of Kodak Tri-X 400 in my Asahi Optical Co. Pentax Spotmatic II. I have been waiting for an opportunity to shoot that roll, which I now know from this experience with the film simulation recipe must be a cloudy or overcast day. It will soon be winter in New Jersey and I expect I will have a lot of cloudy, grey, dreary days.
From the SOOC JPEG, you see here; I did not get good results. These are the best of the shots. The rest are all blown out in highlights. I rented a Fujinon XF35mmF2 R WR (~52mm full-frame FOV) for the week and through the week and decided to try it out. The Fujinon XF35mmF2 R WR performed admirably despite my ineptitude. A few of the shots were out of focus, which is also operator error.
I took a landscape and cityscape in B&W workshop a few weeks ago. I think I will process the same set of RAF images using the techniques I learned in that course. The results won't be based on any films except the one I invent in my head.
Other entries in this challenge series.
Fujifilm X-T2 | Fujinon XF35mmF2 R WR | f/5.6 | ISO 400
Fujifilm X-T2 | Fujinon XF35mmF2 R WR | f/5.6 | ISO 400
Fujifilm X-T2 | Fujinon XF35mmF2 R WR | f/5.6 | ISO 400
Fujifilm X-T2 | Fujinon XF35mmF2 R WR | f/5.6 | ISO 400
Fujifilm X-T2 | Fujinon XF35mmF2 R WR | f/5.6 | ISO 400
Fujifilm X-T2 | Fujinon XF35mmF2 R WR | f/5.6 | ISO 400
Fujifilm X-T2 | Fujinon XF35mmF2 R WR | f/5.6 | ISO 400
Fujifilm X-T2 | Fujinon XF35mmF2 R WR | f/5.6 | ISO 400Ritchie Roesch recently announced his Film Simulation Challenge, which requires that the photographer load her camera with one film simulation recipe, capturing either 24 or 36 frames before changing settings. The photographer is forced to shoot with that one "roll" of the film until that roll is completely exposed. Ritchie's post from today reminded me that I had not yet submitted an entry.
My first roll for the challenge I used a roll of Kodachrome II while walking around the main street in Hightstown. But this time, I used a modified version of Ritchie's Fujifilm X-T30 Velvia Film Simulation Recipe. The Fujifilm X-T2 lacks the Color Chrome Effect setting that is available on the Fujifilm X-T3/X-T30. All of the images in this post are straight out of the camera. I love how the colours of the flowers and the fruit "pop." Next year, I'll make a note to use this recipe to shoot the early spring foliage and flowers with an additional mental not to use it this fall for foliage.
I captured some photographs at the Montgomery Farmers' Market then drove to Hollow Road, where I parked my car and walked down to the rock bed of the Rock Brook. As usual, the sound of the water rushing over the rocks and the wind blowing in the trees set me at ease. I was relaxed, noticing how green everything was and the lack of flowers. The occasional bright yellow butterfly floated by on the wind, too quick to photograph. I followed their flight through the trees into the distance.
The silence was broken by the sound of my iPhone, a call from my sister-in-law, inquiring how my wife was feeling after her surgery yesterday. We chatted and made plans to take my nephews out for a wander in the woods to my photographic hideouts. On my way home, I stopped in at Hobler Park. I captured some images of art installation and the yarrow flowers, the only thing in bloom at this point in the high heat and humidity of August.
Here are the keepers from my roll of 24. I used a 10 stop neutral density filter to capture the images of the water on the Rock Brook.
Other entries in this challenge series.
