A first – my very first home-developed roll of film. This is the roll, suspended in the bathroom, of black and white Ilford HP5 film, ready to be scanned by yours truly this morning. I converted my color digital image into black and white with the VSCO preset for Ilford HP5 – rather fitting, I thought. 😉
This adventure began this summer, and only now did I finally get around to developing my first roll of black and white film (Ilford HP5, 400 iso) at home. I was tooooooo scared!
On the dining room table, on a towel and metal tray, the chemicals and such were laid out. I practiced loading the reel and placing it in the developing tank multiple times. I have a developing bag that I bought, and it, as you may know, replaces the need for a dark room. I found that if I closed my eyes and focused on touch, things were much easier. Of course, when a dog barks suddenly, it does get a little stressful.
The directions I followed were from Peter at prosophos.com, and while my water out of the tap was a little warmer, I am hoping that there is a bit of latitude when it comes to temperature and time. Â My husband also helped out, sort of supervising the “now do this! Â now do that!” part of it – the first time doing anything is a challenge, no matter how many times you rehearse, eh?
So, now, I have film hanging in the shower stall, drip drying until later this afternoon or early evening, which is when I will scan it to see what I got.
What excitement to pull out the developed roll! I can see that I got photos – there is contrast, so that means something worked right . . . on this roll, I used the Werra along with green, yellow, and orange filters to see how they affect contrast. Feeling the film, it is not tacky, which means the chemicals were good, too.
So, I leave you with this hint below . . . and will show you the results after I scan them. Stay tuned!
Corner of a room we stayed in during our recent trip to Morro Bay. This was shot with Rollei Crossbird Creative Edition film, and was way too green. This is ok.
Awhile ago I loaded up the FM2n with Rollei Crossbird Creative Edition film. It is very, very green. That is okay, but not a good suggestion for landscapes . . . green and then some. Anyway, it is an interesting film, and when there is red in the image, and blues or turquoises, the color skews are not unpleasant. This is one of the two I liked as far as color from the roll.
A nightmare of green.
This is Rollei Crossbird Creative Edition film. It sounded interesting. In a green-ish landscape, it is a nightmare of greens. This looks like something designed to torture.
As you can see, with too much green it only devolves into creepiness.
But, if you have reds in the image, suddenly it becomes interesting.
I actually rather like these. These are straight out of C41 processing.
But the nightmares can be changed into something – better? different? more interesting? artistic?
Yes, I think so. I used my own presets in LR, Topaz Restyle, and a few other things.
Conclusion: This film is weird, but that is what it is supposed to be. I bought it because it was an experiment. It tweaks the mind. Also, a lot of the photos, I actually like, and wish I could turn them into something more normal.
I shot this with my Nikon FM2n and 50mm f1.4mm AIS lens.
Ink, Yarn & Beer 