Discoveries while shooting film

I purchased my Mamiya 645e on May 11th and had it in my hands, thanks to the slowness of the United States Postal Service, around May 18th or perhaps May 20th. So, I’ve had it about 7 weeks, give or take. The seller included 2 rolls of B&W film: 1 TMAX 100, and 1 roll TMAX 400. I purchased an additional 10 rolls: 5 of Ilford Pan F+ (ISO 50), and 5 rolls of Ilford FP4+. Each allowing 15 exposures. All told, I had 12 x 15, or 180 exposures available. So far, I’ve used 10 of the 12 rolls. I have 2 rolls of FP4 remaining. After developing all of the rolls, I’m pretty sure that I’ll stick with the Pan F+. I just like very slow films. I can even shoot it at ISO 25. I have just received 10 more rolls of FP4 along with a bottle of favorite developer, Rodinal!

What I’ve learned
One huge advantage of shooting digital is the ability to have an option. This has uncovered a weakness in my photography. I don’t see shades so well anymore. I’m out of practice. What do I mean? Well, shooting B&W film, you have one chance to get it right. You cannot look at the picture, after the fact, and decide if you’d like it to be color or black & white. It’s black & white. Period.

There have been several shots that I’ve taken that I thought would be absolutely dreamy; however, they came out quite confusing to the eye and required lots and lots of work to get them looking halfway decent. For example, when I peered into a section of woods, there was a soft light falling on some fairly new leaves. They stood out for the surrounding woods quite prominently … in color, because everything was a different shade of green. In black & white, they are subtle shades of gray. There does not appear to be much separation. The negative is well exposed, but a slight bit contrasty. None of the tones are blown out, so the negative is certainly serviceable, but would require a bit of work. I need to work on post processing anyway. It’s all about learning!

I’ve also discovered that for equivalent apparent sharpness, I need to stop down about 2 stops from where I would normally shoot. The focus falloff on a medium format camera is pretty swift, not quite as swift as with a large format camera, but fast enough to make it noticeable!

Although I love photographing in the woods though I find it difficult to get a good picture, which is exactly why I’ll spend more time there. However, there is another place, near work, that has some absolutely lovely buildings that are quickly returning to Nature. The buildings are showing lots of rust, decay, and vines, vines, vines! All structures are impermanent … an important Tao/Zen lesson! Nothing lasts for ever … better get a picture of it!