How can I get those really contrasty landscape shots with full depth of field and a nice bit of grain with a 35mm? is this poss without a medium/large format camera? Any tips on developers/films for such an effect?

-- Greg Brosnan (gbrosnan@infosel.net.mx), April 20, 1999

Answers

Faster films need less light, so you can use smaller apertures, and are grainier. Pushing a film increases contrast. So if you want high contrast, grain and lots of DoF, then pushing HP5+ or Tri-X would seem suitable.

-- Alan Gibson (Alan.Gibson@technologist.com), April 21, 1999.

If you want NICE grain I'd drop the HP5+ for 35mm and stick to Tri-X.

-- Lot Wouda (lotwouda@compuserve.com), April 22, 1999.

Oh good, can we start a war please? HP5+ gives MUCH nicer grain than Tri-X.

Sorry, Lot, just couldn't resist. I know plenty of people do prefer Tri-X. There's no accounting for taste.

Of course, it depends on what Greg means by 'nice'. We all like different things. The reference to large format confuses me, as this will heavily reduce the effect of grain, which might be what Greg wants.

-- Alan Gibson (Alan.Gibson@technologist.com), April 23, 1999.

Woah there lads! - For the sake of international diplomacy let's be British about this! What I'm looking for is that abstract very large- grain look that for example Sebastiao Salgado gets - altough I've got about two lifetimes to go before getting photos like his. Does anyone know any of his tricks? Format/Camera/film?

-- Greg Brosnan (gbrosnan@infosel.net.mx), April 23, 1999.

Want to know more about Sebastiao Salgado??? Try: http://www.asiaphoto.com/dawntan/salgado.htm

Bye

-- Charles Dias (deepblue97a@hotmail.com), April 23, 1999.

If you want real large grain, you could use Tmax3200 at about 1200 ASA e.g. in HC110 or Ilfotec 1+31.

-- Lot (lotw@wxs.nl), April 24, 1999.

As for Salgado's gear, he uses Leica (35mm) SLRs, usually with a 35mm lens although he sometimes goes for a moderate telephoto (90mm?).

The film looks like it's probably Tri-X, but that's just a guess.

Hope this helps

-- Mason Resnick (bwworld@mindspring.com), April 26, 1999.

Using a 35mm or a 28mm lens would also help to see more grain, because the subjects are smaller in relation to the grain than with a 50 or a 90mm.

-- Lot (lotw@wxs.nl), April 26, 1999.

Tmax 3200 ( rated at 3200) in Ilford Ilfosol S for 20 minutes seems to do the trick- especially for typical Irish conditions ( dull / wet / etc). I dont know how effective it is in decent weather conditions!

-- Brendan Mulholland (bmulholl@harris.com), May 07, 1999.

In an old edition of the Kodak Encyclopedia of Advanced Photography which I recently leafed through, the suggestion for large grain was considerable over-development followed by reducing to keep printing times acceptable.

-- Thomas Wollstein (wollstein@compuserve.com), June 22, 1999.

There's always reticulation as a Plan B.

-- James D. Steele (jdsteele@erols.com), June 22, 1999.

Masons guess is correct on the film selection. The film is rated dependent upon the situation and its needs. (depth of field, speed,etc) and then developed as rated. 200-400-800-1600,etc.

-- jim megargee (jim@mvlabs.com), June 23, 1999.

At one time, to get a grainy, contrasty image on 35mm film, I used Tri-X and Diafine or Tri-X and Ethol Blue. Today, a combination of T-Max 3200 and HC-110 dil B should a similar result.

-- Michael Purcell (photog@zipcon.net), June 24, 1999.

Recording film is pretty damn grainy, but that's cool - depending on how you use it!

-- Karin Karnes (Karink23@aol.com), June 27, 1999.