Hi Scott ... Well, you asked, so here goes:
First, it's great to see someone else moving into the darkroom and exploring the possibilities of B&W photography. Good for you. The lack of detail in your wife's hair, the blouse, and the shadow under her wrist, probably the result of an under exposed negative, really detract fron any potential this photo may have. Of course, there may have also been a error in development time or the way you set the scanner. IAC, the result is quite poor. There was probably no need for a yellow filter, although with proper exposure and development it may have added something to the skin tones depending on your wife's coloration and the color temp of the light. The image doesn't look particularly sharp, but that's nit, in and of itself, a negative, especially if you wanted that extra bit of softness, which can be nice in some portraits and pics of this sort. . My concern is why it looks the way it does, and if it's something you did intentionally? It's been mentioned many times, in many venues, that scanning a 35mm neg on a flatbed scanner will generally produce poor results, and, according to some reviews I've read when looking for a flatbed scanner, the Canon model you're using has had problems producing well focused scans. The obvious grain on the wall seems way too much for contemporary TX, especially on so small a reproduction. Perhaps you're a little out of practice with your developing technique - too much or too vigorous agitation, perhaps, or maybe not paying enough attention to the temp of the developer, stop, fix, and rinse. The contrast of the image seems strong, regardless of the deep black in the hair and shadows. This could be a result of over development, too high a development temp (maybe the thermometer is off?) which is, essentially, the same thing, or to frequent and strong an agitation cycle. Perhaps you can take a moment and let us know the time/temp/agitation cycle that you used. Shel > [Original Message] > From: Scott Loveless > Here's the new link: > http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=3326184 I deleted the > original before I pulled my head out of my.......... > I haven't processed film myself in over 12 years, so I'm really > starting with no experience. The following photograph is from the > first roll I've developed. It's a portrait of my wife taken a few > days ago. K-1000, Super-Takumar 135/3.5 M42 mount, medium yellow > filter, Tri-X 400, D-76 1:1, scanned, unsharp mask, and removal of > most of the dust. That's it. Feel free to criticize, critique, or > laugh (at the photo, please, not my wife).
