Camera: Pentax ME Super
Lens: Pentax-M 50mm f/2.0 manual
Film: Ilford Pan-F 50
1/125s at f/8
We started the day early, leaving Palmcaster around 6:30am. I knew sunrise was at about 7:30, but wasn't really looking to catch the event itself... that magical morning light that photographer always rave about on forums is what I was after. From previous experience, my Nissan Sentra I knew was not the best offroading vehicle, so this time around I managed to convince my friend Andrew that we should take his truck and try it out on the rugged roads of the Red Rock backcountry, on the CA-14 just north of the California City junction.
About the time we reached Mojave, everyone in the truck (Andrew drove) was in a bad way for some breakfast and coffee, so we stopped and acquired a hefty supply of both. When we arrived at the cliffs, full and caffeinated, the soft light of the early to mid morning was perfect. We left the truck in a clearing and began walking the blasted terrain.
It was like an alien world... dead silence but for a slight beeeze and the occasional conversation, fantastic rock formations, and all over specimens of those hardy yet beautiful species that want to live enough to thrive in the desert. A large part of the park, especially near the cliffs, was closed to visitors due to raptor breeding season.... note to self, bring the telephoto in the summer!
I chose this photo to blog about because you can see the range of capability for the film. There are some possibly more interesting shots on my Flickr gallery.
I LOVE THIS FILM!!!! Note the wide range of tonal detail; exposing for the middle tones, this film gets you true black in the crevices at left, and a nice luster on the brighter cliff walls at right. What grain you might be able to make out probably reflects more on the quality of my scanner than the film, as the prints I have are brilliant.
Ilford Pan-F 50 cost me $7.50/36 at King Photo. Post-processing true black and white film is more expensive than normal 35mm color film. If I recall right, it was about $12.00 for developing and a contact sheet, and something like $1.30 per 4x6.
I just bought another roll.... can't wait to use this film again!
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Red Rock in Black and White
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1 comments:
I should note also that this is a slight overexposure. Pan-F can look very moody and dark normally... it is an ISO 50 film, but this shot and most of the others were rated at ISO 40. That is, on my Pentax's selector dial to choose film ISO, I told the camera that the film was ISO 40 instead of 50. This means that the light meter searched for a higher exposure than it would have normally.
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