Girlfriend Noir

David · Expire: 2013-01-25

A week or so ago I was given an old darkroom safelight rendered totally useless due to cracks in the paint. So I have it in a lamp in my room. The cracks create some interesting light patterns on the walls and, sometimes, across my girlfriend's brow when we're chatting. So I grabbed my K1000, a roll of Ilford P4 400 ISO surveillance film, set the ISO setting to 1600, and began shooting some 1/4-second exposures wide-open with my Tak 50mm 1:1.4. Oh, I had a tripod, too. For a few, I used a blue filter to heighten the contrast between the dim red light and the lighter white lines. The goal was to get dramatic, film noir-like results. I think a few of these fit the bill.

Some difficulties:
1- motion blur. It was hard for her to pose for 1/8-, 1/4-, and 1/2-second exposures.
2- focus. I ended up using my cell phone light as a focus aid, bit even then precise focus was difficult.
3- light detail. The fine lines I had tried to capture on her face, like light trails from a disco ball, didn't translate onto film. Only the bold lines did.

A successes:
1- the P4 push processed to 1600 with no issue. It's grainier than typical, but less so than I suspect TMax would have been pushed to 400.

Knowing that these are not super-sharp due to being shot wide open and some inevitable model-shake, I'd like to get our criticisms and comments moving with a question.

1- The series' goal was to create a moody, dramatic atmosphere; was that a success? In which images is it a greater or lesser success?

Don't take that to be all I'd like to know about the series. Your other comments and criticisms are welcome, too. The best of the 36-shot roll.

1

2

3

4

mo · Expire: 2016-07-30

2,3,4 give me a slight feeling of the old horror movie,...with a bit of tweaking I am sure you could get it right.

Nesster · Expire: 2014-02-20

Interesting... the last one is starting to look like Man Ray era art posing...

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

The idea can be interesting and worth exploring further.
I'd work on removing the technical problems, for instance, by using a tripod and a shutter remote, this will fix the camera blur.
You can fix the focus accuracy problem by focusing the camera (on tripod) with the main room light turned on, then turn off main light and shoot.
You can also stop down more, for a model it does not make a big difference to stand still 1/2 second instead of 1/4th if she can lean on something (like the wall).
Reg. the negative, assuming that the scan is neutral, I'd try with more agitation, to increase the contrast.

David · Expire: 2013-01-25

Hey, Orio,

I was surprised at how blurry these were since I did use a tripod. I did not, however, have my release on me. I just thew it all together at the last minute when I told Sulastri I was going to take her photo.

For next time, I'll definitely be using a shutter release. I did a fair amount of agitating on this -- first minute and then for 10 seconds very minute thereafter, but maybe 15 seconds every minute would be more appropriate.

I think I'll try different lighting next time. The light I had was just a darkroom light and VERY dim for photography. Maybe a secondary light source would have helped.

Yeah, she wouldn't let me keep turning the light on and off to focus. Sad

patrickh · Expire: 2011-11-18

This is classic Man Rey

patrickh