Traveling tips

greenspun.com : LUSENET : B&W Photo - Film & Processing : One Thread

In a month I am traveling to London for the first time. I plan to take tons of pictures, and I plan to take a lot of B&W pics. I consider myself a beginner, So I would love any good suggestions on how to handle my London photographic adventure. What kind of black and white film should I use? I just got access to a darkroom, so what chemicals should I use for B&W? How can I keep my film easily organized for processing when I return? I would like to keep a photo journal of sorts, what should I put in it? Considering the weather in London, what are some good techniques; filters, apeture/SS settings? Any websites you that you know could help would be great too. Any information you can give me on getting some good B&W Images while in london would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for taking the time, Christopher

-- Christopher Slye (proudmonkey09@aol.com), January 19, 2001

Answers

In February and March days are still short in Northern Europe, and most Museums, churches and such are poorly lit, so you'll need to take fast film, at least ISO 400. Since you're just starting out you should use film/developers which offer the best performance with the greatest lattitude for inexact handeling. I'd shoot Ilford HP5+ film and process it in 1+1 Kodak D-76 (or Ilford ID-11 which is the same thing). Carrying a tripod is a drag, but a little pocket tripod can be worth it's weight in gold. After shooting two or three rolls you should have your next roll processed in London, to make sure that everything is working all right. I always take enough film for one roll per day plus one roll per week plus a roll in the camera, and a little more if it's a short trip. If you're taking pictures of people try and shoot at at least 1/100 sec. Forget filters. Be sure to take a magic marker which writes on plastic to mark your film as you load the camera. And don't forget to look BOTH WAYS before crossing a street.

-- Bill Mitchell (bmitch@home.com), January 20, 2001.

Christopher, I strongly suggest you use Ilford's XP-2 S chromogenic black and white film and have it processed (developed) by a lab. It is an ISO 400 film, however I recommend you shoot it @320 or 200.

Since you are new to b&w processing don't take chances with learning on negatives you cannot replace. With XP-2 you will end up with good negs and get a good workout enlarging them yourself.

Also, this film can be processed by any one-hour color lab. That way, you can get a bunch of your stuff processed while still in London, and see if you like the results.

Good luck!

chris

-- Christian Harkness (chris.harkness@eudoramail.com), January 20, 2001.


On second thought, I agree with Chris about shooting with Ilford XP-2 film and having it commercially processed. He's right about not learning to develop your own film on irreplacable pictures. Good call.

-- Bill Mitchell (bmitch@home.com), January 20, 2001.

And you won't have to argue with security people about airport X- radiation once the film is processed...

-- Paul Oosthoek (pauloosthoek@hotmail.com), January 20, 2001.

p.s. don't worry if the prints you get back from a none-hour lab [XP- 2] have a sepia or green or other weird colorcast. That'll be because the prints are made on color paper. When you do your own, they will look like regular b&w prints.

chris

-- Christian Harkness (chris.harkness@eudoramail.com), January 21, 2001.



'''''''how about 'one-hour'....

chris

-- Christian Harkness (chris.harkness@eudoramail.com), January 21, 2001.


I agree with the suggestion of XP-2+. If you take some time NOW to learn B&W, shooting and developing, then maybe a real B&W film.

I budget 2 rolls per day, rounded up to an even 5 or 10 depending on the length of a trip. I prefer to bring film home rather than worrying about running out. Of course, in London you will be able to buy just about any film there is, but not all places are so convenient.

You do need to test, but in general a light yellow filter brings up the contrast under flat lighting.

-- Terry Carraway (TCarraway@compuserve.com), January 21, 2001.


It's a good idea to take all your film with you, because it seems to cost more over there, especially at touristy spots. If you remove the boxes from the canisters before flying over, be ready to show airport security the contents of the canisters. Burying the film in your luggage will avoid this, of course. In London, I find architectural details and shop and pub windows to be good subjects, but you will want to shoot many scenes, too, since it's your first visit. While days are short, central London streets and theater exteriors are well lighted, and 400 speed film can be used with some leaning on things for steadiness. I hope you can stay long enough to get around on the Underground and buses and not be limited to the big tourist things and their crowds.

-- Keith Nichols (knichols@iopener.net), January 21, 2001.

I like a lot of the answers you have gotten so far (especially using one-hour B&W film). I would suggest:

* One roll a day. Ordinarily, I shoot 24 exposure rolls (I hate having film sit in a camera) but on trips, having the extra 12 per roll can have its merits. You basically get three rolls (24 exposure) of film with two cans of 36 exposure. You have less to carry!

* Use ISO 400. You might run into a day where it is really bright out but chances are, you will want to have a good all-around film that you can shoot with available light (and not have to lug around a flash). Less of a need to bring a tripod too. Also great landscape shots won't have to suffer from shallow depth of field because you had to open the aperture wide to get a decent (handheld) shutter speed.

* Don't pack your film in your luggage. X-rays for checked-in baggage can be a lot more powerful than what you will get at a security checkpoint. Put your film in a clear ziploc baggie and when you get to the checkpoint, ask to have your film hand inspected. Budget extra time to go through security as many of them will check your film, each and every roll. (Also, try not to rip the ziploc baggie, thus sending your rolls scattering everywhere like I just recently did at an airport!) Also try to have your camera empty (no film) when you go through. That way, any x-rays from the machine won't damage already exposed photographs sitting in the camera.

* Act like you're from New York. :-) I'm not saying that you have run around like a Sopranos extra but expect an inspection. It can be an inspection of your equipment, film or you! If you expect it, there is less of a chance of you not handling the situation confidently. Sometimes security personnel key off of the nervousness of an individual. If you expect some sort of inspection, you can approach it with "business as usual" attitude. Case in point: My girlfriend and I just went on a short trip. To ease our trip through security, we put all of our cameras (3 film, one digital) into one backpack (better than having her bag AND mine ripped apart for inspection). My girlfriend gave the security officer the ziploc full of film (the one I ripped-see above) for hand inspection. The backpack full of equipment went right through the conveyor belt inspection. It didn't even get a second look by security. They did inspect every roll of film (including opening the plastic canisters). A woman behind us had one camera and a DV recorder in a small camera bag. The security officer practically disassembled her equipment for inspection. She looked scared stiff. Remember, HOW you present is as important as WHAT you present.

* Carry a copy of your sales receipts (for your camera, lens, flash, etc). If there is a customs snafu, you can prove that you didn't buy your equipment abroad (and have to pay duty tax for equipment you already own).

* When you say you're a beginner, what do you mean? Beginner to B&W? Beginner to photography in general? What shows up in color photography doesn't necessarily show up the same in B&W. It takes a different frame of mind to do B&W. I would suggest bringing some color film (gasp!) as well. That way, you are not entrusting a once in a lifetime event to "something new". If you need help visualizing a scene in B&W, I'm told that if you look at the scene through a Wratten #90 filter, you can see what it will look like when it is on B&W. Don't shoot with said filter on the camera. Just hold it up to your eye to see the scene.

* Labeling? Bring along a small notebook (and pen!) or a digital note taker/cassette recorder. Write/record the rolls of film, exposure information and memos about the scene itself. The latter can serve you when you are putting your prints into albums to show others. It might jog your memory of important details. As for a labeling system, I have started to use the format of year-month-roll number (ie: 01-1-2 for 2001, January, 2nd roll exposed that month) If you want to record dates for that roll, write/record them in the notebook. I have gotten into the habit of writing information on the film canister and the plastic container. When I go to have them developed at the none-hour (sometimes aptly named!), I will write the same label number on the development bag. How do I get around the issue of mixing films up with my girfriend? I put my initial as a prefix (J-01-1-2 or A-01-1-2).

* Most importantly, have a great time and shoot lots of photos! ;-)

Johnny

-- Johnny Motown (johnny.motown@att.net), January 22, 2001.


Christopher

Currently in southern England-29/01/01, it is light from about 7:45am thru to 5:15pm and on sunny days there is a beautiful autumnal side light which will give an excellent golden glow to buildings/landscapes. For shooting B&W film i would make two suggestions: (i) XP2 the B&W film that is processed in C41 chemistry. The beauty of this film is not only its processing convenience but the fact that you can rate different frames on the same roll. So for instance you can shoot at anything between 320ASA and 1600ASA on the same roll without any processing problems. Also the grain does not suffer-if anything it appears to get smoother the quicker you get! (ii) HP5+. This film can be pushed to 3200 ASA, with adjustments in developing times and therefore gets you over the problem of a really quick film being X-rayed. It is very friendly to the user-i recently exposed some HP5 at 1600 and developed at 400 (Doh!) and the negatives were fine (i used Ilfosol S) and it was only when reviewing my notes that i realised my mistake. So if you want to start developing your own film this is a v good starting point.

In terms of getting around London, look out for a one day or weekly travelcard (1 day cards are £4.00-around $6.00for zones 1-2) which give you unlimited travel on tubes or busses and overland trains. If you want to go to such places as Hampton Court or Windsor Castle then this card Zones 1-6 (c£7.50, $11.00) will suffice. If you have the time, by the way, i would particularly recommend Hampton Court.

Hope that this is of some use Have a good trip Andrew Buckley

-- (da_buckley@yahoo.com), January 29, 2001.



Moderation questions? read the FAQ