what are the pros and cons of pushing or pulling hp5 b&w? i have a class project that allows me to do either. i'm trying to decide between the two. it is sunny in san francisco today...but it looks like it will be cloudy when i'm shooting tomorrow. i'm planning on shooting plants close-up with a 35mm slr.

-- denise rieckmann (drieckmann@yahoo.com), April 18, 2001

Answers

Denise, The advantages of push or pull is to adapt yourself and your film to subject qualities. It doesn't matter if the day is sunny or not if you'll be looking at small pieces of plants. In this case, pushing can be wise, for it will increase constrast of texture and pattern details. But if the sun comes into play, when you open up or angle of view, contrast can turn to be excessive, now asking for some pulling on development. So, there's no formula good for all situations. It's a good advice to use the whole film within the same subject and develop accordingly. Short films are great for that. Have fun!

Cesar B.

-- Cesar Barreto (cesarb@infolink.com.br), April 18, 2001.

Adding a little to Cesar's comments, pushing a little (10-15%)will give more sparkle to your film when shooting on a cloudy day. As he said, when the sun comes into play, you'll need to pull the film. This will keep your highlights (sun rays), from developing to much which will make you have to burn the highlights when printing. Another thing about pushing... when pushing to extremes (400 ASA - 3200 ASA for let's say shooting at night or at concerts), with most films, you will lose all shadow detail and make your grain alot more obvious. So it is a real toss up and a little thought comes into play. That is why alot of us will say... stick to one film and explore it capabilities. It just so happens that HP5+ is one of the films that pushes rather nicely. Hope this helps a little. Cheers, Scott

-- Scott Walton (f64sw@hotmail.com), April 19, 2001.