Guitar Shop (b&w)

[blinded]

Just a shot I liked that I took at the local music shop. Shot Agfapan 100 and pushed to 800. It really brings out the contrast. Took me half an hour to develop!

Black and white scans really make me sad, they look horrible. My photo teacher was all over this one which was really cool, I've never had anyone get excited over a simple shot like that before. Can anyone give me any tips on scanning B&W better? Prints always look 100000x better.

 

[drlynn]

Nice pic. I really like the lines and the contrast.

As for scanning, what setup are you using now? I had one scanner that did b&w better when I set it to greyscale, and one that did better in RGB.

 

[LaFoto]

I like it. I really, really like this one.

I don't know what using that film and pushing it to that (higher ASA) means for the photo, but I sure like the result of whatever you did: the lines, the contrast, the DOF, everything.

A pity that a) a scan always suffers (Dew once suggested I use a negative scanner but I don't own such thing, those scans would be so much better than scanned prints) and that b) by looking at the photo, you don't see the amount of time you spent on it in the darkroom... Have you produced a large print?

 

[Lungfarmer]

I like what you've done here, very nice result. I can see this super larger on a wall or something, would look great.

 

[blinded]

Thanks for the comments everyone! I appreciate them.

As for the scanner, I used a HP 1210 all in one flatbed for this print, and I usually use an HP 2400dpi film scanner. I like scanning B&W prints, I am aware that you can achieve the same effects in Photoshop, but it is much easier (for me) to do all the adjusting in the darkroom. I think my problem is that I am scanning prints, I'll have to learn how to use Photoshop to give the B&W the intended look.

Anyways, I made an 8x10 of this and it looked great. The grain was hardly there, much less grainy than Agfa400. I'm going to start using this 100 film alot more, it gives great results when pushed. I am going to see if the shop would like to buy a super large print.

 

[terri]

B&W prints always look the best, of course. If you plan on putting images on the web, you are right in thinking you'll have to learn at least the basics of PS to get a fair representation of your prints.

But, no worries. We're all used to the trauma of scanning. You're among like minds here.

Good image. I like the progession of the guitars, the DOF and composition. Nice!