Producing B&W digital from color film

[ronlane]

It depends on the photo if I do any digital editing. Sometimes I'll adjust the scanner settings to bring exposure up or down a notch (there's not a lot of leeway there.) For some color shots, I might bump the colors a tiny bit or adjust the white balance. In black and whites, I'd fiddle with contrast or the shadows/midtones/highlights settings. I generally do very little, partly because I don't enjoy the process but partly because there's less you can do with film than with a RAW file. I'm also one of 'those people' who like to get it as right as possible in the camera, so the picture that doesn't require anything is considered a hit for me. It's very rare, of course! At the very least, I'm cropping or straightening. Oh, and cloning out dust spots, of course. I've gotten very skilled at that clone tool. With lab scans it's not really an issue, but if you ever get to the point of buying your own flatbed film scanner, then you too will become well acquainted with that clone tool

Of course, it also depends on your preference. Your first shot of the leaves, for example, looks good after the processing. Colors are more vibrant and details are sharper. But I also like the dreamy, low contrast unedited version. For that one, I might have cloned out the satellite dish in the background, but left the colors and contrast where they were. You probably envisioned it more like the edited version and if you were able to get it to that point, then that's what you should do.

Here's the important question: how do you feel about your first results?? I can't remember if you said or not, but had you ever shot film before?

Thank you Leonore. That shed a lot of light on this for me. I like the edited version of the leaves but I see the "film" look has it merits too. I guess that part of me was looking at it going, why am I shooting film if I am taking the film look out of it. Does that make sense?

I have never shot film with a dslr. what little film I did shoot was with a P&S WAY back in the day. lol

 

[limr]

It depends on the photo if I do any digital editing. Sometimes I'll adjust the scanner settings to bring exposure up or down a notch (there's not a lot of leeway there.) For some color shots, I might bump the colors a tiny bit or adjust the white balance. In black and whites, I'd fiddle with contrast or the shadows/midtones/highlights settings. I generally do very little, partly because I don't enjoy the process but partly because there's less you can do with film than with a RAW file. I'm also one of 'those people' who like to get it as right as possible in the camera, so the picture that doesn't require anything is considered a hit for me. It's very rare, of course! At the very least, I'm cropping or straightening. Oh, and cloning out dust spots, of course. I've gotten very skilled at that clone tool. With lab scans it's not really an issue, but if you ever get to the point of buying your own flatbed film scanner, then you too will become well acquainted with that clone tool

Of course, it also depends on your preference. Your first shot of the leaves, for example, looks good after the processing. Colors are more vibrant and details are sharper. But I also like the dreamy, low contrast unedited version. For that one, I might have cloned out the satellite dish in the background, but left the colors and contrast where they were. You probably envisioned it more like the edited version and if you were able to get it to that point, then that's what you should do.

Here's the important question: how do you feel about your first results?? I can't remember if you said or not, but had you ever shot film before?

Thank you Leonore. That shed a lot of light on this for me. I like the edited version of the leaves but I see the "film" look has it merits too. I guess that part of me was looking at it going, why am I shooting film if I am taking the film look out of it. Does that make sense?

I have never shot film with a dslr. what little film I did shoot was with a P&S WAY back in the day. lol

I bet it feels a lot more satisfying with the Fuji than with a p&s! I still remember when I first bought the K1000 after having only shot 110 or crappy 35mm p&s cameras. It all felt much more real! Recently I discovered a few of those old cameras lying around my mother's house - a Konica and a Kodak. The Konica at least lets you set either 100 or 400 film speed, but the Kodak has no settings whatsoever. You really do just point it at something and press a button. After all these years using manual SLRs or 50-year-old rangefinders and TLRs, it was weird to use those cameras.

Looking forward to your black and whites. HP5 is nice. It's kind of like Ilford's version of TriX.

 

[ronlane]

Yeah, it was different than that for sure.

My plan is to take the b&w film with me this weekend and do a photowalk with it and my dslr.

 

[Mike_E]

Two things that many people miss out on when shooting film are how important a lens hood and filters are.

For color film a circular polarizer is almost like wearing pants, just keep them on whenever you're out of the house. An ND filter will also make the colors pop.

For B&W I really like a yellow and an orange filter. Red is a bit too much for my tastes but ymmv.

As always google is your friend when looking up the possibilities.

 

[ronlane]

Two things that many people miss out on when shooting film are how important a lens hood and filters are.

For color film a circular polarizer is almost like wearing pants, just keep them on whenever you're out of the house. An ND filter will also make the colors pop.

For B&W I really like a yellow and an orange filter. Red is a bit too much for my tastes but ymmv.

As always google is your friend when looking up the possibilities.

Thanks Mike, for the information. I did not even think about filters for them.

 

[Mike_E]

Two things that many people miss out on when shooting film are how important a lens hood and filters are.

For color film a circular polarizer is almost like wearing pants, just keep them on whenever you're out of the house. An ND filter will also make the colors pop.

For B&W I really like a yellow and an orange filter. Red is a bit too much for my tastes but ymmv.

As always google is your friend when looking up the possibilities.

Thanks Mike, for the information. I did not even think about filters for them.