Beau Photo Supplies - Blogs: December 2014

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Winners of the Beau Photo Lomography Photo Contest

Beau Photo is pleased to announce the winners of our 2014 Lomography photo contest. Thanks to everyone who entered.

Our Grand Prize winner Chris, won with an image taken with a Lomography Diana 120 camera.

Congratulations to Zach who won second prize, with his Lomography Diana 120 camera.

Congratulations to Catlin who won third prize, with her Lomography Diana 120 camera.

Monday, December 29, 2014

Red Light in a Darkroom - Part 5

Hope everyone enjoyed their Holidays this past week with family & friends.

Thank you to Vytas for sharing his darkroom setup with us this week.

What is your darkroom? A room, closet or bathroom? Please tell us a bit about it.

I use the UBC Visual Arts darkroom. It is a fully equipped room with sinks, drying cabinets, change rooms, and a separate facility with enlargers for wet printing. I have a locker where I keep all my own developing equipment and chemicals - I don't trust the nasty shared student stuff.

What's your process, talk a bit about your developing routine, if its tricky.

Nothing very tricky about my process, I usually try to wait until I have a few rolls to develop at a time, but sometimes I am too excited to wait and develop a single roll. I use Paterson tanks for 35mm and 120, as well as a Mod54 for 4x5.

What's your go to developer?

I have tried a lot of developers and I am not sure that I have a go to one, if I was pressed I would say Rodinol. I typically use Rodinol for 120 and 4x5, X-tol for 35mm, and T-max developer for night photos when I push HP5 or Delta 3200 to 3200 ASA.

What's your all time favorite Film/Film developer combo?

This changes quite often, but right now I would say T-max 100 or 400 and Xtol.

What result/look does this give?

I have been doing a lot of writing about photographers in the 1960s so I have acquired a taste for a less contrasty, but still a high resolution kind of look. I should also say that I use lenses from the 1960s like the Leica Elmar 50mm f2.8, the Canon 50mm f1.4, and the Canon 35mm f2.

Have you or are you into any alternative processes, such as cyanotype?

I just started preparing to do some platinum/palladium prints.

What is the best processing tip you can give?

The best advice I can give is to not trust anything that you read on the internet when it comes to developing. There are so many 'experts' that sound to convincing, but actually know nothing. You have to try things for yourself and physically see the results in order to make decisions. It's more fun that way too.

Monday, December 22, 2014

Red Light in a Dark Room - Part 4

This week's dark room post is care of our good friend, Troch. Thanks so much for giving us some insight into your workspace! We're envious of your custom darkroom.

What is your darkroom? A room, closet or bathroom? Please tell us a bit about it.

After years of working in bathrooms, closets, etc., I built a custom darkroom from scratch, approximately 8' by 12'. I have two enlargers set up and oodles of space to experiment in. The darkroom is attached to my gallery, Laughing Hummingbird Arts.

What's your process? Tell us a bit about your developing routine, especially if it's tricky.

I process both black and white and color film, as well as making black and white prints. I am constantly experimenting with my black and white processes and chemistry in an attempt to find the perfect combo. Next up, Pyro!

What is your go to developer?

I have to say that my go-to developer is Rodinal (Blazinal). Because I shoot largely with Holgas, exposure can be a challenge and I find that a one hour stand process often gets the most out of my negatives.

What is your all time favorite Film/Film developer combo?

I use a lot of Fomapan 400 in Rodinal, but I am a huge fan of most films. I generally go for high contrast and a bit more grain for my negatives. I love the way this works with my printing style.

Have you or are you into any alternative processes, such as cyanotype?

I haven't got around to any alternative processes yet, but I am stocking supplies for a long dark winter.

What is the best processing tip you can give?

The best tip I could give anyone is "Don't be afraid of the dark!" Try different things, break the rules, experiment and take lots of notes, because if you pull the perfectly developed roll of film out of the tank, you want to be able to do it again.

Friday, December 19, 2014

Friday Featured Film Spotlight - Kodak Tri-X

This week's Friday Featured Film Spotlight is about Kodak Tri-X 400 black & white film.

Kodak Tri-X high speed panochromatic black and white film used to be widely available in both 320 and 400 ISO. The 320TXP is becoming more and more difficult to find however. That being said, Kodak 400TX is still extremely popular! This is because the 400TX, like Ilford's HP5, has a wide exposure latitude making it perfect for push or pull processing or simply a forgiving film for someone to learn on. You are almost always guaranteed an image with Tri-X. If you are a bit under or over in your exposure, you can usually quite easily still pull a great image when developing or printing with Tri-X. A lot of schools give their students this film to learn on for that reason, but it's also great if you are doing journalistic style photography or street photography where you are constantly moving into ever changing situations. This was how Tri-X got to be so popular and was a favorite of journalists and professionals, especially in the 60s & 70s. With the gritty results Tri-X provided, it really changed the tone and look of that era of photography. In more recent years, the film was redesigned and has a more fine grain quality to it, but still remains one of the most versatile black and white films available today. All of these factors have contributed to Tri-X becoming the best selling black and white film.

Tri-X can appear grainy and contrasty, depending a bit on how it is shot and developed, but it still has a unique depth to it and allows for a lot of detail in the shadows and highlights. The cubic grain shape helps render clear, sharp detail in those areas. However even if you’re not the photo journalist type this film works wonders in all lighting types and for other categories of photography. Photographing animals is great with Tri-X as well, as they tend to move and the lighting situations can change quickly. The versatility of this film really helps compensate for any misstep in exposure you might make in such situations. It's also great in Dianas, Holgas or any of the Lomography or plastic cameras! These cameras tend to play fast and loose with exposure and sometimes you're not sure what you'll get. Tri-X works really well to compensate for this uncertainty.

Here are a few shots we've done with Tri-X.

Nicole's images: shot on a Pentacon Six, developed in Ilfotec DD-X.

Meghan's shots done on a Diana F+, developed in Blazinal.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Renaissance Album - Bowery Book

The Bowery Book - Perfect High Capacity Album

The Bowery Book is a refined and sophisticated take on printed books using the latest printing and binding technologies to deliver a high-end, high-capacity album.
It features double-sided prints bound together and presented in a variety of large sizes and cover options.
- Indigo 6 color print process with protective coating
- High page capacity
- Choose from 3 luxurious paper types
- Fully customizable cover
- Right hand start/ left hand finish

To see STAK Photography's featured Bowery Book - click here