Love that Black & White

According to most sources the fastest growing (yes, I said growing) segment of the film market is black and white. I like color, especially some of the newer emulsions like Kodak Portra but there are some things you can only do with black & white film.

I know digital cameras have gotten pretty good at emulating black & white but there is something different and special about images from black & white film. Each film of course, has its own distinct characteristics and should be selected based on what effect you’re trying to achieve. If you also take the next logical step and print them using the traditional or what is called today “true” black & white process you end up with a truly unique, one-of-a-kind image that you can’t get any other way.

The image above was shot at night using the Olympus XA2, a fully automatic, zone focus, point & shoot from the 1980’s on my all-time favorite black & white film – Kodak Tri-X. The Olympus XA2 is fully automatic (except for the zone focus) with shutter speeds from 1/750 to 2 seconds and apertures from 3.5 to 14.

The two trees in the picture are right outside my office window and the light you see is from a “street type” light on a pole just to the left of the frame. The XA2 does not let you know what the selected settings are but considering the composition and lighting I must assume it was f3.5 at approximately 2 seconds.

Some things are just better in "real" black & white.