the kiss

At the beginning of the year I shot a roll of HP5+, while we went for a little walk along the beach front in San Sebastian. It was just before the storm that caused quite a bit of destruction around here and so the waves were quite high that day. Here are some of the pictures from that roll. Did I mention that I love HP5+? If it weren’t that expensive I’d shoot it more often. Looking at the grain in these pictures there is one thing for certain though: I definitely won’t be buying Tetenal Ultrafin liquid developer again. The name is an absolute joke, there is nothing fine about that grain at all.

All pictures taken with: Zorki 4K and Jupiter 12 35mm f/2.8.
Ilford HP5+ developed in Tetenal Ultrafin 1:20, 13min.

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

© Lilly Schwartz 2014

Comments

  • Great post. The Kiss pic is fantastic – the grain is incredible. You’ve encouraged me to take my own Zorki 4K out for some street shooting.

  • I totally get it that you love your Zorki 4K, but have you tried DxO Film Pack 4? I find it to be very consistent with the original film stock yet you have the flexibility to control the grain. It can often lift a colour image toy provide something memorable and distictive.

    • Lilly Schwartz

      Hey Steve, actually I use Alien Skin Exposure for my digital stuff, mostly with some very subtle Tri-X grain. I don’t work with the presets much though, but just use it to speed up the black and white conversion process. I actually think that if you want a film look you should just shoot film. That’s what I do. Especially in the B&W process the grain is something that can be controlled as well, with the choice of film stock and developer. As you can see “Ultrafin” is not exactly ultra fine when paired with classic grain film. If I want little grain, I go with Rodinal stand development or choose something like Delta oder T-Max. I like grain though.

  • Ralf D.

    No .2 ist ‘Wahnsinn’! Und ich meine nicht den Himmel, sondern Platz Gebäude, alt neu, Ruhe Dynamik und die Platz-Aufteilung. Hast mich damit voll eingefangen!!!

    Beim Vorletzten bin ich auch noch am Nachdenken, was es mir so alles sagt. Die zwei kleinen Jungs sind so zielgerichtet unterwegs…

    Generell sind die Shots so richtig ‘In the mood’.

    Sorry, emotionally touched. Had to say it in my native tongue!

  • HP5, like Tri-X, would be my guess, is just a grainy film. HC110 gives a fairly fine grain and is a good all purpose developer, plus it lasts forever. Hope to see more film shots.

    • Lilly Schwartz

      Ah no, HP5+ is not this bad. I was just over-agitating I think. I just tried a new agitation scheme yesterday with Kentmere 400 and the shots are much less grainy. I’ll get a bottle of HC-110 next time I order chemicals though, just in case. Although Tetenal Ultrafin is probably better than I thought it’s still not up for some films, like Acros 100 for example. And yes, there will be more film stuff to come!

  • Ugljesa

    Zorki 4 is a great camera. It just needs to be re-lubricated and works like a Swiss watch. You have great talent and can take wonderful photos with any camera

    • Thank you so much for your kind words! True, the Zorki is a nice little camera. One day I have to sit down and fiddle about with the shutter on mine since it does seem a touch sticky sometimes. Now that I have a Leica to play with I usually just put my Jupiter lenses on that one though, it’s much less fiddly to use!

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