Pan-F Plus and Street Photography

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street shooter - 21 Jul 2004 04:43 GMT

I know this is counterintuituve to all that is assumed about street
photography. I want to try shooting some ISO 50 in the mid-afternoon
sun here in Baltimore. I want to try to provide seperation, through
selective focus and narrower DOF, between my main pedestrian subjects
and their architechtural backgrounds. Renderring everything in
critically sharp to acceptably sharp focus seems redundant. The way I
figure, the sun at 3 o'clock in the afternoon should put me somewhere
around 1/250 @ f/8; open shade around 1/250 @ f/4. I've looked for
other examples of Pan-F street photographs but have found none. That
makes me want to try it even more. Any thoughts and/or comments?

Michael

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mr. chip - 21 Jul 2004 11:13 GMT

Sounds like a good idea to me. Not all street photography has to have that
gritty Tri-X look.
And I love the look of Pan-F, it does give a lovely separation of tones.
Also it seems a good choice to use if you're after shallow depth of field,
which would work well with this subject, as you state.
I'd be quite interested to see your results.

Simon.

> I know this is counterintuituve to all that is assumed about street
> photography. I want to try shooting some ISO 50 in the mid-afternoon
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>
> Michael

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Martin Francis - 21 Jul 2004 21:10 GMT

> I know this is counterintuituve to all that is assumed about street
> photography. I want to try shooting some ISO 50 in the mid-afternoon
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> other examples of Pan-F street photographs but have found none. That
> makes me want to try it even more. Any thoughts and/or comments?

Word of warning- high sun means high contrast. Slow film- especially Pan F-
means even higher contrast. It may take some clever darkroomery to get the
shadows and highlights under control.

Wouldn't hesitate to use Pan F on an overcast day at slower shutter speeds,
though.

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Martin Francis http://www.sixbysix.co.uk
"Go not to Usenet for counsel, for it will say both no, and yes, and
no, and yes...."

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William Graham - 21 Jul 2004 22:25 GMT

> > I know this is counterintuituve to all that is assumed about street
> > photography. I want to try shooting some ISO 50 in the mid-afternoon
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> Wouldn't hesitate to use Pan F on an overcast day at slower shutter speeds,
> though.

Well, I don't know why you are locked into a 250th....Why not open your
aperture wider and use a faster speed? - If your camera won't go any faster,
then use a neutral density filter to cut down the light.....No matter what
you use, you are going to have to do darkroom work to compensate for the
contrast between sunlit and shadows in the photos......

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street shooter - 22 Jul 2004 02:54 GMT

>snip<
> >
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> you use, you are going to have to do darkroom work to compensate for the
> contrast between sunlit and shadows in the photos......

I shoot shutter priority at 1/250 because it is the slowest shutter
speed that is fast enough to stop nearly all pedestrian motion. I've
been playing around with letting the f-stop just fall into place. I
read somewhere that Salgado uses this technique it seemed odd, but I
thought I'd try it. Now I don't have to worry about my shutter speed
for a given aperture. I want my critical focus on my main subject and
I don't really have a predisposed opinion about how much DOF I want
beyond that for most of my images. When I want to manipulate DOF I
can certainly do so, but it is not at the forefront of my
compositional approach to street imagery.

Thanks for the advice! I'm not locked into any certain shutter speed;
1/250 is a preference. I don't mind trying a new approach. All
information received thus far has been valuable, and I appriciate the
responses. May try the Pan-F Plus in light with lower contrast,
either a couple hours before sunset or on an overcast day. Good info
here from everyone who responded; thanks again!

Michael

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Andrew Price - 22 Jul 2004 00:28 GMT

[---]

>The way I
>figure, the sun at 3 o'clock in the afternoon should put me somewhere
>around 1/250 @ f/8; open shade around 1/250 @ f/4. I've looked for
>other examples of Pan-F street photographs but have found none. That
>makes me want to try it even more. Any thoughts and/or comments?

I've used it here in Paris mid-afternoons at slower speeds than that,
with no problems.

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Michael Scarpitti - 22 Jul 2004 02:57 GMT

> I know this is counterintuituve to all that is assumed about street
> photography. I want to try shooting some ISO 50 in the mid-afternoon
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>
> Michael

I think about a stop more is closer to the truth. Open shade would be
more like 1/125 @ f/4.

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street shooter - 22 Jul 2004 06:53 GMT

> > I know this is counterintuituve to all that is assumed about street
> > photography. I want to try shooting some ISO 50 in the mid-afternoon
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
> I think about a stop more is closer to the truth. Open shade would be
> more like 1/125 @ f/4.

That's why I wrote "around". Here in the Mid-Atlantic we are
frequently blessed, during summer daylight hours, with a haze that
falls somewhere between sunny and cloudy bright, and light intensity
can change literally from frame to frame. Those are the times I'm
most appreciative of prioritized auto-exposure - whether shutter or
aperture. Thanks for your insight!

Michael

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Michael Scarpitti - 22 Jul 2004 15:07 GMT

> > > I know this is counterintuituve to all that is assumed about street
> > > photography. I want to try shooting some ISO 50 in the mid-afternoon
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
>
> Michael

In both cases you mentioned, about one stop more is required. I just
shot some recently here in Ohio.

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