JPG Magazine: Stories: How To: grain beats noise

How To

grain beats noise

By Brian Grossman

28 May 2008

When I first got my Nikon D50 I did a number of experiments with low light environments. I found it worked pretty well at ISO 1600 for outdoor street scenes at night where the scene was heavily illuminated by artificial light. See my "Israel at Night" series. It was far less effective indoors where shadow detail was consumed by noise. See my series "Black Cash and the Bad Trips."

I recently did two shoots of indoor portraiture using available light and Ilford HP5 exposed at EI 1600 developed in Microphen with outstanding results. Push processing the film results in high contrast images which at first blush appear to lack highlight detail. However, unlike digital sensors which notoriously clip highlights resulting in image areas utterly devoid of information, the film grain remains present and capable of being manipulated in photoshop using either curves or the highlight tool.

In addition to a superior ability to maintain highlight detail, the film grain imparts a softness to the images complementary to the model's form without producing a distracting lack of resolution. Noise doesn't do that. Ever.

I favor Ilford but you could probably achieve similar results with Tri-X and HC-110, Kodak's comparable products. If you can't find these high speed developers in your local store try B&H or Adorama online. Don't be intimidated by powder developers you have to mix yourself. If you can make coffee you can make Microphen. Check out Ilford's .pdf info sheets on their website, ilfordphoto.com; they are a wealth of easy to use information.

All images associated with this story were shot with a Canon A-1, Canon 35mm f/2 Thorium lens and ilford HP5 exposed at EI 1600 developed in Microphen in accordance with info found on Ilford's website.

Let's all work together to put this digital fad back in its place.

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