Photography Tips and Information

Kodak Sees a “Very Real Resurgence for Film”

Posted by Marjan on October 7th, 2010

Thought film was dead? Far from it. In an interview with the British Journal of Photography, Kodak’s US marketing manager of pro film Scott DiSabato said that sales of color film are steady, and that black and white is “doing extremely well.” He sees it as a mini-revolution, adding that “it almost feels that there is a very real resurgence for film.”

And this strong market is letting Kodak release brand new emulsions. The updated Portra 400, which will be available in November, is described by DiSabato as “the best film Kodak has ever made.” Given Kodak’s history, that’s quite a claim. And that’s not even the biggest surprise. Portra 400 is not made for printing. It is designed to be scanned.

The new emulsion has very fine grain (using Kodak’s T-grain technology first seen in the 1980s) and has had its color saturation and contrast tweaked to better suit scanners. DiSabato and the Kodak techs realized that most film is scanned at some stage in a photographer’s workflow, so they made it scanner friendly. Contrast was lowered to better allow the scan to capture the full range of tones, and the color gamut “is not pumped up so much that it begins to compete with some of that tonal information.”

The stills team worked with the Kodak motion-picture team and borrowed some of this technology from the Vision3 line of films, also designed to be part of a digital workflow.

Kodak is also making small-batch films, in collaboration with Canham Cameras. Canham specializes in very large-format film – 11×14, 20×24 and “other goofy sizes.” Canham takes orders from all over the world until they have enough to make it economical for Kodak to tool up and manufacture it. Amazingly, Kodak is actually “moving in this direction,” say DiSabato.

Like vinyl before it, the death of film seems to have been greatly exaggerated. Hell, even the kids are getting into it. “Once they do get a hold of film in a university,” DiSabato says, “they just seem to fall in love with it.”

Kodak Portra 400 product page [Kodak]

Kodak:There is a very real resurgence for film [BJP]

See Also:

September 29, 2010

Kodak Portra 400 – new film made for scanning

Posted by Marjan on October 7th, 2010

Kodak Portra 400

We always thought that the rise of digital photography would, at one point or another, render film obsolete. According to Kodak, however, we (and virtually everyone else) were all wrong.

As Wired reports, the iconic film company is enjoying something of a counterintuitive renaissance in this digital age, as sales of color film remain strong, and black-and-white film sales are actually seeing an increase. With this surprisingly steady revenue, the company is even launching a newly updated line of film, the Portra Portra 400, which Kodak’s U.S. marketing manager of pro film Scott DiSabato heralds as “the best film Kodak has ever made.” Unlike most traditional film, however, the Portra 400 is made exclusively for scanning — not printing.

After Kodak technicians realized that most photos today will likely be scanned at some point, they decided to create the kind of extremely fine-grain emulsion that would translate well through a scanner. In an interview with the British Journal of Photography, DiSabato explained that the Portra 400′s lower contrast allows scanners to capture a wider range of tones, while the film’s color spectrum “is not pumped up so much that it begins to compete with some of that tonal information.” The team of engineers behind the Portra 400 also collaborated with Kodak’s motion-picture department, in order to incorporate some of the company’s Vision3 technology into its latest film.

Clearly, Kodak is confident that the world of photography is in the midst of what DiSabato calls “a very real resurgence for film” — especially, as it turns out, with today’s youth. “Once they do get a hold of film in a university, they just seem to fall in love with it,” DiSabato explains. Enamored as we are with the latest developments in the world of digital photography, we always found the specter of a completely film-free world to be somewhat unsettling.

source: Wired, British Journal of Photography

Choosing a photographic paper for hand coloring

Posted by Marjan on August 8th, 2010

Choosing a good black and white paper for your print is very important. You can use either an RC photographic paper in a matte finish or a fiber base photographic matte paper. Either one will work.

RC paper has a little bit smoother of a surface so the oils will not grip the paper as quickly and works well for blending. RC paper is less expensive than fiber base so if cost is an issue RC might be a good starter paper.

Fiber Base paper is thicker weight paper and has a toothy surface. When the print surface has more tooth the oils will work into the paper more easily and can also create richer colors by allowing multiple thin coats of color. Fiber Base papers come in your choice of cold tone or warm tone.

Whichever paper you choose, it should be matte photographic paper. Don’t bother to try to work with glossy or pearl finish paper, or any inkjet papers you’ll only get frustrated.

When hand coloring portraits I prefer to begin with a warm tone fiber paper, the warm skin tones makes a nice base to work with.

Supplies for hand coloring photographs

Posted by Marjan on August 1st, 2010

We’re going to talk about how to hand color using Marshall translucent photo oils on true black and white photographic paper. This is the 1st post talking about the supplies you’ll need to to get started hand coloring photographs. Here’s a supplies list:

Marshall Photo Oils
Marshall Pencils (optional)
1 doz. wood skewers
100% cotton – cotton balls
wax paper (roll)
8 x 10 piece of cardboard
8 x 10 white piece of paper
blue painters tape or
Post-it Correction & Cover-up Tape (made by 3M)
black & white print on matte paper

If you’d like to add anything to this list send me a comment and we can let others know about your experience with hand coloring.

In my next blog post I’ll talk about choosing the right photographic paper for hand coloring.

Hello photo fans!

Posted by Marjan on August 1st, 2010

This is my first blog post for Black & White Lab. We are looking forward to interacting with all the avid photo buffs out there. We love photography just as much as you do. We’re hoping to entertain, inform and discuss all sorts of photo related topics. So here goes…keep in mind we’re not well versed at all this blogging stuff so any advice or constructive criticism you have will be greatly appreciated.