Film for Heavy Overcast Days

[RayD28]

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I've been shooting HP5 at box speed on dreary days and developed in DD-X 4:1.  Light meeter generally indicates f4 at 500.  Shots of people (not portraits) are very flat, even after adding contrast in LR.  Any general recommendation for different film or other tips?  

Edited May 20, 2018 by RayD28

[dsj]

Have you experimented with pushing HP5 yet? In my opinion it adds a beautiful amount of contrast moving it more into Tri-X territory. Might be worth a try. 

[250swb]

You aren't going to make dreary days bright, but simply in terms of having a usable shutter speed push with DD-X or push with Rodinal. I would go with Rodinal but it isn''t an instant fix, you need to refine how you make your exposure reading and also how you develop it.

[pico]

I've always liked overcast days because film accommodates brightness range very well.

Your issue is likely a combination of developing and scanning combined.

[RayD28]

Have you experimented with pushing HP5 yet? In my opinion it adds a beautiful amount of contrast moving it more into Tri-X territory. Might be worth a try. 

 

No.  How many stops would you suggest?  I thought about pushing to 1600 but will probably go to 800 for the first try.  

 

You aren't going to make dreary days bright, but simply in terms of having a usable shutter speed push with DD-X or push with Rodinal. I would go with Rodinal but it isn''t an instant fix, you need to refine how you make your exposure reading and also how you develop it.

 

I'll try pushing with DD-X.  

 

 

I've always liked overcast days because film accommodates brightness range very well.

Your issue is likely a combination of developing and scanning combined.

 

 

My scanning knowledge is about as low as my film developing knowledge.  I may rescan some shots and play with the process to see if it helps.  

 

 

Thanks to all of you for taking time to give me advice.  

[gbealnz]

Maybe post a pic Ray, showing what you mean.

Scanning usually needs a flat result, and the contrast is obtained after the scan.

If the HP5 experiment doesn't work for you, try another film and or developer until you get the result you desire.

Gary

[Adrian Lord]

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Overcast days are inherently low-contrast in lighting which inevitably gets reflected in the negative. A combination of judiciousness in subject and serendipity in the rendering can result in this producing pleasing images, but 'flatness' is often the result.

[Pyrogallol]

FP4 all year round, or Delta 400 if you want something faster.

It is nice to use the wider apertures with Leica lenses, especially the older ones, it gives a closer feeling of what it would have been like to use the slow films available when the older screw cameras were made.

If you are using the whole roll in dull overcast weather you can increase the development a bit to increase the contrast in the negatives, but perhaps avoid overexposing as dull weather may show up the grainieness of the film with large areas of smooth mid tones?

[Bill Clark]

Cloudy days are the best for making photographs of people.

 

Suggest to use a little bit of fill light with your flash.

[RayD28]

FP4 all year round, or Delta 400 if you want something faster.

It is nice to use the wider apertures with Leica lenses, especially the older ones, it gives a closer feeling of what it would have been like to use the slow films available when the older screw cameras were made.

If you are using the whole roll in dull overcast weather you can increase the development a bit to increase the contrast in the negatives, but perhaps avoid overexposing as dull weather may show up the grainieness of the film with large areas of smooth mid tones?

 

 

I ordered some FP4 and it will be here Friday.  I'm new at developing film at home so I have not experimented with different development times.  I just wouldn't know where to begin -- an extra minute, two?  I've tried to be consistent with the development process in order to have at least one constant.  I'll try the FP4 and see how it goes.  Thanks for the advice.  

[Chuck Albertson]

During the dreary winter days in Seattle, I usually shoot HP5+/Tri-X at EI800, and push it in development. The usual rule of thumb for a 1-stop push is a 50% increase in development time, but see what works best for you. The Ilford data sheet for HP5+ (download it from their Web site) has specific times for a variety of developers. Any time you push-process film, you're going to lose some shadow detail, but in a low-contrast scene that's not much of a problem.

[RayD28]

I've always liked overcast days because film accommodates brightness range very well.

Your issue is likely a combination of developing and scanning combined.

 

 

I think the culprit is with scanning.  I use a V600 and scanned some shot taken today.  I scanned the same film shot a few different ways and I hope I'm on to something.