Learning in Monochrome - Digital and Analog
How I'm Using Both Digital and Analog Cameras To Get Better At Composition with Monochrome
In my last post, I talked about my current personal project. I’m shooting all my personal work in black and white this month. For this Visual Field Notes post, I’m going to talk about some behind-the-scenes info about the camera settings on my digital cameras, and a little background on the film stocks I’m using for my analog work.
Digital Monochrome
On the digital side of things, I am saving the images in both RAW and JPG formats in the camera. The JPGs give me a straight-out-of-camera file, which matches what I saw on the camera screen while I was shooting. And I’m also keeping RAW files, because that lets me experiment with different Lightroom presets and film simulations to see what they do.
One extra feature of this is that I can go back and look at a color version of these images later, as was suggested by Hanz . His tip was that when he shoots with the camera set to black and white, he finds in many cases he has better color images later when he checks the colors in his RAW files. Long term, this is ultimately what I’m trying to do with this project: to get better overall compositions by looking beyond color. However, for this month, I won’t be checking the color versions; I am immersing myself in black and white.
I’ve also saved some custom settings on my digital cameras, so I can quickly revert the camera to the black and white mode I have set up. It gives me the black and white preview on my EVF and my screen, as well as some saved settings for tone, contrast, and grain. For Fujifilm shooters, I am using 2 film recipes that I will link to below. For everyone else, if your camera lets you control some of these settings, I highly recommend experimenting with different looks. You can always change it later when editing the RAW files.
With my digital cameras, I am leaning into the flexibility of changing looks and using film presets in Lightroom to learn more about the different looks and how they impact a composition.
The Analog World
I’ve also been experimenting with analog for the first time in years, so that is going to be a big part of this. Not only will I be shooting the Ilford HP5 I have already been using, but I will also be trying out other film stocks to get different looks.
I’m revisiting an old favorite from years ago in the form of Kodak Tri-X. I also haven’t shot T Max in a while, so I did pick up a roll of that for comparing to the others. And I have some other films that I have not used before, including Ilford Delta 100 and Delta 3200, Kentmere Pan 400, Cinestill BwXX, and Arista EDU DX 400.
I don’t know if I’ll be able to shoot all of these up this month, but that’s OK. I won’t stop shooting monochrome on September 1st. But I will get to as many of these as I can in August because I want to have a better understanding of the creative choices they give me. I am also going to have an eye on how the film compares to their corresponding film presets (and in-camera recipes) for the digital cameras.
Analog Delay
I am not developing my own film, and I don’t have a lab anywhere near me. So there is going to be a delay before I can share the film images that I’m taking today. So a couple things about my posts in August. I’ll be using the digital images in most of my posts due to their timely availability. I will be mixing in some shots that I already have taken to illustrate things I’m learning about analog, at least early this month. And the film images I get later this month will likely be shared in posts later on. I’m going to be writing a lot about film, and monochrome will continue to be a big part of my creative process. But the film I shoot now is on roughly a 1 to 2-week delay by the time I save up a few rolls to send in together, and then get them back from the lab to scan them.
Fujifilm Recipes
This will be of interest to a few of you, but not everyone. My Fujifilm X-series cameras have film recipes available. I have found a Tri-X recipe and one called Reggies HP5, which I have stored in two of the custom settings spots in both of my Fujifilm cameras.
The Tri-X recipe is based on the built-in Acros film simulation with a green filter. It has a grainy and contrasty look that has a very “vintage” black and white vibe. It also brings out one annoying little feature in these cameras. For some reason, changing the Clarity setting to anything other than 0 in the menu causes the camera to take an extremely long time to save an image. This has a cool look, but it’s slow. If you’re interested in it, you can find the settings for this recipe here. If you don’t use Fuji, you may be able to set some of these parameters on other cameras to get a similar look.
The HP5 recipe is a sharp monochrome image with a lot of detail in the shadows and highlights. I’m pretty sure the digital images have a lot more exposure latitude than the actual film, but it’s still a very good look. And I like it better as a default monochrome than just setting the camera to monochrome or Acros. This recipe is based on the Acros + red simulation in the Fuji camera, and the full list of settings can be found here.
Final Thoughts
What I want to take away this month is a much better understanding of my approach to composition and how I can impact it by taking away color. A secondary goal is to compare film to digital in this process. If you are following along, please comment if you have questions, suggestions, or if you think of something that might be interesting to explore further. I hope to learn something this month. If anyone else picks up a thing or two with me, even better! Thanks for reading.
✅ Where to Find Me
You can find more of my work on the web at: Simmons Photography
If you want to work with me, or inquire about licensing images: Contact Page
Cheers, Bob. Images are looking solid. Love the shot of the corn that starts the article! Will be curious to keep following along. Always support folks doing week to week studies in photography.
Love your photography! Great post.