Black & White Street Photography in LA [Kodak Tri-X 400]
Support my channel and help me create more videos: geni.us/trovatten Buy My Prints: bit.ly/TrovattenPrints 🖤 Kodak Tri-X 400 is probably the film roll I’d use for black and white portraits going forward. I get my Kodak Tri-X here: geni.us/KodakTri-X and this is my 35mm camera: geni.us/Canon-AE-1.
In today’s street photography video we are in Los Angeles. I walk around Hollywood Boulevard, Santa Monica and Venice Beach with 6 film-rolls of Kodak Tri-X 400 and my Canon-AE-1.
L.A was a fun place for photographing strangers, mixed with a bit of street photography. I hope to do a lot more street photography and film photography in Los Angeles and New York in 2020.
Kodak Tri-X 400 is one of the most popular rolls in film photography and has been for a long time. Kodak Tri-X is used for black and white portraits and has a very contrasty look, as you see.
That’s why I decided to take my 35mm street portraits at 800 ISO, even though the Kodak Tri-X 400 is rated as a 400 ISO film.
Film Photography notes
A lot of my film photos in LA came out very under-exposed, even though I pushed the Tri-X rolls to 800, so I’m still wondering if the photo lab I went to actually developed my film as 800 ISO as I told them.
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I hope you enjoy this analog photography series :)
Пікірлер: 339
I like the homeless guy with the writing on the wall.
man, I could watch these film photowalks for hours!
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks Manuel! I’ll keep going out and uploading the walks :)!
@Anon54387
4 жыл бұрын
@@FTrovatten I wish you were a little shorter..... Dude.
"I'm not paying you, man" LOL I get that a lot.
Respect to you brother; sharing all your work, the rejects and the successes, is brave. There’s a tenderness and love in your work, it all comes from the right place. Keep shooting!
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks a lot! I'd want to see other photographers mistakes too, so that's why I do it like this :)!
I noticed you said you didnt ant your photos to be so dark so you were exposing for 800iso instead of 400, but that would inherently make your photos darker. if you were trying to overexpose them, you would need to set your camera to 200iso to let 1 stop more light hit your film :)
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
Omg! I’m a fucking idiot hahah! I thought it was the other way around! That explains everything lol!
@juliancantillo97
4 жыл бұрын
@@FTrovatten I thought that you actually pushed the film to 800 because it looks a little bit grainy, did you send it to develop at 400 or 800? btw love you channel
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
@@juliancantillo97 I told the lab to develop all rolls as 800 ISO because I thought they would become more bright haha. Constant learning! Can't wait to try this again!
@paulmannone9310
4 жыл бұрын
Yeah, to follow-up with what @AwesomeCameras said, even if you had exposed them at 200 and had them developed at 200, the exposure would be basically the same, although less contrasty and less grainy. It seems like your meter underexposes a little, so I would recommend developing for one or two stops of overexposure. So if you meter at 400, have the lab develop at 800 or 1600 even. If you meter at 200, have them develop at 400 or 800. That's how you'll get them brighter. Otherwise, if you develop at what you shoot at (at least with this camera) you'll continue to have underexposed photos. Hope that helps!
@paulmannone9310
4 жыл бұрын
Also, if you can re-scan them yourself at some point in the future, I would really suggest doing so. I think there's probably a lot more information on the negative than the lab is getting out of them (they are probably scanning with an "auto" setting). Black and white film has a lot of exposure latitude, even with underexposure, and with a little extra work, I think you can probably get MUCH better results than you're getting from the lab.
3:10 that couple is naturally photogenic imo.
@moes_film
4 жыл бұрын
I wrote that before seeing 6:17
@manuelnavarro1139
3 жыл бұрын
Did you catch her instagram?
I shot Tri-X in the 1970's and 80's. By pushing the ASA to 800 you underexpose by one stop. If you tell the lab it is one stop under, they can add about two minutes to the developing time. The Kodak Data Guide book had a scale to adjust the development to the ASA/ISO speed. Tri-x you could push process to 1600 before it would fall apart due to reciprocity failure. D-76 diluted 1:1 gave the grain a smoother less contrasty look.
We learn better from people like you, we grow with you enjoying the experience. Greetings from Afrika, South Afrika
The old guy taking a drag up close is my favourite
Why I love watching photo walk film photography is The contrast between the video and the result of the photo's.
I’m always so inspired by the character in your portraits and the way you interact with people on the streets! Thanks for putting the content out and showing it’s not that daunting to approach someone for a photo and still be a kind human :)
I thought going ISO 800 would let me light in and over-exposed it. Thanks to you guys in the comments, I now know better lol. - Hey guys! I’m back from vacation :)! If you’re new here, check out all my film photography episodes here: kzread.info/dash/bejne/m22l17tsgq-XYdY.html
Hi Frederick, I just started picking up film photography about 2 weeks ago and you've been a huge motivation for me. Seeing you not get discouraged when the shots don't turn out makes me learn to enjoy the learning process more. I love your videos. It gives great insight and I could learn from your successes and also your mistakes. Thank you so much.
@FTrovatten
3 жыл бұрын
Thanks great to hear Mochim! You really do need that when you start out doing film photography :D - Best of luck with it!
I think it's cool that we got to see your reaction to the photos at the end! This felt more like you were having a conversation with us as you looked at the great and not so great photos.
Hello Frederik, Your questions have had me traveling back 30+ years when I used to shoot Tri-X at 800/1600/3200 and try to get a proper exposure for a print. I also worked in a detectives darkroom and had to pull out images from some very thing negatives. As you can tell in your images this is a hazardous balancing act when it comes to getting consistency. I can give you some of my personal opinion and experience in this matter, but a lot of it will depend on your own experimentation and experience. Number 1: Equipment- Your equipment will not shoot the same as anyone elses. This is especially true if it is older and may have wavered in its benchmark over the years. If you can have the shutter tested for accuracy and consistency at a good repair shop. You will need to burn up 10 or so rolls of film to get to know your camera. You don't need to shoot for content but for knowledge. Over and underexpose in stops of 5 in either direction and check out the results. Make intentional mistakes and see how it looks on the film. This is all to get to know your camera. Number 2: Exposure/Film- When you know your equipment, you should be able to gauge your exposure. In optimal situations the blacks will be represented in the clear parts of the negative. You should have some detail to enhance this area. The whites will be represented in the dark areas and should not be blocked out but also contain some detail. Keep in mind that pushing the film to 800/1600 will start to take your details away and introduce more grain. Try to make your greys fall somewhere in the middle that will give a better range. Number 3: Darkroom: Without seeing your negatives it is hard to say if they were pushed to 800. You had your negatives scanned and that adds an additional factor in that the scanner may be averaging or may be using a standard scheme. In my results, the scanner also adds contrast and kills your details. I would not have them scanned initially so that I could see what the negatives look like printed. Get contact sheets and learn to read them. This is more expensive but may give you a better eye on the results. Contact sheets, done right, should give you an average image representation. Underexposed = Darker Overexposed = Lighter. MOST IMPORTANT: Learn to read your negatives!! You should be able to know what your image is going to look like from your negative. Ask your lab if they have a densiometer and have them read your negatives and give you feedback on the content. They should be able to tell you what is wrong or right in different areas of the negatives. You can not tell what is going on by reviewing scans you need to become intimate with your negatives. Have professional Prints made from your better negatives and see if having the prints scanned gives you better results. A good printer with the right paper will be able to pull out your details with dodging, burning and others more detailed techniques. Finding a good printer may be a challenge. Keep in mind that some of these techniques are a dying art and you may be dependent on a lab that knows how to scan for professional results. Layering exposure levels and other techniques could give you excellent results. Briefly learn lab techniques so that you can give specific instructions on the processing. "Push at 180%." Shoot at 800 and have it pushed to 1600. The same as you experiment with your camera, do with your lab. Another technique is to shoot a subject at 800 on one roll of film and have the lab "clip" process the film at different levels of push processing . The lab with cut the film strip into several pieces and process them at different levels. Make sure they label each strip. This is really helpful in getting to know your lab requirements Get yourself a lightboard, a loupe (like a jewelers loupe, but for photos), and a pair of cotton (non lent) gloves. Use these tools to study your negatives. Pretty soon you will see your image straight from the negative and know what is right or wrong. When I was doing this almost full time I could tell what the image looked like straight from the negative. Whether it was in focus, exposed properly and what areas needed work in the final rendering. In looking at the other recommendations in your comments most of them seam right to some extent. A lot depends on intent and experience. Some recommendations such as shooting at 200 will definitely give you a denser negative and a lighter print but you may block up the whites and will loose the higher shutter speeds and be prone to focus and shutter blurring of moving subjects. Probably not optimal for street photography. Shooting above 800 will give you high grain (sometimes acceptable) but may also block up your white and wash out your blacks. A lot of this is dependent on what you want in your image and no one can tell you that. Well these are my thoughts. Hope they help! A lot of people will have different opinions but your own experience will win out every time. Good Luck!
@Inotsosunny
3 жыл бұрын
@Michael C. Thank you for the gold nuggets, sir. In this time of short messages, short span of attention and short tolerances it is so rare to find people willing to take their time to share their knowledge. Not this influencer type of knowledge which is overflowing society but real, valuable knowledge. Thank you for this.
@michaelc.8138
3 жыл бұрын
@@Inotsosunny You are welcome. This is kind of a "paying it forward" thing. I had a lot of knowledgeable and generous people give me this advise a long time ago. In photography it would be foolish to hold on to, or hide information when you could help contribute to someone making amazing images.
Ah. Memories of people being people. I love your style and images here. I bit gritty for my personal taste, but very well done! Thanks again for sharing!
Great video I love that you show the process, failures and successes it helps me to stay encouraged and keep shooting. Thanks!
I know you were trying to overexpose the film instead of really underexpose it but I'm actually kind of into the even more contrasty and dark look it gave to a lot of the photos, it just looks very stylised. The vibe that LA gives off, especially made it work so well and gives this incredible nostalgic feeling.
Your enthusiasm and rapport with the general public is fantastic. For street, that is the most important thing IMHO. Love your work.
So sick Frederick! Love your personality and your work a lot.
Haha you gotta nove his honesty... "I WISHED YOU WERE SHORTER"
eyyyyyy excited for this! playing NOW
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
Yiir!
Bro you inspired me. Great video and photos. Keep it up!
Frederik, you are inspiring me so much :D every time I watch your video I just want to grab my camera and conquer the world :D thank you for that! Awesome vid!
Always a joy to watch. Well done Frederik!
It's so refreshing to see a professional photographer critique their own photos, and say things like, "That didn't work, I don't really like it." It gives the rest of us the realisation that we don't have to take great shots every time. Frederick, if like to see you do a street shoot, and then critique your photos afterwards.
All of these photos have a nostalgic feel to them, i like that
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks Hart!
OMG FREDERIK!!! You inspired me sooooo much!!!
@FTrovatten
3 жыл бұрын
Thank you so so much! Great to hear :)!
I always enjoy your videos and I especially like and respect your honesty and integrity in showing the photos that maybe haven't turned out well. It is always good to think about how something could have been done better. That said, some of them have turned out really good. I like the way you interact with your subjects and secure their cooperation. Well done.
Tara and Omar's photo is my favorite one. Good job, Fede!
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
Gracias Pablo! Good seeing you last week!
I really enjoyed your video, you have a great rapport with strangers.
Always a pleasure to watch Frederik, you inspire me to go out and shoot more street. Love your confidence. A great video.
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks a lot Fiona! It was so cool to see you getting out of your comfort zone and do street portraits! I need to try your style or self portraits too!
Hey man, love your content. Very inspirational to get on the streets and start shooting randoms. Keep it up.
You have great interactions with the people, great work!!!
These are so good. I got so much inspiration, thank you!!
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks for watching! And welcome to the channel. I have lots of photo walks like these :)
You are so so good man! Every photo here spoke to me in a very personal way... Very inspired by this!!!
Hands down 5:29 is my favourit. It's nostalgic, clean, without distraction sorrounding it. You could easily mistake it for a picture taken back in the day and that's what I love about it.
What I like most about this guy is that yeah he underexposed a lot of photos but he owns it and it make a great video.
Awesome seeing the film shoots and you going through the roll at the end.. love seeing the decision process
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks man!
Those are so good, even though some were a bit too dark. Love your videos 😊
The couple really shined! Loved this video
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks a lot Tristan!
I really like these videos. You make me want to go take pictures!
I also like that you like through your photos at the end of the video. 👍🏽
Incredible work, so many amazing shots 😩😍
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks a lot!
I just subscribed. love your work man.
Awesome, thanks for sharing ! The photo looks better than expected when you told the rolls were damaged !
Cool snaps man..enjoying your channel!
Love your vids man, keep it up!
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks Kyle!
Great photos Frederik!
Wow. I watching your eye for each photo of each subject you take. What a creative talent you have.
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks a lot :)!
Fantastic photography, plenty of thing's to learn here for anyone interested in street photography. Well done.
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks Andrew! And welcome to the channel!
Hey Frederik, truly appreciate your work, it haas impact on how I shoot streets. I just started shooting film and your experience is very valuable to me. thanks and keep up the great work!
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
Glad to hear! Thanks!
It's nice watching your videos. Keep doing a great job!
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks Jorge!
I lived in Hollywood up until high school (before I started film photography) and this video really makes want to go back and try this out! Thank you
¡Hombre! echamos de menos la fotografía analogica!
"IT" into the Car in L.A. - priceless! Way cool shot, Frederik !
those shots are OG
I wish I had seen this video a few days ago. I made the exact same iso mistake for the very same reasons lol. A lessoned learned. Wishing you well Frederik.
Great shoot Frederik. So many awesome portraits.
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
Appreciate it :)
what a great video! throughly entertaining! i like how you ask to take their "portrait"...particularly the scene with the cop in the car...he's all looking menacing and when you ask your voice is somewhat aggressive, but then it's like you SAW that he was "hard" and mid sentence you changed your voice to go higher and sweeter ...LOL...you could see the guy instantly MELT....cracked me up :D GOOD JOB MAN.
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks a lot Cindy! It's so funny, I never think about my tone of voice, but looking back at my videos, it's clear, that I change my tone depending on the person and situation :)
Finally comes!
when you took the picture of the clown i chuckled then your reaction had me dying
wow ~ this is really good B&W !!
Another great vid. Thank you
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks Eric! Glad you liked it!
Love this!
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
Thx mate!
Thank you for this, considering how the images look I know how I will set my film speed...
Great, as always!
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
Thx!
wow that shot of SM pier is amazing! Come to the valley someday and lets shoot!
Awesome video, as always.
I liked a lot of the photos that darker contrast with that grainy look added more character in my opinion anyway great vid 👍👍👍
Even though you accidentally underexposed instead of overexposed, it should have been fine if your lab developed for 800. I think your lab screwed up, too. Please don’t give up on film. Love the videos!
I know what happened to the two photos mixed together! This happened to me last time I had my black and white photos scanned. I went back to the lab and they re-scanned them for me for free. The scanner they use automatically detects the edges of frames, but because they were dark and black and white, it misintepreted some of the photo as the edge of a frame. So the next time they scanned them, the technician manually adjusted the scanner. Hope that helps!
‘I like it. I think it’s cool’ 😂
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
😆
It’s funny to see you shooting/filming at the same skatepark as Negative Feedback. Such great content man. I love that you ask people permission. It’s brings a new aspect of Street Photography
I enjoyed watching your vlogs.
I am very impressed with how comfortable you are approaching strangers and how successful you are in getting their permission. The tri-x is a good choice for city photography though it did seem grainier than normal. But thumbs up on an entertaining video and great photographs.
🥺 you have inspired me so much omg
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
Thank you Melissa!
thanks for great vid, sir!
You definitely need to do more of these! I'm just getting into the film side and and working on trying out so many film stocks, but seeing the results from someone else really helps see some of it's potential. Provia100F and Ektar are less common street choices, but interesting ones I think are worth trying. I'd also love to see you show some Fomopan of any kind and Fuji Pro!
Nice! Great shots!
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks man!
Great vid
Great video as always!!! not keen on the grain on the film but glad you filmed all the moments you caught. Go you traveling to London any time soon????
Love you channel, like so many others have pointed out it is extremely inspiring to see your complete process including rejections in the street, missed focuses and busy backgrounds. So many other channels make it seem like they nail every single shot and they only shoot keepers, which just makes me want to put my camera on craigslist. Your channel makes me want to go out and shoot! And you always get some great hits out of every session still. Regarding the frame edge, other people are blaming the lab. But you have a manual wind on your camera right? God knows I've been sloppy with pulling that lever many times :) That can result in narrower frames or overlapping frames, which sometimes is kinda cool IMO! Coming to CDMX in a couple of weeks, hope to catch you in the streets!
Tri-x is great with overexposing I normally rate it at 200. Film is super fun, your videos are always fun
Great video my friend
Grea to watch, I want to try film photography and usually shoot Street, this has given me some ideas on using Black and White film
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
That's great to hear Brian! Appreciate it!
@bcegerton
4 жыл бұрын
Frederik Trovatten No Worries, appreciate it
I really like the Chevrolet because of the way the film captured the silver grill
4:06 love the shot
Pennywise sitting casually in the passenger seat of the car 👌🏼 excellent video Frederik .
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks Jason 👊🏼
I am also learning how to shoot film, and when you up the ISO away from the normal boxspeed you are under exposing it since it will require a faster shutter speed (or a more open aperture) to compensate. If you want to over expose the shots, then bring the ISO down and not up. A lower ISO will require a slower shutter speed (or a less open aperture). I am shooting a Tri-X film today for the first time and so I'm looking at other photographers under and over expose their shots using a Tri-X. Thanks for sharing your work. Salutes from Florida.
Fred you should probably look into having your AE-1 serviced. Looks not only like you pushed when you meant to pull (under exposed and over developed, instead of the reverse) but that your light meter could be under exposing a stop or two. They're notorious for going out of alignment, half over expose half under expose. As an easy way to check, compare what your digital camera would suggest on an uncluttered frame and compare it to the Canon, if it's wildly out you might be able to compensate a bit.
Love these! Do you edit them? Ive used this film many times and its never looked this dark and grainy but i want those vibes
@h.walker1332
2 жыл бұрын
He shot it at 800 ISO instead of the 400 it was made for then asked the lab to develop it like it was 800. So that makes it super dark and grainy but i think it looks really good.
How do you scan your photos? I find that even if you underexposed, it's still possible to pull it back a bit when scanning.
That two photos thing happens in auto scan. Sometimes when the pictures are real dark around the end (by the spaces) the scanner they use might not read the spaces right. Your scan shop should've caught that and have done a manual framing for the scans
@FTrovatten
4 жыл бұрын
Arh got it! I didn't do the scanning, but now I know :)!
What causes those white horizontal lines like @ 12:17, is it the scanner?
hey man, ive got a Canon EOS 750D DSLR Camera and was wondering how you make your photo have the old school retro effect, or is that just the camera you are using. Im a beginner by the way :)
Always do a clip test with first, make a judgment, then process the remainder accordingly. Ask what chemistry they process in, and control the contrast ?
Thank you for taking us on the journey. I pretty much always shoot Tri-x at iso800 and push process (myself). Your photos looked underdeveloped so I'd say the lab didn't push develop properly. It should come out contrasty but not muddy looking. You still got some great shots though.
Oh man I know how are you feeling. Went there in September and underexposed (way harder) some sunset/early night photos at Santa Monica, Malibu and Griffith. But I wasn't trying to push like you. I don't have a photometer and when there's no sun light, I always mess up. I need to improve on that. But you still got some nice ones tho. P.S. You actually filmed the door of the hostel I'd stayed in Hollywood Boulevard.
I could listen to him talk all day 👏😭😌