High ISO Black and White

Yesterday we got the remnants of hurricane gustav here in central illinois. It rained most of the day, and after dinner Lily, Lucy, and I decided to go for a walk in the rain.

Running in the rain

I find myself gravitating towards grainy high contrast black and white pictures. There’s just something about them that I enjoy. Don’t get me wrong, I find the smooth tones of a well done monochrome wonderful as well (as in the latest Lens Work).

I’ve been noodling with an old Pentax K-1000 and some Ilford Super XP2 film lately. While I enjoy using the camera, the quick turn allure of digital is omnipresent. Plus, I did just get a new camera.

Greenway Sign

So, off we went in the rain. It wasn’t raining very much. Just a sprinkle really. I had to push to ISO3200 equivalent just to be shooting at around 1/125, f4. But, the black and white conversions effectively hide the chroma noise, and I like the grain look of the luminance noise. I have not applied any noise reduction, but will probably end up trying that later this weekend.

Walking Home After the Rain

Technorati Tags:
B&W, digital, film, photography, iso, 3200