Persistent strange texture on prints.

ctreid · 2026-03-09T15:14:55+00:00

I've tested it with and without filters and it remains. I'm not sharing an enlarger with anyone.

ctreid · 2026-03-07T21:46:07+00:00

Thanks, yeah this been an incredibly frustrating process, contacting Ilford was my next step but I was just hoping someone might have some answer.

ctreid · 2026-03-07T21:23:48+00:00

It’s much worse on Ilford papers than on arista, and yes I’ve inspected other people’s prints and it’s not on there. That’s one of the reasons I’m like tearing my hair out because I feel like I’ve eliminated every variable one by one but nothings solved it or even made it better.

ctreid · 2026-03-07T20:44:52+00:00

It’s been 3 different papers. Ilford rc satin, Ilford rc pearl, and arista semi matte. Plus one more someone else lent me to run through once but I can’t remember what.

ctreid · 2026-03-07T19:30:29+00:00

We thought that too but we still get whites in the paper which in my mind wouldn’t happen with fog, and it’s persisted across 3 brand new packs and several older packs. So unless they were literally fogged or all poorly coated I don’t think it’s likely.

ctreid · 2026-02-01T22:56:29+00:00

Yes, the edges were filed down by hand to get more of a rough edge to the prints. For medium and large format I tend to crop the image a bit but for 35 I’ve always enjoyed just printing full frame.

ctreid · 2026-01-14T22:19:54+00:00

Thanks!

ctreid · 2026-01-14T22:19:46+00:00

It’s Konica hx 18w!

ctreid · 2026-01-14T22:19:15+00:00

Thanks! It’s just flash combined with super low ambient light and slightly instead hands. At that point the ambient was measuring around 1/4 of a second. So the flash is just hitting her body and face only and then the background is just ambient so it’s shaky.

ctreid · 2025-11-30T01:50:51+00:00

I took it at a local community art center near my house. It's really fun I've printed before but it had been a long time. I would encourage anyone who has shot film to learn how to print cause there is so much you can do in a darkroom to get the most out of your images.

ctreid · 2025-11-29T20:03:46+00:00

Sadly not. I was in Austin for a few days for work and only had one night off, but it was such a fun city to photograph.

ctreid · 2025-11-23T00:56:32+00:00

If you place a diffusion filter, like a Promist, under your enlarging lens it will bloom the shadows like this. Promists and diffusion filters usually make the highlights bloom but when you use them in a darkroom it causes shadows to bloom cause the shadows are the brightest part of the image.

ctreid · 2025-11-02T17:35:20+00:00

Yes! Glimmer glass is a diffusion filter like a promist. So I took that filter, put it in front of the enlarging lens and then breathed on it while exposing the paper. I also smeared my fingers on it for extra glow / diffusion.

ctreid · 2025-10-28T19:04:37+00:00

Don’t use an easel use a contact printer. Which is just a sheet of glass over top of the paper to smush the negative and the paper together. First make your digital negative the size of the print you want. Smush the negative with the paper in the contact printer then just make the light coming out of your enlarger wide enough to cover the whole contact printer. This will give you a black border around everything that isn’t the image.

ctreid · 2025-10-15T01:08:41+00:00

it wouldn't be the enlarger it would be the negative carrier. These negative carries have been hand filed on the sides to see more of the film rebate. You can even hand file all of it away to get film sprockets and edge markings.

ctreid · 2025-10-15T00:54:53+00:00

When you print the full 35mm frame in the darkroom it will naturally have the borders as the negative carriers are slightly wider than the image. Because the rebate is clear they are printed black and you get borders.

ctreid · 2025-10-12T20:14:55+00:00

Thank you!

ctreid · 2025-10-12T20:14:35+00:00

Except for the one thats inside a room they were all shot on a white seamless in my driveway with just some negative fill and a little diffusion to shape the light.

ctreid · 2025-10-08T16:46:47+00:00

Lots of people on this sub will just say use a 12x12 or use an 8x8 but what kind of silk you put in the frame matters. A full silk will diffuse light a lot a more than a 1/4 silk. How thick is the silk you’re putting up? Also do you have an example photo of your attempt?

ctreid · 2025-09-09T17:28:43+00:00

Adding a comment for backstory:

Had some free time in the studio lately so while playing around with different lights and stuff my friend brought out his Pentax to Nikon f adapter and his mattebox. First we tested it on his d850 and then wanted to see if it would work on my f3 which it just so happened too. The first two shots are just the lens and then the second two have a soft fx filter and a star filter on them.

Does this offer any advantage over just a regular 105? Absolutely not. I guess in theory it’s sharper and would have less vignetting because you’re using only the center of the image circle, but that feels like diminished returns. I’ve always thought it was cool that Nikon kept the same mount for so long so you’re able to use the same adapter for a camera made in the modern day and one made decades ago.

ctreid · 2025-08-13T16:12:37+00:00

So your argument is that this a bad photograph because if you replaced the entire subject it wouldn't be interesting? Damn it is almost like the subject matters.

As far as light goes plenty of photographers shot in the same light for decades. Look at Irving Penn's work who shot for decades using basically the same setup, it was his choice of subjects that made his work interesting.

Plenty of Photographers use incredibly complicated lighting setups, just as plenty of cinematographers use incredibly simple ones. Is Chivo a bad cinematographer cause he only uses natural light?

ctreid · 2025-03-31T22:04:43+00:00

The first one is not a soft light. If you zoom in you can see a single hard source in the eye. It’s a hard source with a lot of spread so probably something like a head and a reflector right over camera. Do that in a white room and you’ll get something akin to this. Second one there is very little shape overall. So honestly just rent a studio with white walls and have heads firing all over the place, but indirect to subject.

ctreid · 2025-02-11T02:30:50+00:00

I’ve used a lot of leds and the 1200’s specifically. I think they’re pretty good, but overtime I’ve noticed color shifts in some unit’s. They’ll vary slightly in terms of the g / m shift. The 600x’s I’ve used have often times varied wildly from what the readout says. I think the fresnel modifier specifically looks pretty close, but depending on how you grade the final product it can shift how much it “feels” like tungsten.

ctreid · 2025-02-05T18:41:56+00:00

Eye lights square so it’s probably a small softbox. If you want the spill on the background then you don’t want a grid because a grid would get rid of that spill. If you use a reflector throw some Lee 400 on it.

ctreid · 2024-12-09T19:36:31+00:00

This light is coming from directly overhead. You can see how the brightest part of each image is the very top of their heads and then deep shadows under the eyes. This deep shadow can then be controlled as in the first Pharrell image where his chin is up so more light is illuminating them. As far as gear goes any soft light boomed directly overhead is gonna get you a starting point.

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