10x8 portrait on Fomapan 400

Nice gradation ... and I love the lighting. And yep ... I'm a huge fan of good catchlights :)

Start em young!
 
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Thank you, both. Sometimes it's hard to beat natural light coming through a window into a darkish room.
 
Nas said:
Portrait made by my 10 year old daughter.

14in Kodak Commercial lens
10x8 Tachihara field camera
Fomapan 400 @ 200
Rodinal 1+50 9 mins in rotary drum
iPhone pic on light box

View attachment 5651
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Nas you must me so so proud. Love this. You can tell she is good as she made you seem extremely relaxed.

Did you develop with her also? Maybe print also?

What nice light and tones. What’s interesting is the contrast isn’t heavy from what I’m used to seeing. Low contrast lens?

Genuinely I really like the picture and more so the process of father and daughter.
 
Soulstar89 said:
Nas you must me so so proud. Love this. You can tell she is good as she made you seem extremely relaxed.

Did you develop with her also? Maybe print also?

What nice light and tones. What’s interesting is the contrast isn’t heavy from what I’m used to seeing. Low contrast lens?

Genuinely I really like the picture and more so the process of father and daughter.
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Thank you. Proud Dad moment for sure. I've found it's great when you involve kids with the image making process. If you want to photograph them why not let them photograph you as well? My daughter has been enjoying using various medium format cameras along with large format.
My wife is not a fan of kids around chemicals so I do the darkroom stuff myself. I haven't had time to make a contact print yet but I will when I get a chance.

From memory I believe my 14 inch Kodak Commercial lens is uncoated which could be why the contrast is low. It could also be the iPhone pic from the light box which I didn't mask off so there's likely some flare coming from that. Cheers.
 
Nas said:
Thank you. Proud Dad moment for sure. I've found it's great when you involve kids with the image making process. If you want to photograph them why not let them photograph you as well? My daughter has been enjoying using various medium format cameras along with large format.
My wife is not a fan of kids around chemicals so I do the darkroom stuff myself. I haven't had time to make a contact print yet but I will when I get a chance.

From memory I believe my 14 inch Kodak Commercial lens is uncoated which could be why the contrast is low. It could also be the iPhone pic from the light box which I didn't mask off so there's likely some flare coming from that. Cheers.
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A fine photograph and very nice work on the part of your daughter.

I very much expect that your 14 inch Commercial Ektar is coated, single coated of course, and with six air-glass surfaces. On the bezel there should be a circle around an "L", "L" being for "Luminized", Eastman Kodak's term back in the day for their anti-reflection coating process.

David
 
Foma 400 has been getting a bit of criticism on this forum. It had been described as bland. I can't think why as it has more character than most films around at the moment. It has been described as being prone to high contrast. I can't understand this either as it is actually a low contrast film. It has been lumped with Foma 100 and Foma 200 in not reaching box speed, and quickly building up too much contrast if over-developed. This isn't true either. It is a true 400 speed film, and responds exactly like HP5 to exposure and development. I have often developed them both together in the same tank.
So it is nice to see someone making a very nice photograph with Foma 400, one that shows off it's excellent properties. Well done Naz and his daughter!
 
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Alan Clark said:
It has been lumped with Foma 100 and Foma 200 in not reaching box speed, and quickly building up too much contrast if over-developed. This isn't true either. It is a true 400 speed film, and responds exactly like HP5 to exposure and development. I have often developed them both together in the same tank.
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I haven't shot any of this yet, but to be fair even Foma's own datasheet for the 400 emulsion makes it clear that it's only in Microphen (a speed boosting developer) that it exceeds 320 speed. For most other developers if developed to normal-ish contrast it's always hovering in the 200-250 range based on Foma's own data. Most people's experience seems to be consistent with this. I've not shot any of my box yet but I'm planning on metering it at 200.


Screenshot 2025-09-19 at 13.55.04.png
 
Nas said:
Thank you. Proud Dad moment for sure. I've found it's great when you involve kids with the image making process. If you want to photograph them why not let them photograph you as well? My daughter has been enjoying using various medium format cameras along with large format.
My wife is not a fan of kids around chemicals so I do the darkroom stuff myself. I haven't had time to make a contact print yet but I will when I get a chance.

From memory I believe my 14 inch Kodak Commercial lens is uncoated which could be why the contrast is low. It could also be the iPhone pic from the light box which I didn't mask off so there's likely some flare coming from that. Cheers.
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well said about the involvement.

I feel i may be heading into lower contrast lenses.
 
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David Lindquist said:
A fine photograph and very nice work on the part of your daughter.

I very much expect that your 14 inch Commercial Ektar is coated, single coated of course, and with six air-glass surfaces. On the bezel there should be a circle around an "L", "L" being for "Luminized", Eastman Kodak's term back in the day for their anti-reflection coating process.

David
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My mistake. I was just guessing the lens is uncoated. Thanks for the info about the "L" :)
 
Lovely - and nice to see a photograph of you without a darkhood over your head!
Brilliant to get her involved. Is she please with the photograph she made?
If there are worries about 'chemicals' talk to me about Caffenol. It gets high user acceptability ratings. The only true advantage is that we know exactly what's in it, but as everyone can see it's all stuff they use in their kitchen newcomers are more comfortable.
(Not that I drink the instant coffee I use when teaching film development - evil stuff - and not sure whether it would produce the gorgeous results you got here either)
 
AnalogueWendy said:
Lovely - and nice to see a photograph of you without a darkhood over your head!
Brilliant to get her involved. Is she please with the photograph she made?
If there are worries about 'chemicals' talk to me about Caffenol. It gets high user acceptability ratings. The only true advantage is that we know exactly what's in it, but as everyone can see it's all stuff they use in their kitchen newcomers are more comfortable.
(Not that I drink the instant coffee I use when teaching film development - evil stuff - and not sure whether it would produce the gorgeous results you got here either)
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Thanks, Wendy. Yes, my daughter is pleased with her work so far. Thanks for the offer about Caffenol but I prefer to use "proper" chemicals for the results I like :)
 
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