The City- Final three images

Three Images

For my final three images for 'The City' project, I photographed areas around a urban town. I wanted to capture modernisation of the city, so I chose to photograph tall buildings to symbolise the growth of the city and how its always growing. I also wanted to capture repetition in windows and symmetry in buildings to represent the structure of the city. When I took these photo's I used Ilford Black and white ISO 100 film, I did this to soften the way the city looks and to make everything appear very equal. 

Close up of black window
For the first test strip I set the enlarger's aperture at F8 and set the filter grade at two. I then exposed each section of the test strip for five seconds.

I made another test strip as I felt the first one was far too dark so for this one  I decreased the size of the aperture on the enlarger. I changed the aperture to F22 so the image will be more brighter. I used a grade two filter and exposed each section of the strip for five seconds. 

For the next test strip I kept the aperture at F22 to make the image more brighter. I exposed the whole of the test strip for fifty seconds, I choose this exposure from looking at the test strip I made before. I decided to keep the grade two filter to add some contrast.

I felt that the last test strip was too dark so I decreased the exposure time by five seconds, so it was a 45 second exposure.

I still felt that the picture was too dark so I decreased the exposure by five seconds again, so it was a forty second exposure instead. Too add contrast to the image I  added a second exposure of five seconds with a grade four filter.

The test strip was still too dark so I decreased the exposure again so it was thirty five seconds. I still kept the second exposure of five seconds with a grade four filter to add contrast.

Next I made a final print, with the same printing times as above. However when it was printed I noticed there was a mark at the bottom of the print so I decided to print it again.

This is my final print I used a grade two filter with an exposure time of thirty five seconds with the enlargers aperture set at F22. I also did another exposure of five seconds with a grade four filter too add contrast. Even though this image was taken at night it has a softness to it.

Building and car park

For this test strip I exposed each of the sections for five seconds. First I set the aperture on the enlarger to F22 and used a grade two filter too add a slight contrast to the image.

From the first test strip I choose a thirty second exposure, and still kept the grade two filter. I then added another exposure of five seconds with a grade five filter too add contrast to the image.

g2 f22 30s
g5 10secs
I still kept the same first thirty second exposure but for the second exposure with the grade five filter I increased the exposure time to ten seconds to add even more contrast.

For my final image I kept the enlarger's aperture at F22 and then used a grade two filter for thirty seconds. I then added another exposure with a grade five filter for thirteen seconds, I decided to increase the grade five filtered exposure by three seconds to add even more contrast to the image.   

Close up of illuminated windows

With this test strip I set the enlargers aperture to F16. I then used a grade two filter and exposed each section of the image for five seconds.

I decided to change the apertures enlarger to F22 to make the image more brighter. From the first test strip I decided to expose the whole of the image for thirty seconds using a grade two filter.

For this test strip I kept the same exposure as the previous test strip but I increased the exposure time by five seconds to darken the image slightly. I then decided to add a second exposure for five seconds with a grade four filter to add contrast to the image.

For my final print of this negative I used a grade two filter for thirty five seconds with the enlargers aperture set at F22. With the second exposure for five seconds I increased the grade of the filter by one to grade five to add more contrast.

Tall building against night sky

I deicded to print this negative as I liked the building that is pictured as I felt it would represent modernisation of the city. However once I began to print it I felt the image was too dark and didn't have enough tonal range in it. 

For the first strip I set the enlargers aperture at F22, I then chose a grade 2 filter and exposed each section of the test strip for 5 seconds.

I decided to use a twenty five second exposure for this test strip by looking at the previous one I made. I felt the first test strip looks very flat so I decided to add a grade five filter to add more contrast, I exposed the paper for five seconds using the grade five filter.

With the final test strip I made I kept the first exposure as the same, but with the second exposure I tried a grade three filter instead of a grade five as I felt the image was far too dark. After I made this test strip I realised how dark the negative was so I didn't make a final print of it.