From: mjg@nwu.edu (Michael J Graven)
Subject: Re: I Hate Grainy Pictures
Summary: learn to like it
Originator: mjg@casbah.acns.nwu.edu
Keywords: HELP
Reply-To: mjg@nwu.edu (Michael J Graven)
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 03:19:23 GMT

Danny Richman (gumby@choate.edu) writes:

> 	I have recently been assigned to take indoor sports BW pictures for my
> school newspaper.  I need to take pictures at a 1/1000 sec. shutter speed 
> so that the sports pictures are frozen, not blurred.

Ah, that's what *you* think.  You can really get away with 1/500 of a second,
and sometimes even 1/250 if the sport you're shooting is slow enough.

I'll stick to addressing basketball, as it's the sport most published in
the winter.  It's played inside, which is *good*.  It's *warm* inside.  
But it's played inside, which is *bad*.  It's *dark* inside.  (Right, Al?)

Basketball seems to be a fast-moving sport when you see it live or on 
television.  But what really happens?  Somebody grabs the ball, runs the
length of the court, and tries to put it through the hoop.  Now, the
ball is moving pretty fast whilst being dribbled, but we don't care
about that too much; what we care about are the faces of the players.
And they're not moving all that fast, especially at the top of a layup,
or while hanging on the hoop after a dunk, or while fighting for
posession or a rebound: in these moments, their instantaneous velocity 
approaches zero.

So the long and the short of it is this: often, when shooting college
sports, you can get away with shutter speeds around 1/500.  To quote the
EPA, "your mileage may vary," and you won't be able to freeze the action
stock-still, but you will get acceptably sharp photos if you know your
subjects and if you get the right moments.

Now, wrt apertures: usually, I set my shutter speed first, and the depth
of the wince that follows determines how I set my aperture -- and how
much I worry about critical focussing.  Unfortunately, many arenas are
under-lit, necessitating wide apertures and quick fingers.  Them's the
breaks, big guy.  It hasn't gotten any darker in those arenas in the last 
ten years, and people were shooting great shots in just as much light 
before they had the wonder films we have today.

Which brings me to the indoor sports wonder film: TMZ.  (Warming your
heart, Barnick? :) )

> I decided that it was necessary to use 3200 ASA T-Max due to the low light 
> conditions, but I am at my last stop and can't afford to push the film at all.

A pedantic note: Tmax P3200 TMZ is really an ISO 1000 film.  When you
rate it at EI (note: EI, not ISO) 3200, you're pushing it over a stop
already.  Hence the "P" in the film name.

> When I enlarge the pictures I get a lot of grain.  Well, sure I expected it, 
> but isn't there anything I can do?  

Sure.  Modify the method you use to develop the negatives.  

It is my contention that the times Kodak provides for developing TMZ in
Tmax developer (you *are* using Tmax developer, aren't you?) are,
shall we say, a bit optimistic.  I use a slightly different formula.

Take the EI you shot the film at.  Double it.  Choose the time for that
EI in Tmax 1:4 at 22 degrees Celsius.  Set your developer at that
temperature, and develop -- but agitate five seconds every three minutes
instead of every thirty seconds.  And do it gently; you don't want to
bruise the developer.  :)

donl and Barry will probably have my head for this.  Underagitation?
For shame.  But it seems to work, and I'm on deadline.  If it works,
it's Good.

And there's one more issue: how much effort are you putting into
printing these negatives?  It's not easy, but judicious and skillful
burning and dodging will render good to great prints if you put enough
thought into what tones you want to see.  TMZ negs aren't suited to
dumping in the enlarger gate and one-shot printing on a sheet of paper.
You have to think hard about what you're doing.

And occasionally you have to bring out the hot water.  ;)

> Is there any fine grain black and white film out there????  

Oh, Larry Bullis, Larry, wherefore art thou...

> 				-Dan

-- 
-Michael                                        "The ball shall be spherical."
mjg@nwu.edu                        -- NCAA basketball regulations, rule 1.1.14