Color verses Monochrome - Raymond Hill

Here is another color shot, from the batch of E-6 processed on my Jobo on March 16th.  I used a Unicolor Rapid E-6 kit, which is actually quite simple.   The three chemical steps are simply a first developer for 7:00 minutes, a color developer for 5:00 minutes, and a bleach/fix for 7:00 minutes.  Before, after and in between there are just water rinses.  The process temperature is quite high, essentially body temperature, at 37C.  This is easily maintained with the heated water bath of the Jobo.

This is a shot of some small hoodoos in the Red Deer River Valley, not far from our place at East Coulee.  I waited until evening light before setting out from the shop with my camera.  I took this on October 16th 2022, at about 5:45 in the evening.  I used my Ebony view camera and a slightly wide 125mm lens.  There was so much color in the warm evening light that I did not use any sort of filter to enhance it.  But I knew that the now discontinued Fujichrome Velvia 50 would render the scene with very vivid colors.  This particular sheet of film hit its best before date in October of 2012.  I loaded it, exposed it, and then unloaded it, ten years later in 2022.  It was March of 2024 before I accumulated enough exposed film to mix up the chemistry and run the batch.  In between I stored the exposed film in the fridge.  All things considered, it held up nicely.  

The color version of this image looks very different from the Black and White sheets that I exposed just a few minutes prior.

I shot several sheets of black and white film at this location, including a couple of traditional films as well as a sheet of Infrared.  I wouldn't necessarily say that the color version is better, but it certainly is different.  The first monochrome image is a scan of a sheet of Kodak High Speed Infrared.  I previously posted this one on my blog and compared it to some typical panchromatic black and white films.  The second shot here is a scan of a sheet of Ilford FP4 developed in Perceptol.  This film and developer combination gives a decidedly softer look than many of the other combinations that I use, and I thought it would work well for this scene.  Although I have not included it here, I also shot another sheet of 4x5, a sheet of Kodak T-Max 100 developed in 510 Pyro.  It is similar to the FP4 shot, but exhibits a little more contrast.