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Boy not practicing photography, and especially BTZS for 2 years sure takes a toll! As you might have already seen from my messages in the other forums, I'm reeling for trying to get my film and paper tests back together, re setting up the old plotter program, the palm program, and looking at getting the new versions, since it seems they do have some very nice advantages.
This time however, I don't want (unless I have to) spend the time doing a bunch of film/paper tests to see and study the behavior, just for the sake of finding out later what the combos are. I want to get back up to speed a little quicker, no not quite a shortcut, come on there are no shortcuts in photography, but I'd like to see if it's even possible to approach the process a little differently, so I don't spend as much time in the darkroom making tests, and in front of the PC analyzing/translating curves.
Here is what I'd like to know, if it can be done. I know for a fact that I don't like extreme contrast images. I know that if I am taking portraits, I am looking for a softer tone image, and if I am photographing landscapes, a little more contrast, but still maintaining a soft look to the image.
With that in mind, how/where can I start with a recommendation of a film/paper combination I can test and take photographs with to see if it's too soft, contrasty or just right. I am hoping that perhaps if I start on the softwer side of things, create some portraits, print them, and get the right feel I'm looking for, I can then perhaps intelligently ask the next questions which would be something like... "OK I like Illform Delta 100 with D76 +1, on Illford Fiber paper #2 developed in selectol soft" now I want to increase the contrast by a factor of 2 for landscapes, what should I try?
Am I making any sense at all here? Am I blabbering and showing my complete loss of touch with BTZS or what?
Thanks for any time and feedback anyone can give to this.
R
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