Kodak tri-x 400, the new standard for black and white portraiture
- Gilbert Carosin
- May 29
- 2 min read
Updated: May 30
This past month I have been internally debating the future of my studio. Moving to film a few years ago was already a big decision, but one of my latest black and white portrait sessions had such an impact on me that I have now decided to focus only on black and white studio portraits.
There are plenty of black and white films available on the market, but Kodak Tri-X is one of those films that I always come back to. In the past, I had mixed results with this film, mostly due to my inexperience with the particular nature of the film, but after this session, I consider Kodak Tri-X 400 the new standard for black and white portraiture.
I was lucky enough to have Anais collaborate with me on this session. She is a fantastic model and was very patient while I was setting up everything. I also now realize that the nature of the medium I shoot is more rigorous than I thought, and this time I took real care in placing the lights perfectly where they should be, measuring light and shadow everywhere on the frame, and taking my time processing the lighting ratio carefully.
The lighting setup is the same: an Elinchrom 135mm softbox placed at a 45-degree angle on the left and some reflectors to bounce the light. I placed the softbox a little closer this time to accentuate the shadow (that's the inverse square law of light). There is also a small LED panel illuminating the backdrop, creating a vignetting effect. The camera is the same Nikon F5, and the lens is the Nikkor 135mm f/3.5 AIS, shot at f/8.
The rest was very simple. Anais was definitely a real professional, divinely managing the pose and direction as I adjusted the lighting and reflectors for each shots.
As I said above, after this session my studio will take a new direction, focusing only on black and white portraiture, film processing, and also darkroom printing.
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