Any tips on Black and white film photography?

Question

Ok, this is what i do time and time again:

I take the photos, and am ALWAYS concious of the light metre.

When I go to manually develop my film, it always comes out "grey", with little hints at what i've photographed, but i always end up having to use filters or re-shoot because the contrast just isnt good enough.

Does anyone have any suggestions to what I can do in future?

Should I be focusing on other things than the light metre?

Would changing from a 400ISO to 125 do any help (or vice versa)?

Thankyou soo much for all your help!

thanks for your reply LARRY, sorry, whats a "meter" is that a thing that measures the light intensity?

Answer 1

Some tutorials:
Exposure: http://www.net-art.it/photomonitor/html/teoria_tecnica/esposizione/index-e.shtml
Darkroom Techniques: http://www.net-art.it/photomonitor/html/teoria_tecnica/camera-oscura/index-e.shtml
Zone System: http://www.net-art.it/photomonitor/html/teoria_tecnica/sistema-zonale/index-e.shtml

Answer 2

I don't have an lot of experience in BW photography, but I do it once in a while.
If you overexpose your images you definitely should get white in your image (Ok on your film it won't be really white as the film has its own "color"). If you underexpose you definitely should get black in your image. If you expose correctly you should get some white and some black, of course depending what you take an image of. In neither case should you get greys only.
Sounds to me more that there is something wrong with either your film or your developing process.
Are you sure the time you develop your film is correct for your brand/type of film? Is your developing solution fresh?
The opposite once happened to me, one film came out all black and white, barely any greys. I had tried out some pretty old developer (as it came as a salt I thought it still might be OK). Anyway, I went and bought some new stuff and the next film was fine.
I prefer 125 ISO because it's less grainy, but it really depends how much light you've got. The 400 is more light sensitive if you need that.

Answer 3

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Answer 4

Start thinking of some other factors, you may or may not be overlooking. What time of day are you shooting? Morning and evening light would be much easier, not to mention more artistic most of the time. Try shooting on cloudy days to avoid harsh contrasts, unless this is the effect you are trying for.

One last thing, have you tried many different films? I played with 4 different brands of b&w film before settling on the one I like.

Answer 5

Try Trick Photography Special Effects - http://tinyurl.com/6cuvTqGA1F

Answer 6

This first time i did this i bracketed my shots and wrote down my fstop/shutter speed for each frame. When i went to process I noted which ones worked best. I took three shots of some things but at least one of them came out with good exposure. Good luck! Night photography is fun so have a great time with it! :)

Answer 7

Meter the highlights (brightest points)
and then the darkest area
and average these two to set f-stop
this metered average should solve your problem !!

Answer 8

try to photograph something with strong values of dark and light