Last night I watched Fellini’s movie 8 1/2. Some how after a ton of art school and old film obsession I had never seen it. Besides the amazing dream sequences what really struck me was the silver color of the black and white film. Amazing!

So this morning I googled “silver black and white 8 1/2” and stumbled upon this conversation over at the Analog Film Users Group (APUG) titled Black and White film with tones more silver than grey. Lots of stupid responses from people who don’t understand the thread owners question and probably haven’t seen the film.

But I think the answer to why and how there is so much silver in 8 1/2 has to do with every element of film photography. Light, lens, film stock, development, cinematography, etc. A more technical answer lies in the descriptions of Holden Richards 8×10 photography on Flickr. I will be investigating more because this silver is EXACTLY how I dream my still photos will appear.

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