Development of B&W film

[seanlim]

I hope this is the right place to ask:
(Developed at FotoHub, Nex)




Here are two pictures of the same subject. Why is it on one picture, the black is very black. On the other, it’s more washed out, grayish. Not as contrasty. Presumably, the settings would have been the same. I notice this throughout the B&W roll. What could be the problem?

 

[catchlights]

film?
can you see the negative of these two images in same tone?

 

[mamypoko]

Check your negative to see if it's different, Fotohub scanned it for you?

 

[seanlim]

Yup Fotohub developed & scanned it for me.
From what I can see, the more contrasty picture has more contrasty negatives. i.e the black (whites on photo) area are more black whereas it's pale greyish on the other.
Any reasons for this?

 

[nstclicks]

What camera were you using ? Auto-exposure or fully manual ? You seem to have shifted position between taking the two photos and there is a lot of sky in the photos, plus sunlight coming from one side. It's not surprising that the light meter would give different results for both photos.

 

[seanlim]

@nstclicks: I was using an M7, possibly auto exposure. Yeah it seems like I moved, say a step or two to a side. But the composition is largely the same.

Why would a different exposure make the blacks, less "black"?:dunno:
Presumably, even a slight underexposed picture should still give contrasty picture...just not as brightly lit no?