After my initial disappointment with the graininess I found in that first roll of HD 400, I decided to try to shoot through the rest of it as fast as possible, so when Hana and I decided to take a trip to the Dallas Arboretum, I grabbed a roll to refill the FG in case I ended up shooting through the first roll of Compania Imago-rolled Rollei CN 200 that I mentioned earlier this week.
At first glance, I thought it turned out less grainy than my first roll, but looking again now, I think the subjects just disguised the grain some.
First up, 3 varieties of Maple, I think…
The grain is there, but due to the busyness of the scenes, it’s taken a backseat to the color.
But check out this nice treescape…
Or this babbling brook that looks like a painting you might find hanging in the lobby of a musty, older motel in some little town in some out of the way location…
The HD 400 has some decent color, but the grain is something else. I’ve not encountered such a grainy 400 speed film before, sorta makes me wonder if I could, say, shoot it at 200 or 800 and somehow minimize the grain… That said, I’m down to just a couple of rolls, and I probably won’t pick up any more, especially given that it’s out of production now (that, and I have a whole load of film now: happy birthday to me!).
I shot somewhat more people photography than I usually do. I think I was feeling confident or something, Allahu Alim. But I like this one, more or less, though I think I had some issues with scanning: the Kodak films have a very pronounced convex warp that makes them a real pain to scan: another reason I probably won’t mess with the HD 400 again.
Anyway, I like this one. The old couple seemed pretty happy together. May Allah keep Hana and I similarly happy with one another, Ameen.
And I don’t know why (actually, I do), but every time we visit the Arboretum, there’s a Quinceañera shoot going on. I usually grab a shot or to, but I’ve not been too happy with them before. This time, I got a decent before/during…
…and after, too.
And that was it for the Arboretum trip.
The rest of Spring Break was largely uneventful. We didn’t do much, really: neighborhood walks and a trip up to Mustang’s place for lunch one afternoon.
But more on those later.
