Also, What sort of film should I use? Ideally i'd like it to be black and white. I'm guessing ISO 100 as I want to print these as 'fine art' prints.
Suggestions?
I actually do a lot of black & white topside photography and develop and enlarge in the darkroom.
Here are my suggestions for black and white film at ISO 100 along with comments:
1. Kodak TMAX 100
"Super tight grain, moderate contrast and an extremely long tonal scale are all characteristics of this superb film from Kodak. For those shots that require a high degree of enlargement, you'll be hard pressed to find a better film than TMAX 100. Best processed in TMAX developers, but can be processed in more conventional developers also."
2. Fuji Neopan Acros 100
"Fuji Neopan Acros 100 is a medium speed black and white film with rich gradation and outstanding sharpness. These features make it a good choice for a wide range of photographic applications including portraits, landscapes, architectural and product photography.
Boasting Fuji's Super-fine Sigma Grain Technology this update of the older Neopan 100 has exceptionally fine grain yielding smoother and sharper textural depiction even under substantial enlargements."
I have shot Fuji Neopan Acros quite a bit and I really like it. I haven't used Kodak TMAX 100 but a lot of people like it. According to the above comments, it's great for shots needing a high degree of enlargement, which would be great for you.
The following films are black and white films at ISO 125:
1. Ilford FP4 Plus
"Ilford FP4+ is an exceptionally fine grain, medium speed (ISO 125) black and white film. It is ideal for high quality indoor and outdoor photography, particularly when substantial enlargements are to be made. In addition to general photography, FP4+ is also suited to copying and internegative work, and has many applications in scientific technolical and industrial photography."
2. Kodak Plus-X
"Here's a classic in an extremely fine grained, medium speed film with excellent resolving power, high acutance and superb detail in both highlights and shadow areas. Responds well to both push and pull processing in standard chemistry, for maximum ease of use. Highly recommended for general photography in moderate light situations."
Hope that helps. There are many other excellent black & white films, but that should be enough to get you started :-) If you were local, I'd offer to develop the film and make prints for you.
I'll just mention one fairly recent color film, although I know you wanted to shoot b&w. It's Kodak Ektar. It's ISO 100 but is very much like Velvia, in that it has very saturated colors. I really like it and I think it would work well for your application if you're doing color. I have shot a fair number of rolls with this film and am pleased with how it comes out.
Good luck with your project!
Ellen