We’ll begin with shade movie, which is available in two flavors, constructive and damaging.
Constructive Movie vs. Damaging Movie
Constructive movie data the picture as you noticed it once you pushed the shutter. It produces wealthy, saturated colours and tends to have robust distinction. It is a lot much less forgiving in my expertise. It’s essential get the publicity proper and there is not a lot you are able to do about it after the very fact should you do not. I are inclined to keep away from high-contrast scenes with constructive movie (or use graduated neutral-density filters to scale back distinction). Constructive movie is often mounted as slides when you have got it professionally developed.
Damaging movie data the alternative of what you noticed. In black and white, all the things is reversed, blacks are white, and whites are black in order that once you shine gentle by way of it to print, the black areas maintain again the sunshine, making them lighter within the print, and light-weight areas let extra gentle by way of, rendering them darkish within the print. The identical is true of shade damaging movie, however it tends to look extra like a yellow-orange mess as a damaging. Damaging shade movie typically has a softer look than shade constructive, with decrease distinction, and better dynamic vary.
Which do you have to use? I counsel experimenting to see which you want the perfect. Under are a couple of movie suggestions primarily based on the kind of photos you need to make.
Finest Movie for Landscapes
Fujifilm’s Fujichrome Velvia 50 is ridiculously costly at $35 per roll, however I’ve nonetheless but to seek out every other color-positive movie that appears pretty much as good as Velvia. Its shade saturation is known (tending towards the purple/magenta), and its impartial grey stability means you virtually by no means get bizarre colours in shadows and highlights. The value means I do not shoot it fairly often, however once I’m heading out into the wilderness, that is what I deliver.
Courtesy of B&H
Kodak
Skilled Ektachrome E100 Shade Transparency Movie
Kodak’s E100 is a brand new movie for me, however I’ve shot a couple of rolls now, and I can say that it is vitally completely different from Velvia. There’s not one of the Velvia heat; colours are reasonably impartial with a gentle inexperienced solid to the highlights. Should you’re trying to shoot landscapes with a special look than the previous 50 years of Velvia-influenced photos, that is the movie I might suggest.
Courtesy of B&H
Kodak
Skilled Ektar 100 Shade Damaging Movie
One other newish one, Ektar 100 is the movie inventory that come closest to replicating what I consider as a digital look. Grain may be very high quality, and colours are extraordinarily near what my Sony digital sensor data: natural-looking shade tending towards the cooler facet. I will confess this is not my favourite, however the value is tough to beat.
Finest Movie for Portraits
Courtesy of B&H
Kodak
Skilled Portra 160 Shade Damaging Movie
Portrait movies must deal with pores and skin tones nicely. My favourite, Fujifilm’s 160 Professional, has been discontinued, which leaves the ever-popular Kodak different. At $14 a roll, that is most likely the perfect worth in movie, interval. Porta 160 is a good movie for portraits, rendering pores and skin just about as it’s more often than not. Should you want one thing quicker for taking pictures in low gentle, there’s additionally a 400-speed model and even an 800-speed model. I discover that one to have an excessive amount of grain for shade portraits, but when that is the look you need, it is obtainable.
Finest Black-and-White Movies
There is a seemingly infinite array of black-and-white movies on the market, together with reissued variations of a few of the hottest movies from earlier many years. This can be a very biased record since “finest” on this case is solely subjective. Once more, experiment to determine which you want.
Courtesy of B&H
Kodak
Skilled Tri-X 400 Black and White Damaging Movie
Tri-X was launched within the Nineteen Forties and has been in steady manufacturing ever since. It is gone by way of a couple of adjustments through the years, the most recent being a reengineering in 2011 that decreased the grain (which is when it obtained the TX designation). A favourite of photographers as various as Sebastiao Salgado, Vivian Maier, and Gary Winogrand, Tri-X is beloved for its versatility, with simply the correct amount of grain and distinction that give photos a sure look and texture that nothing else matches. There are wealthy black shadows, nice distinction, and sufficient grain with out being an excessive amount of. Tri-X can be lifeless easy to course of should you do it your self. If I might solely shoot one movie, this is able to be it.
Courtesy of B&H
Ilford HP5 Plus Black and White Damaging Movie
One other versatile movie, Ilford’s HP5 has a large publicity latitude, that means it will do nicely in combined and tough lighting. It has much less total distinction than Tri-X, giving it a smoother look. It additionally pushes very nicely, with out turning into overly grainy like Tri-X tends to once you push it. If you would like all-around movie with a easy, even tonality, it is a good decide.
Courtesy of B&H
Kodak
Skilled T-Max P3200 Black and White Damaging Movie
Let’s get one thing out of the way in which first. Kodak calls this a “multispeed” movie; there isn’t any must shoot it at 3200. I wish to shoot it at 800 and course of it at 1600. It took me a couple of years to comprehend what I used to be doing there was making my T-Max look extra like Tri-X, however the level is, the T-Max 3200 is extra versatile than the pace implies. That stated, I have a tendency to achieve for this when taking pictures within the evenings or out at evening.
Growing Movie
There was a movie improvement lab on each road nook. Or at the least in these little kiosks in parking tons, however these days are gone. That stated, there are many skilled labs on the market with mail-order companies and fast turnaround occasions. Most of them can be blissful to scan your negatives as nicely, although this does add to the associated fee.
There are a whole bunch of fine labs on the market, and your finest guess is to go to the images retailer nearest you and discuss to them. Constructing a relationship at your native picture store will provide help to get higher outcomes, as a result of they’re going to know what you want and what you do not and will help you push and pull and talk with the lab as wanted. That stated, many digital camera shops have outsourced their improvement to huge on-line providers (the shop nearest me sends movie off to Nation’s lab), so ensure you ask the place they’re creating.
