We’ll begin with shade movie, which is available in two flavors, optimistic and adverse.
Optimistic Movie vs. Destructive Movie
Optimistic movie information 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. You’ll want to get the publicity proper and there is not a lot you are able to do about it after the actual fact in the event you do not. I are likely to keep away from high-contrast scenes with optimistic movie (or use graduated neutral-density filters to cut back distinction). Optimistic movie is normally mounted as slides when you may have it professionally developed.
Destructive movie information 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 it to print, the black areas maintain again the sunshine, making them lighter within the print, and light-weight areas let extra gentle by, rendering them darkish within the print. The identical is true of shade adverse movie, but it surely tends to look extra like a yellow-orange mess as a adverse. Destructive shade movie typically has a softer look than shade optimistic, with decrease distinction, and better dynamic vary.
Which do you have to use? I recommend experimenting to see which you want the perfect. Beneath are just a few movie suggestions primarily based on the kind of pictures 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 some other color-positive movie that appears pretty much as good as Velvia. Its shade saturation is known (tending towards the pink/magenta), and its impartial grey steadiness means you nearly by no means get bizarre colours in shadows and highlights. The worth means I do not shoot it fairly often, however once I’m heading out into the wilderness, that is what I convey.
Kodak’s E100 is a brand new movie for me, however I’ve shot just a few rolls now, and I can say that it is extremely totally different from Velvia. There’s not one of the Velvia heat; colours are reasonably impartial with a light inexperienced forged to the highlights. In the event you’re trying to shoot landscapes with a special look than the previous 50 years of Velvia-influenced pictures, that is the movie I might suggest.
One other newish one, Ektar 100 is the movie inventory that come closest to replicating what I consider as a digital look. Grain could be very high quality, and colours are extraordinarily near what my Sony digital sensor information: natural-looking shade tending towards the cooler facet. I will confess this is not my favourite, however the worth is troublesome to beat.
Finest Movie for Portraits
Portrait movies must deal with pores and skin tones effectively. My favourite, Fujifilm’s 160 Professional, has been discontinued, which leaves the ever-popular Kodak various. At $14 a roll, that is in all probability 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. In the event you want one thing sooner 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 countless array of black-and-white movies on the market, together with reissued variations of a number of the hottest movies from earlier a long time. This can be a very biased record since “greatest” on this case is solely subjective. Once more, experiment to determine which you want.
Tri-X was launched within the Nineteen Forties and has been in steady manufacturing ever since. It is gone by just a few adjustments through the years, the newest being a reengineering in 2011 that lowered the grain (which is when it bought the TX designation). A favourite of photographers as numerous 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 pictures 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 in the event you do it your self. If I might solely shoot one movie, this is able to be it.
One other versatile movie, Ilford’s HP5 has a large publicity latitude, that means it will do effectively in blended and troublesome lighting. It has much less general distinction than Tri-X, giving it a smoother look. It additionally pushes very effectively, with out changing into overly grainy like Tri-X tends to once you push it. If you would like an excellent all-around movie with a clean, even tonality, it is a good decide.
Let’s get one thing out of the best way first. Kodak calls this a “multispeed” movie; there isn’t any must shoot it at 3200. I prefer to shoot it at 800 and course of it at 1600. It took me just a few 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 velocity implies. That stated, I have a tendency to succeed in for this when taking pictures within the evenings or out at evening.
Growing Movie
There was once a movie improvement lab on each avenue nook. Or no less than in these little kiosks in parking heaps, 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 will probably be glad to scan your negatives as effectively, although this does add to the price.
There are tons of of fine labs on the market, and your greatest wager is to go to the images retailer nearest you and discuss to them. Constructing a relationship at your native picture store will assist you to get higher outcomes, as a result of they will know what you want and what you do not and may help you push and pull and talk with the lab as wanted. That stated, many digicam shops have outsourced their improvement to huge on-line companies (the shop nearest me sends movie off to Nation’s lab), so be sure to ask the place they’re growing.