Available light photography has become the domain of DSLR's with their high iso ratings. Yet, I wanted to try what film can do and I pushed a 35mm roll of Porta 400 with 2 stops to 1600 iso. I compensated in development by extending the normal 3min15 of the c41 process with 1 extra minute. The images are usable with a typical available light atmosphere. I got major color shifts, not only due to the pushing but also due to various indoor light sources.
high res pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kodel/sets/72157632365305794
https://plus.google.com/photos/112874694436727534142/albums/5826962777139070129
Further underexposure does not yield good results. The shot below is exposed at 6400, so 2 stops under.
Only 1 stop underexposure is still usable, but quality suffers.
The biggest problem is a complete lack of blue. If you try to bump up the blue channel to get more or less normal colours lots of blue grain pops up. The blue grain also could be scanner noise. I would have to make a print in a darkroom to find out.
All photos are taken at around maximum aperture of my Nikon 50mm 1.8 EM lens. This resulted in shutter speeds of around 1/30 second. This is where the challenge for available light photography lies: shooting moving subjects with critical focussing and low handheld speeds. Below is a shot where I took the time to focus correctly and could brace myself to hold the camera more steady. As a result, sharpness is much better than in the shot above.
It's amazing that a color film can be pushed to 1600 iso without too much problems. I wonder if we could even go further to 3200 or 6400 iso. I still prefer a good black and white shot on TMAX 3200, but since I have only 1 roll left in my fridge and Kodak discontinued production I'll have to decide between pushing Portra or using my DSLR at 6400 iso. I'm afraid that for most situations, the DSLR will win. The only area where the pushed Portra is better is in controlling the highlights. You can even retain detail in the flame of a candle. But the DSLR wins from a practical point of view: fast autofocus, higher shutter speeds, less noise and more detail.
What are your thoughts?
Are you sure that the colour shift (lack of blue) is due to pushing the film and not down to the light source? Fluorescent lighting (i.e. modern low energy bulbs) do not produce a full spectrum of colours. This is less prominent with digital as the camera compensates for the 'wrong' white balance but film cannot.
ReplyDeleteYou are right. Most of the color shift comes from the indoor light sources and not from the pushing. This image is lit mostly by daylight and has a much more neutral color balance: https://plus.google.com/photos/112874694436727534142/albums/5826962777139070129/5826963466122355234
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