Mar 31, 2011

Ok, i'm obsessed

This is a seriously overkill post, but I'm going ahead with it anyway. Remember the behind the scenes post a few days ago? Well, I almost forgot I shot that gorgeous bouquet in THREE different films. I thought this post would be a fun look at the nature of a few films - the Fuji Provia 100f, Kodak Portra 400NC (discontinued) and the Kodak Portra 400. Plus this bouquet was so insanely pretty it made my life easy. I'd liken it to a fashion photographer shooting an experienced, beautiful model. This bouquet could do no wrong (ok with the minor exception that it's hard to properly expose the super light pink flowers and the rest of the scene properly).

Just a note that I will sometimes do some in-scanner color adjustments but other than that, I don't touch much in Photoshop except cleaning the million specks of dust and maybe bumping the black levels a smidgen.

Below is the Provia, a slide film I tried for the first time this past weekend and gushed over in the last two posts. In print film, it's pretty hard to get harsh blown-out highlights, but you can see in these first two that there definitely are some blown out bits and there is little hope in recovering them. I love the overall dreamy feel of this film though. And if I didn't see the results with the Kodak, I would say I liked the colors here.

But then below, we have the ever lovely Portra NC and I can't get over the colors in this. I mean I don't even think they look this nice in real life. This film did something seriously magical here and I love the shades of green it brought out. This third picture just screams "spring," doesn't it? I'm sad this film is being replaced because I really do love the results I've gotten from it from the Contax as well as my 35mm.

I do, of course, give the new Portra (below) credit for being able to handle some extreme under- and overexposing. In these first two shots, I still had the camera rated for ISO 100 from the Provia (ah, rookie mistake!) and exposed properly for that, but scanned properly, they don't look too badly overexposed at all. The colors aren't as rich as they could be, but this probably would have looked horrendous on digital. And then the last few here were a bit underexposed. The color range is pretty crazy.

While I do like these deep jewel tones, overall the Portra NC feels most like my style. What do you guys think?

In a way I feel like I can't take full credit for these because really, the Contax, the film and the subject did all the work. :D

17 comments :

  1. I don't understand film and photography enough to give much constructive comments but just from the aesthetic stand point, the NC really have an advantage here with the bright white setting. It is my favorite among the 3 here.

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  2. P.S. Your obsession is helping us, who don't understand a whole lot, to make a better decision when we do go into film and save us a lot of trial & errors. Thanks! So, go crazy with it!

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  3. thanks for the comparison. fascinating really. the middle one seems as though the set was shot in a different spot making it hard to compare but if it was in the same spot then i do like the softer blush tones there. all are gorgeous really and like you said, you can't pick a loser! they all win!

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  4. The Provia results are off the chart. It's otherworldly. I'm in love.

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  5. Seeing as how I'm way behind in coming to your blog these photos are definitely not overkill, they are gorgeous! All the lights and darks are beautiful as are the colors.

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  6. Wow! The results are so different yet so beautiful in their own unique way! I have to say that 3rd photo using the Portra NC is my favourite photograph but I prefer the colours/tones in the new Portra film in the last set. Those deep, rich jewel tones are lovely!

    Gorgeous photos!

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  7. Where these all taken with the Contax? The Provia shots are really nice, mysterious - like there's a story behind those photos.

    But I agree, I think the Portra NC has your name written all over it - gorgeous shots, Alice!

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  8. Awesome! Makes me want to try film for once!

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  9. Wow the differences are striking when you line them up like this, though I would go for the provia series I think, how lovely.

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  10. gorgeous, I do like the dreamy/slightly hazy look of the slide film, but I think the 'old' Portra is my favourite too :)

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  11. I totally agree; the Portra NC wins! Though I love all the photographs you took. xo

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  12. great comparison. i love the moodiness of the first set, even though i agree that the portra is probably more your style :)

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  13. Looks like I have a lot to learn! I love them all but I think the NC shots are my fav.

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  14. Portra, all the way! But truly, each on is lovely in its own unique way...

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  15. These shots are AMAZING. I love how dark you make the flowers look. I'd put one of these on my wall any day. :)

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  16. Such beautiful photos and yes beautiful subject too :) I like the colors from the Portra.

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