ivan873•20d agoMost Upvoted

Just had a weird chat with a photo lab guy that made me rethink my whole setup

I was dropping off a roll of Fuji 400 at this small lab in Denver last week, and the guy behind the counter looked at my camera and just laughed. He said I was wasting my time shooting at box speed on an overcast day with an old Minolta. I was like, what do you mean? He pulled out his phone and showed me a shot he took on the same film but pushed two stops in development. Honestly it looked way better, more contrast and less flat. I've been shooting the same way for like 3 years now, never even thought about pushing film. So I tried it on my next roll, a bunch of shots around the Botanic Gardens in the rain. The images came back with this gritty mood I actually loved. Has anyone else had a lab tech give you a tip that totally messed with your usual process?

2 comments

2 Comments

ryan_stone19d ago

Yeah totally, I had a similar thing happen with a lab in Chicago where the guy suggested pulling my Portra 400 a stop in bright sun and it was a complete game changer for getting those soft pastel tones. Your mileage may vary but experimenting with pushing or pulling is the best thing I ever did for my film look.

the_robin19d ago

Oh wait, actually that's not quite right. Portra 400 is a daylight balanced film, so pulling it in bright sun just makes it even less contrasty and more muted. You'd want to pull it in flat light or overcast to really get those pastel tones. If you pull it in harsh sun you actually lose the shadow detail and get muddy colors instead of soft pastels. I learned that the hard way when I tried pulling a roll at the beach and ended up with weird greyish sand and washed out skin tones.