Hi all,
After several years working in B&W I recently began shooting in color, and I have a few questions about exposing color transparency films. I have read previous posts on these films and I am quite comfortable with the basics - limited latitude, spot metering and exposing for highlights, testing for ASA placement, using graduated ND filters, etc. - but I would like to "master" these films, and I have some questions that I was hoping you could help me answer.
1. Many express a preference for one transparency film over another because of its color palette. Is there any resource to obtain more detailed, objective information about the color gamut of particular films?
2. Many express a preference for Velvia 50 due to its saturation, and perhaps even its high contrast. Is saturation here used in a technical sense? In my experience, Velvia 50 is hit and miss, even when accounting for its latitude. Too many times I have "nuked" the subject with Velvia, ending up with a candy color rendition. On the other hand, I have been astonished with this film's rendition of other subjects and certain colors - I am thinking of the deep purples, burgundies and pinks you get out of a sunset in the Southwest, as well as yellows. All of these renditions are artificial, yet I would like to understand why this film and others work so well with certain subjects and so poorly with others. I guess what I am getting at is how have you have come to visualize the films' capabilities and appropriateness for certain subjects?
3. If the SBR allows it, do you over or under-expose a scene to darken or lighten colors according to your visualization?
4. Finally, for a scanning workflow, and again provided the SBR allows it, do you overexpose to aid the scanning process?
Any/all comments are welcome. Thank you!
Peter
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