Cap-Santé

Nice scene and with the famous Ektar 100. I'd love to see a print. I am never sure about how authentic a neg scan is. Fro this scene I have a concern about the film but not, I hasten to add, the competency of the photographer. So, if I may say so, the green in the trees looks a little bright and slightly unnatural. I'd have expected a more muted green but maybe it's a true reflection of the natural green in the trees or maybe Ektar's range of greens isn't quite as good as the rest of the colours in its palette.

Most films have a weakness and maybe green foliage is Ektar's weakness. Your comments would be much appreciated. It's a very expensive film in the U.K. at the moment compared to Fuji which causes me to be a bit "picky". The beach, sea and sky colours look great

Thanks

pentaxuser

To the best of my knowledge, this is a straight negative scan from a Noritsu machine. I am not totally aware of how this particular machine deals with the colours of Ektar, for I have not yet printed Ektar on RA4 myself. But based on my prior experience with the lab I use, this is fairly close to the actual colour, although some shifts are possible. For my part, I have adjusted levels mildly to get a proper white and black point.

Thanks I think you are saying that as the photographer the greens in the trees did in fact look like this and the neg scan reflects accurately the actual colours as seen by the eye or very close to the actual colours. I must admit that until I had seen a range of colour neg film palettes I'd have thought the greens were great. I suspect all my friends would think these colours to be ideal. The human eye when viewing colour prints tends to depart from reality and the brain demands saturated colours whereas we are quite happy with real life's more muted colours when we look at real life as opposed to its depiction in print.

Maybe it's just that in the U.K. the greens in trees are a little more muted or it might simply be that my idea of a natural palette is towards a more muted look such as Kodak Portra NC but I must admit that I really like all the other colours in the scene which seem very natural and not oversaturated in the way Velvia 50 tends to be.

Thanks again for the prompt reply

pentaxuser

If this shot was taken in the last three weeks or so, then the greens in the trees are accurate. Two months ago, there were no leaves on those trees; they were frozen. When leaves first grow out of the buds, they tend to show that deep green for the first few weeks.

This picture was indeed taken recently, on the 7th of June.