Blue pictures

Georges · Feb 12, 2016

Hi,

Not sure if this is the right place for this thread as i don't process my films myself.

The pictures were taken on a mamiya 645 1000s and the films are ektar 100 and porta 160.

The thing is: the two last film i had developed and scanned at my photography shop gave blue pictures. Not all blue, but the blue level is really high. It's been the second time. When going back there, they were very helpful and we tried with 3 different scanners giving the same results. The films were not expired and were bought a week before, kept in the fridge. I use sometimes some lee filters but those are just neutral grad filters. And even when not using it, the same problem occurs.

Does somebody have any idea of what is going on?

It can be easily fixed in post production but it's very frustrating.

Here is an exemple:

Truzi · Feb 12, 2016

Welcome to APUG.

The important thing is how do the negatives themselves look? If they are normal, then it's an issue with the scanner or the people operating the scanner. So long as you can fix the scans, I'd not worry.

APUG is for analog, though, so most people will suggest the sister-site DPUG, for your digital needs. With recent server upgrades, DPUG may not as responsive as usual. Give it some time and things will be running smoothly.

On the film-side of your question, it would be best if we could see photos (not scans) of the negatives - including the rebate (sprocket-hole area) - against a white background. Unfortunately, I think new members need a minimum number of posts before they can upload attachments (due to problems with spam).

Georges · Feb 12, 2016

Hi Truzi,

Thank you so much for your answer.

When i went back there we tried on 3 different scansion 2 different shops so i don't think the problem is with the scanner.

Here are the pictures of the film, it looks really yellow...

http://lionpeoplephoto.tumblr.com/post/139177596990

This one is the porta 160

Georges · Feb 12, 2016

scanners in 2 different shops*

Truzi · Feb 12, 2016

How do these negatives look compared to earlier "good" ones? Could you provide similar photos of negatives that scanned correctly? Perhaps side-by-side? It might be a development or chemistry issue.

By the way, I'm not good at this - I'm just asking for information that would be asked for by the APUG members who can help with the problems. I guess I just got to your thread first.
The others will be along soon enough to give better help than I can.

MattKing · Feb 12, 2016

Welcome to APUG.

To me, the negatives look absolutely normal. There are, however, a lot of intervening steps involved in showing them here so it is quite possible that they have a colour cast if viewed in real life.

As Truzi posted, how does their appearance compare to others that have performed well in the past?

If the problem can be easily fixed in post production, that may mean it is a systemic problem with the scanning.

Georges · Feb 12, 2016

Thank you for your answers,

you can find a comparison between the two films in front of the same light with the same camera (my phone): http://lionpeoplephoto.tumblr.com/post/139180341385

however, one was taken in the early morning and the other around 3pm so the light was very different. The sky was not cloudy in any of those.

What could be the issue with the processing?

Georges · Feb 12, 2016

(the first film is the one that turned blue)

TheFlyingCamera · Feb 12, 2016

Who is doing your developing? are you having a lab develop the film for you or are you developing it yourself? If you're getting similar results using multiple scanning service providers, I'd be inclined to seek the problem in what's common between them - in this case, the film. The most likely source of all frames on a roll having a similar color cast is something that all frames would have in common - either the lens that's exposing them, the light source that's exposing them, or the chemicals used to develop the film.

MattKing · Feb 12, 2016

Both films look normal.

I note that the older film is Portra 400, while the newer film is Portra 160.

That just means that the scanner software may need to have the calibration tweaked when you switch between them.

Georges · Feb 12, 2016

The lab close to where i live processes and scans the negatives for me.

My only lens with this camera is the 45mm mamiya 2.8 C. But i worked very good before.

All pictures of the "blue" films are taken at sunrise or sunset.

I don't know about the chemicals it might be the thing but it's a big lab, they are professionals i guess.

Somebody keeps telling me it's just because it's under exposed, do you guys think this is normal too??

http://lionpeoplephoto.tumblr.com/post/139181404285

MattKing · Feb 12, 2016

Under-exposure certainly would complicate the matter and could lead to a colour cast when scanning software attempts to compensate for it.

Photos taken at sunrise or sunset are normally very red. And meter readings that include a lot of sky often result in under-exposed foregrounds.

When scanners encounter an overall red scene, they usually adjust the red down, which leads to a cyan colour cast. Your most recent link shows me an image that is quite cyan (not blue).

I think what you are seeing is a combination of under-exposure and scanning software that is fooled by the overall red colour of the scene.

Georges · Feb 12, 2016

By cyan you mean that it's the red level that is too low?

Thank you very much, you are probably right. I thought the problem was that the level of blue was too high.

Yeah sunrise picture usually get under-exposed, i tried to compensate using grad filters but it doesn't look like it's enough.

How can i avoid this problem in the future?

MattKing · Feb 12, 2016

Georges said:
Yeah sunrise picture usually get under-exposed, i tried to compensate using grad filters but it doesn't look like it's enough.

How can i avoid this problem in the future?

Metering for sunrise and sunset is a judgment call. I generally try to meter the foreground areas first, because under-exposure there is a problem that you cannot really correct. I then adjust my settings, if necessary, based on my readings of the sky. Having grad filters aids in that part of the process.

If you print optically, you base your colour correction on "standard" settings. The colour that results in the print is then naturally red.

The same sort of approach is used when scanning shots at sunrise and sunset, but as that is off topic for APUG, I'd best not try to cover that here.

Georges · Feb 12, 2016

That's all right, thank you very much for your answers. Tomorrow i will ask them to try to scan again using another colour correction.

Have a great evening!

frank · Feb 12, 2016

I was expecting a totally different topic.

RobC · Feb 12, 2016

frank said:
I was expecting a totally different topic.

me too

Truzi · Feb 12, 2016

You had commented the negatives look yellow, do you mean in comparison to "good" negatives?

This may not be helpful, as a resolution was never posted, but is it similar to the issue in this post?
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

The base color in the negative to the left is more "yellow" compared to the one on the right.

Neal · Feb 13, 2016

Dear Georges,

I realize I am quite late to the party, but I remember shops having quite a bit of trouble with Ektar when it first came out. No quality shop should have any problem with Portra 160.

Good luck,

Neal Wydra

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