Explanation of push + 2

[vandelay]

Hello,

I was just researching pictures that have been taken on Velvia 50 rated at different ASA, since this is what I am going to do soon.
I stumbled on a few photographs from Pedro Fonseca which I find quite good (both the content and the outcome of the processing).
Under all the Velvia 50 photographs which he shot at ASA 400 (Example), he wrote "developed push +2".
What does he mean by that? Did he rate the the film at ASA 400 and pushed it another two stops? It doesn't look like it.
Unless he underexposed by two stops and then pushed them back in postprocessing. But the photographs would show more grain, wouldn't they?

I'm looking forward to your explanations.

Cheers,
Vandelay

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Normally that would mean that he set his meter to ISO 400 and asked the lab to push two stops (from normal), even though ISO 400 should require a three stop push from ISO 50. A three stop push, though, might have been unacceptably contrasty, and maybe his meter was overexposing a bit, so it's possible that based on his tests, a two stop push looked better to him than a three stop push. "+2" is just what you tell the lab when you want a 2-stop push.

You can't tell much about the grain from a scan of that size.

 

[vandelay]

You can't tell much about the grain from a scan of that size.

That's true.

So basically, what you're saying is: the lab would have pushed it to ISO 200... ?

 

[Bill Burk]

Right, and although he "underexposed" yet another stop because he used a higher EI...

It looks like this threw his midtones down into moody low-tones...

And it kept the highlights from burning out.

Not a bad experimental style.

 

[vandelay]

Thanks to both of you.
I'm a bit smarter now.