Film for kimono shooting

FreXxXenstein · May 19, 2016

Hello everyone!

I've been reading for a long time here on APUG, but never posted here.
But now I have a question.
In about two weeks I'll shoot a friend of mine. Not sure yet if 135 film or 120 film, but it shouldn't matter.
She wants to show her kimonos, and now I'm unsure which film to use.
As I'm not a skilled film shooter, for portraits I would chose a portrait film, maybe Kodak Portra 160. Bit slower film, so more open lens. But when I would go for great colors, I would chose something like Kodak Ektar 100. For this one, it's hard to say. A kimono is always very colorful, and its these colors that I want to capture. But the facial color could be a bit too much. With something like the Portra, I would fear to loose the colors of the kimono.
Any suggestions on how to solve this problem?

PS: If mayyyyybe this gets scanned, I could either intensify the Portra's colors or lessen the Ektar's colors. Is that an idea?

MDR · May 19, 2016

120 Film is better in most cases especially in regards to tonal quality and up to a certain point saturation. Portra 160 is the better choice. You can tell the lab person that you want more saturation if needed. Also a Kimono is not necessarily colorful. Good Luck

bdial · May 19, 2016

Portra is very capable of producing excellent, saturated color.

FreXxXenstein · May 24, 2016

Hello!

MDR said:
120 Film is better in most cases especially in regards to tonal quality and up to a certain point saturation. Portra 160 is the better choice. You can tell the lab person that you want more saturation if needed. Also a Kimono is not necessarily colorful. Good Luck

Wow, all of these are true and great points, thanks for pointing this out!

bdial said:
Portra is very capable of producing excellent, saturated color.

It is? I always read "desaturated", but oh well.

Guess I'll be shooting Portra in 120 then, thanks y'all!

RattyMouse · May 24, 2016

I would use Fuji 400H unless you simply could not afford to use ISO400. The color from 400H film is simply beautiful and would suit a kimono perfectly.

BrianShaw · May 24, 2016

Portra is more true color. It is not OVERsaturated color.

Les Sarile · May 24, 2016

If you have control of lighting and these are silken kimonos then highly suggest Velvia.

Doc W · May 24, 2016

I would definitely shoot in 120 and use Portra. Give careful consideration to the light. If you are using available light, make sure it is even and not too directional. You want to show off that piece of cloth!

Punker · May 24, 2016

I shot a friend of mine in a kimono on Aerochrome a couple weeks ago. Perhaps not the look you'd be going for though

Malinku · May 24, 2016

I'd pick Fuji pro 400h. It is pretty much inbetween portra and ektar in terms of color saturation. Well still being great for skin tones.

FreXxXenstein · Jun 1, 2016

Hello everyone,

thanks for your ideas!
It seems everyone favors a different film. So since Photography is art, this is super! Anyway, I think I'll just head out with a roll of
* Ektar 100
* Portra 160
* Portra 400
* Fuji Pro 400H
* Fuji Velvia (50 or 100?)

and see how well these play with my Kiev 60 and the lab and the rest, etc. Guess that's the only way.

Punker said:
I shot a friend of mine in a kimono on Aerochrome a couple weeks ago. Perhaps not the look you'd be going for though

True, not the look I want, but holy sheet, that looks great! I'll need to finde me some Aerochrome soon I guess!

BrianShaw said:
Portra is more true color. It is not OVERsaturated color.

Yeah, I read that somewhere on the net. All the others say desaturated! I'll just try it.

Les Sarile said:
If you have control of lighting and these are silken kimonos then highly suggest Velvia.

May I ask why/how silk/ not silk affects the film/color or my picture? That'll be some important knowledge to have!

Doc W said:
I would definitely shoot in 120 and use Portra. Give careful consideration to the light. If you are using available light, make sure it is even and not too directional. You want to show off that piece of cloth!

Yes, I'll use available light, and yes, the light will be very, very important. I'm not sure yet if I want shadows to show some crinkles, to give depth, or less directional light to hide these. I'll have it figured out by the time we shoot.

Les Sarile · Jun 5, 2016

FreXxXenstein said:
May I ask why/how silk/ not silk affects the film/color or my picture? That'll be some important knowledge to have!

I picture vivid, luminous and brilliant colors with silk kimonos. If you have control of lights (Velva's narrow latitude compared to C41) and your model has appropriate makeup then there is no other film and process that can bring this out even if you were to only admire the results on a light table.

BTW, have you used Velvia yet?

FreXxXenstein · Jun 12, 2016

Les Sarile said:
I picture vivid, luminous and brilliant colors with silk kimonos. If you have control of lights (Velva's narrow latitude compared to C41) and your model has appropriate makeup then there is no other film and process that can bring this out even if you were to only admire the results on a light table.

BTW, have you used Velvia yet?

Ah, I see! Well, I haven't used much slide film yet, mostly negative, because of the latitude and the processing and ~~scann~~ *cough* other costs for shooting a lot/learning.
Also my lab says negative ~~scan~~ *cough* prints way better.
So I won't use it here, but ill keep it in my head. It's always highly regareded, anyway.

My Kiev 60 works well, and I already found a friend who's gonna test all the films you suggested with me, so we'll see how it goes.

I'll keep you posted if you want to. One of the test shots of the kiev here: Erlöserkirche Bad Homburg

trondsi · Jun 12, 2016

Sorry if I am throwing in more options here, but I would go for Provia 100F for sure.
I just photographed my wife wearing Indian style clothes. The Portra photos were OK, but a bit mellow in the colors. I did not use Velvia, because I know it can massacre skin tones. Provia 100F was best by far. My second best choice would probably be Ektar (skin tones a bit reddish, but OK).

Les Sarile · Jun 12, 2016

That is a well made shot you show there.

FreXxXenstein said:
Also my lab says negative ~~scan~~ *cough* prints way better.

People can only speak to what they know and that is usually a good thing. However, the conservative perspective may stymie artistic exploration and creativity too.

Unfortunately, it is very difficult to fully show you what a well made E6 can achieve when translating to web but here is one such example I have that shows a little bit the vividness of Velvia - in this case Fortia which is supposedly a domestic version of Velvia 50. Notice the glossy paintjob under direct sunlight - which I think is applicable to your purposes, but also notice that the skintones are not hideous by any means except of course if you have an awful monitor or display calibration which I have no control over.

BTW, slides have the distinct advantage of showing you truthful color and contrast representation that is not subject to the translation that all color negatives must go through.

trondsi · Jun 12, 2016

Here a Provia photo

trondsi · Jun 12, 2016

Here's another Provia 100f photo, just to show Caucasian skin tones. I seriously think Provia is one of the most under appreciated films.

FreXxXenstein · Jun 21, 2016

Les Sarile said:
That is a well made shot you show there.

Thanks! Its not perfect, but I like it.

Les Sarile said:
People can only speak to what they know and that is usually a good thing.

Yes, its true, that might be the case.

Honestly, the Fortia does look very, very good!

trondsi said:
Here a Provia photo

Phew, looks great!

trondsi said:
Here's another Provia 100f photo, just to show Caucasian skin tones. I seriously think Provia is one of the most under appreciated films.

Woah, I like the look of this film! When I have a bit more practice I'm gonna look to shoot some Provia I guess! Thanks for your thoughts!

Zach-MLT-MD · Nov 8, 2016

I think for somethign like that if it were me shooting i would want a film that was really going to accentuate the colors of the kimonos so im thinking more like ektar and provia to get really punchy reds and blues. Id also like to do some black and white work and for that id want a really contrasty film - like i would probably shoot TriX and push it +2 to get some more contrast out of it.

Film for kimono shooting

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