Film vs Digital Challenge #1

[RussHeath]

So I've been shooting a lot of film lately, and I'm trying to experiment with different types of film in different film cameras.

Many of these film effects are things that people devote a lot of time and energy towards recreating with photoshop. I often see examples of digitally altered photos that are supposed to look like a particular type of film, but look nothing like it.

This is an opportunity to show off your photoshop skills by emulating the film and film camera effect of real film shots.

The Challenge:

I'll post a few example shots taken with a specific film and camera combo.

You find photos of similar subjects and/or similar lighting situations and photoshop the heck out of them to emulate the defining characteristics of the real film shots.

In other words, you can't just follow a generic photoshop tutorial, because it won't exactly match the specific film I'm using.

I think this will be a fun way to get a good feeling for a variety of film and film camera effects. It will also help with methods to achieve these effects with post processing.

If possible, please include a brief description of your post processing!

CHALLENGE #1:
-- Camera: Lomo LC-A
-- Film: Fuji Velvia 100
-- Processing: XPRO (Cross Processed, meaning slide film was developed in C41)

Defining Characteristics:
The Lomo LC-A is known for it's wide angle lens (32mm f/2.8), moderate vignette which is emphasized in brighter light, and heavily saturated colors.

Cross processed Fuji Velvia is known for it's high contrast and color shift towards red/pink/yellow depending on the exact chemicals used. Processing at my lab tends to yield deep reds and yellows with slightly desaturated blues when shot in sunlight. Indoor photos become even more redish.

The Photos:







Let's see some of yours!!

[wulf]

Great idea. I look forward to seeing it develop and hope to try it myself.

Wulf

[monkeyfinger]

Agreed! I still use film every now and then, perhaps I'll throw my hat in later. At work now, dangit, but I'll have a bash over the weekend.

[RussHeath]

Originally Posted by wulf

Great idea. I look forward to seeing it develop and hope to try it myself.

Wulf

Originally Posted by monkeyfinger

Agreed! I still use film every now and then, perhaps I'll throw my hat in later. At work now, dangit, but I'll have a bash over the weekend.

Great, I'm glad there is some interest in this one! The more film I shoot, the more I realize the unexplored potential of film processing (and its digital counterparts).

[wulf]

Here is an attempt using this original:





It isn't quite right but the colours and lighting of the original weren't an ideal match. Here is my working (using The Gimp):

1. Add two vignette layers. For the first, I made a large rectangular selection, filling most of the image, feathered it by 125px, inverted it and filled it with black and set it to 75% opacity. The second was a smaller rectangle with a 75px feather, inverted and filled with black and set to 50% opacity in overlay mode. Using two stages creates a more subtle effect.

2. I used the curves tool. The values curve was used to increase contrast (lowering shadows and mids and boosting the highlights. I gave a small mid-boost to green, increased lows and dropped mids and highs for blue and boosted a wide mid-range for red.

3. On a copy of the colour-adjusted image, I added a 1px gaussian blur and then used an oval mask (75px feather) and merged this in. This simulates the softness of the lens near the edges. This was merged in with the layer below (PS would allow adjustment layers rather than requiring copies)

4. To further increase the contrast, I created another copy set to overlay mode and reduced to 75% opacity.

5. To finish off, I added another duplicate layer with a small amount of RGB noise and set to 75% opacity.

It is certainly a pleasing effect if not perfect; all values are very dependent on the image - for example, the 1px blur would need to be larger if working on a bigger image.

Wulf

[RussHeath]

Great work, Wulf! I love how many of the elements of the film and camera combo you were able to recreate (and your photo is beautiful to start with).

While the color shift is not exactly like my results with Velvia, I think it is actually quite typical of Velvia cross processed in other chemicals. I've seen all manner of red shifts, from bright pinks to purples, deep reds, and orangy yellows. The particular coloring you used suits the composition beautifully. Very nice!

[wulf]

Yes, I was pleased with the result. I hope some other people chip in as well.

Wulf