An interesting experience with a redscale film that allows for different ISOs to be used. From very strong reds to lighter colours, this film has a great range!
I have tried a few of the Lomography "special" films before, and have been quite impressed. You never know what you're going to get - in this case lots and lots of red, and pretty much whatever else this random film throws at you.
Having heard good things about this film I picked up a pack of 3 for a visit my parents were making over here to Frankfurt. I also figured I could do 3 different rolls, so one at ISO 200, ISO 100, and the last at ISO 50. That way I would be able to see how much of a range this film really had under similar lighting.
There are quite a few photos here at the various ISOs, but worth the scrolling down as there are some good results! As usual, you can see the photographs in full screen by clicking on them.
1. ISO 200 brings out the reds in life (@ Rothenburg ob der Tauber)
Shot at ISO 200, Daddy against a yellow wall in the sunshine. He seems happy with the results!
The majority of the first roll of film was shot in the medieval town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a 200km drive from Frankfurt. This trip should have taken about 2 hours on the Auto Bahn most of the way, but unfortunately I had not realised the hire car GPS had been set to "avoid motorways" (!). In the end we took a bit longer to get there but did go a nicer route through old towns and along the Castle Road, a 1,200km stretch of road leading from Mannheim to Prague, passing by 90 castles on the way.
So back to the film - I shot the first roll at 200 on a semi-cloudy and bright day. Some interesting results, even if on the underexposed side of things - this film is a bit tricky to balance the right level of exposure. It also seems to vary quite a bit in the level of grain it produces, and some of it is really very harsh.
It seems to turn yellow and orange into red and pushes anything dark into a dark black.
Tourists photographing the bells chiming on the hour
One red, one black, both distracted.
Indoor with flash seems to have changed the overall colour scene, bringing out less reds.
This was taken during the middle of the day with a bright blue sky and very white clouds. Pretty cool result, but certainly not one I was expecting.
It can produce quite a lot of grain and muted red...
Yes, that is a dude on his "horse" inside a shop. He also had a little dog sitting on his lap inside some kinda pouch! Photo grain seems better controlled shooting indoors.
I think redscale film adds to the medieval look you can see all over Rothenburg ob der Tauber. However, in normal colour the facades are really quite amazing.
A very blue postbox against a very yellow wall, results in being muted down with quite a bit of added grain. Not ugly, but shows how random this film can be (which is not a bad thing!)
2. ISO 100 - middle of the road (@ Wiesbaden and Frankfurt)
For day 2 of my parents' 4 day trip, we headed over to the Christmas markets of Wiesbaden, the capital of the federal state of Hessen (Frankfurt is also in Hessen). Wiesbaden has a population of circa 300,000 people, as well as around 20,000 US citizens (the area has a number of significant US military bases). The town is also well known for its natural spas, as are many other towns in the vicinity of Frankfurt (Bad Homburg, Bad Soden, etc).
Of course, being Christmas time we headed around the various markets set up in the main square.
Bit too grainy for otherwise a decent enough postcard shot. Wiesbaden Casino in the background. Likely need to overexpose a bit to get the right balance I think.
This image works quite well as everything is rendered a muted yellow, allowing the darker Ferris Wheel (and the main subject) to be more highlighted.
Taken directly underneath the Ferris Wheel, with my wide angle lens. Not sure about the blacks at the top and bottom of the image. Artistic enough I suppose, certainly not what I had expected.
I took this shot just to see how it rendered the red of the Cathedral. It seems to render reds quite well. but adds a lot of grain as soon as anything dark comes into the frame.
Seems to render a bit more "normally" when there are less strong reds in the image
Red overload. A Christmas "drinking station" - lots of reds and yellow that seem to get all mixed together. Another example of the unpredictability of this film.
Back in Frankfurt and 'My Zeil' shopping centre, an architectural masterpiece. I had thought the contrast of indoors (hence darker) and highlighted reds and yellows (obviously lighter) would work well for this film. Again, grain much better rendered indoors.
Some underexposing likely due to too many darks against yellows of the reindeer. However, it focuses more on the main subject of the image.
I really like the contrasts here, hard to believe it is the same film as the daytime outside photographs.
Trying to look bad-ass with tinted glasses on, the verdict's out on this one!
Turns a very boring cloudy day into something right out of an Autumn shot.
3. ISO 50 - looks like washed out old film (@Frankfurt and Bad Homburg)
So for my 3rd and last roll I opted for ISO 50, given the range of this film is 50-200. The film showed a more subtle rendering, particularly showing more washed out yellow than red. That being said I did manage some interesting results using flash.
A muted yellow Frankfurt skyline
Something interesting happened when I used the film underground against a green background (U-Bahn station wall) and a flash (including two very patient parents). The colour is greener than reality but certainly extremely different from any photo in the 3 rolls.
We took a trip up to the quaint town of Bad Homburg, about 20 minutes north of Frankfurt with a population of c. 50,000. It is also one of the wealthiest towns in all of Germany and has a really magnificent Castle. My parents never did manage to pronounce it properly, they never got past their (repeated) rendition of Bah Humbug, so I just gave up.
The main Christmas Markets are set within the Castle grounds and even have a mini steam railway, how cool is that!
A real mini steam railway - I bet the parents enjoyed it more than their kids!
So there you have it, that was quite a long post! An interesting film to use for sure, it is most extreme at ISO 200 and more muted colours coming at at ISO 50. It seems to perform well in bright sunlight at ISO 200, really bringing out the reds. It also makes for some very interesting shots for otherwise normal looking photographs.Grain is best managed with indoor shots, it can be quite extreme under some lighting situations outdoors.
OVERALL RESULT: PASSED!
Thanks again for stopping by, my next post will be another joint Frankfurt vs Melbourne post with my mate Chris, this time looking at Graffiti & Street art - not to be missed!
Anyone else wanting to join in for a week next year just let me know. And as usual, stop reading this and go out and take more photographs!
See you next time,
Neil
