Time to shoot some more Ektachrome, how will it fare indoors with and without off camera flash? I was about to find out in a whistlestop mansion shoot with Evie. I shot both with my trusted Bronica Zenza ETRS with the 75mm f2.8 lens. As I shot with and without flash, each shot was carefully metered, with apertures and shutter speeds adjusted accordingly.
How would you perform under time and pressure to get the shot? It’s a sure fire recipe for making errors but certainly one that will help you sharpen your skills and abilities for future challenges.
The first setup was in this tiny room with a bookshelf, it took a few minutes to figure out the best possible perspective. Setting up the Profoto lights and then working with Evie to make a broad enough light was falling on her.
The challenge was trying to find an angle from which to shoot. Ideally I would have liked to get her own landscape orientation but space simply wouldn't allow it. Nonetheless you can see from the images that the metering was on point, the shadow tailing off. Perhaps having a fill light on the right hand side or perhaps even a reflector would help add greater depth.
For slide films you need to make sure you carefully meter the highlights and the shadows. Simply metering on one point of the subject could leave you at the mercy of luck. Bringing light out of the shadows in post from film is notoriously challenging. With portraits take an average reading so that you are not at the mercy of luck in development!
Someone had knocked on the door so Evie disappeared down to answer.
In the meantime, I thought through the next shot. The stair well provided an opportunity but the question was how was I going to illuminate it?
Evie came back up and as she was coming up the stairs I took notice on how the natural light was falling on her. I directed her to rest her arms on the corner bend on one of the steps and took this wonderful shot, the lights and shadows just perfectly balanced.
As a comparison, I decided to see how this image would look if the shadows were illuminated. After some creative balancing of the Profoto Beauty dish I took this shot. A completely new look within the same position. Which one do you think stands out better?
Time was against us so we headed to the dining room. This time I consciously chose to shoot Ektachrome using only the natural light coming through the large bay windows. This was always going to be a risk and certainly a challenge. I opened the aperture to the widest I could, f2.8.
No surprises here except for the fact the images are perfect for the representation of the scene. The light and shadows create a dramatic and moody atmosphere. Certainly detail is lost but it doesn't always have to be tack sharp; the images create a somber emotion in itself.
Overall it is true that in very low light conditions you will struggle to capture finer details and information may be lost in the shadows permanently. However, consider what the purpose of your shoot is. If you are trying to create mood and drama, fine details may not be important.
As such don't hesitate to shoot slow speed films such as Ektachrome. Shooting with an off camera flash on the hand has its benefits too, don’t forget the slower film can capture detail and depth with far greater richness than faster films such as Portra 400 or Fuji Pro 400H.
That combined with seeing the image on the positive adds to the beauty of it all, its quite hard to explain unless of course you do it for yourself!
Thank you for watching all my videos, do go ahead and comment below. Have you shot with the Bronica Zenza ETRS or similar 6by45 camera or with Ektachrome or any other slide film stocks?
I would love to hear your thoughts on this shoot, the images, how you have shot with Ektachrome? What are your likes and dislikes about them? What do you recommend I shoot next with it?