Fall’s Final Color Burst – Captured on Ektar and CMOS
A few weeks ago we had a short break, which we spent on a holiday park near my latest forest-crush. It was the last week before the meteorological winter began, but there was some true fall magic waiting for me. To give you an idea of how fast fall was ending, here is a picture of a tree I took on the first day, and one of the same tree five days later. Almost no leaves left…
Fall is ending: same tree, 5 days apart.
Most of the days I used my digital M240, for some reason insecurity has crept into my film shooting again. But I did shoot one roll of Ektar with the M2, as I love the colours of this film in low-light conditions. And this time I am rather pleased, so I should worry less and shoot more! I am still working on finding the optimal exposure, and working out why the results often lack sharpness (scanning or focus-error?), but here are my favourites from the week:
M2 with Summilux 1:1.4/50mm / Kodak EktarM2 with Summilux 1:1.4/50mm / Kodak EktarM2 with Summilux 1:1.4/50mm / Kodak EktarM2 with Summilux 1:1.4/50mm / Kodak EktarM2 with Summilux 1:1.4/50mm / Kodak EktarM2 with Tele-Elmarit 1:2.8/90mm / Kodak EktarM2 with Tele-Elmarit 1:2.8/90mm / Kodak EktarM2 with Summilux 1:1.4/50mm / Kodak EktarM2 with Tele-Elmarit 1:2.8/90mm / Kodak EktarM2 with Summilux 1:1.4/50mm / Kodak Ektar
I love the blues of Ektar who always have a hint of teal. This week there was some nice blue-ish light, specifically the last day, which Ektar captured really nicely. But as I said I also shot a lot of digital images, and although they have a different look and feel, I like them too. My favourites:
M240 with Summilux 1:1.4/50mmM240 with Tele-Elmarti 1:2.8/90mmM240 with Summilux 1:1.4/50mmM240 with Tele-Elmarti 1:2.8/90mmM240 with Summilux 1:1.4/50mmM240 with Summilux 1:1.4/50mmM240 with Summilux 1:1.4/50mmM240 with Summilux 1:1.4/50mmM240 with Summilux 1:1.4/50mm
Although I love fall colors there were a couple of shots that worked better in black and white. And when you remove colour it’s like entering a completely different world and season.
M240 with Tele-Elmarti 1:2.8/90mm
I suppose it’s appropriate to end the season with a winter scene taken in a fall forest:
M240 with Summilux 1:1.4/50mm
Ektar was home-developed in Tetenal Colortec C-41, and scanned on my Epson V800.
Thanks! I usually use the Sekonic L-208 Twinmate light meter. I tried both reflective and incident setting, reflective does seem to give more consistent results. In difficult light situations, for example with backlight, I try the M240 first and translate the settings that I’m happy with to the M2. I don’t really like this procedure, but I did it this time as I was not happy with previous film results. I find it difficult to determine the right exposure in high-dynamic scenes. I usually aim for the ground to reduce the influence from the sun.
Nice pictures again. Aukje…
A question:
How do you measure the light for your M2 exposures?
Thanks! I usually use the Sekonic L-208 Twinmate light meter. I tried both reflective and incident setting, reflective does seem to give more consistent results. In difficult light situations, for example with backlight, I try the M240 first and translate the settings that I’m happy with to the M2. I don’t really like this procedure, but I did it this time as I was not happy with previous film results. I find it difficult to determine the right exposure in high-dynamic scenes. I usually aim for the ground to reduce the influence from the sun.