This is part two of my photo essay of the Dutch National Park the Veluwe. The first part with all digital images is here. I guess if you have seen that post you will see some similar images here, but film definitely has its own character. And since I used three different types, you see a variety of looks in this post. I shot Kodak Ektar, Fuji Velvia 100 and Adox Silvermax, and developed all film myself.

Day one:

As I didn’t bring a tripod on the first day I only shot with wide-open aperture. They’re still not super-sharp, but I like them none-the less. Oh, and what looks like fog in the first photo is actually rain 🙂 .

Day two:

The second day started out with rain, but pretty soon the sun came through.

Day three:

The third day started with Velvia 100, and a lot of sun. The high contrast scenes are a challenge for slide, but the colors of the heather are spectacular. So I actually don’t mind the blown-out sky…

Day four:

This was a bit of a dreary day, and I didn’t like most of what I shot. But I did like the raindrops on the leaves below, although I had to crop the image to make it interesting enough. And it’s a different look from Velvia, as I usually shoot slide in the sun.

Day five:

Day five made up for day four! I couldn’t resist adding a few extra photos here. I finished a roll of velvia first, and reloaded the M2 with Ektar. Both work well with the foggy conditions.

Day six:

A hazy day with flat light, but I liked the shape of the little conifer.

Day seven:

I guess the photo I am most proud of is the macro of the conifer below. When I was walking through the forest I liked the texture of the conifer, and how the layers looked in the light, but I didn’t really know how to make it work in a photo. There was also limited space around the tree, it was difficult to move around it or move backwards. After some hovering around the tree I finally took two shots, this one and a landscape version, and I really liked how this one turned out.

This was also the day I finished Ektar and switched to monochrome.

Day eight:

I only liked one shot from today, it was difficult switching to black and white. I think the textures in the dead branch worked out well though.

Day nine:

The last day, and I was blessed with some good light which made it easier to find tones for the monochrome images.

All in all I am pretty happy with the look of the film files. I think for woodland landscape Ektar is my favourite, I like the colors and I like how most of them have a good balance of subtlety without going bland. In some occasions the digital images worked better, but I am still struggling to make general statements about that. Or, I haven’t found a foolproof recipe yet!

Thanks for reading!