Overexposing Colour Film

Watch as George from Negative Feedback shoots Kodak Portra 400 at different speeds, to compare the effects of over exposing colour film.

You might have seen the black & white film comparison we shared in August, today we join George at Negative Feedback as he experiments with overexposing colour film. In particular, Kodak Portra 400 to varying degrees to try and get an idea of what speed you should ideally shoot your film at.

Now, you might wonder why you’ll even want to consider overexposing your colour film, surely this is a bit adventurous? Not true, unlike digital images, overexposing doesn’t make your images brighter, it makes your negatives denser. In contrast, underexposing doesn’t make your results darker, but rather washes out the blacks. For this reason, many film photographers actually prefer to shoot their colour film at half box speed (ISO/ASA 200 instead of 400 for example), resulting in a creamy more pleasant result.

Watch as George demonstrates, remember you can take a closer look at the images from the shoot here. Needless to say, Kodak Portra 400 and Portra 160 is available at Orms in 35mm as well as medium format. Visit us in store to get some, grab a free coffee and see what else we have on offer for film photography.

If you’d like to see more from George and the team at Negative Feedback, they have been building a fantastic collection of videos on YouTube. A great source of information if you are interested in film photography. You can also stay in touch with them via Instagram or Twitter.

Like, share, and comment on the video below… let’s get the conversation started!