If you’re not sure of your exposure, err on the side of over-exposing and Portra will always reward you (a good rule for many color-negative films, really).Īs for availability, Portra is everywhere (even my local photo lab has some in stock – a pleasant surprise these days). In fact, Portra makes some of its prettiest shots when overexposed. And when over-exposing, it’s possible to still make astounding images even four stops over. Shoot one or two stops under and images are still entirely usable. ![]() If you’re a wedding shooter looking to try film, Portra is the stock you’ll want to buy in bulk. In many of the best Portra compositions, the human subjects seem to leap from the frame, looking as alive as if they were standing in front of us, and it’s difficult to think of a film that captures life in a more stunning cast. Cheeks blush, smiles beam, and we can almost feel the warmth radiating off of bare skin. For wedding photos, fashion shoots, portraitures, and street photography, Portra 400 creates a radiant glow in human subjects. Understandable, since Portra was intended by Kodak to beautify natural skin tones. Overall tone tends to be on the warmer side of things. So while grain-lovers might dislike the clinical finesse of Portra 400, many shooters will love it’s silky-smooth, deeply colorful profile. In normal sized 4 x 6 prints it’s impossible to spot a speck of the stuff, and even 8 x 10 enlargements show no grain. We keep things casual here, remember? The takeaway regarding grain is that it’s virtually non-existent. ![]() Kodak says this is due to things like their “Proprietary DIR Couplers, Micro-Structure Optimized T-Grain Emulsions, and Targeted Advanced Development Accelerators”. I’m not going to pretend to know what that means, nor do I care. At ISO-400 we might expect Portra to have pretty noticeable grain, but this really isn’t the case. Splitting the difference between these two now-discontinued Portras, today’s Portra 400 makes images that pop with balanced color while avoiding looking like a leprechaun puked Lucky Charms all over your print.Īnd finally there’s the clarity. In fact, Portra was at one time offered in two varieties, NC (natural color) and VC (vivid color). On the other end of the spectrum, whites are rarely blown out and even over-exposed shots retain good highlight detail.Ĭolors are bold, yet reserved. Portra’s blacks aren’t black-hole black, and shadow detail is retained on a properly exposed shot. Especially when compared to lower-spec consumer-grade films, this subtlety is a real strength. Contrast is nicely modulated, which leads to exceptionally organic shots. With its well-balanced contrast, color, and clarity, it’s a film that embellishes things enough to bring out the beauty in a scene without being overtly garish or obvious. Second, Portra has the ability to enhance reality in a reserved way that’s rare among color film. ![]() So whether you’re capturing shots of your kids at soccer practice or shooting dancers in a nightclub, Portra 400 should suck in enough photons to yield a nicely exposed shot. Portra’s a true ISO-400 film, meaning it can naturally shoot in bright sunlight, but it’s also sensitive enough to shoot indoors, in low light situations, and can even capture night-time street scenes without too much trouble. This isn’t hyperbole there are real reasons Portra’s so useful.įirst, it’s in the speed. Every shooter has different tastes regarding tone, color, grain, etc., but if ever a film could manage to be the perfect all-rounder, Portra 400 just might be it. There’s no such thing as a “perfect” film.
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