Creative Ways to Shoot the Lomography LomoChrome Purple Film

The Lomography LomoChrome Purple, or LCP as I lovingly call it, is hands down the most fun film to shoot that one can buy. It has a wide exposure range and almost always surprises you, especially if you take a chance with it.

There are a lot of ways to shoot and use LCP. And when I first got some rolls of the film, I decided to see what exactly it is capable of so I could make cool photos, get creative, and have some fun. Here are some of the things I learned.

Exposure

This film has a very forgiving exposure range. While the film itself says it’s good from 100 to 400, I think where you shoot it is up to you. I tried it at a range of speeds and I’d say 200 is my favorite ISO to shoot the film at.

But you will get images just as good at 100 or 400. That's the beauty of it.

When you are using a camera with its own metering system, this also means you are bound to get some surprises when you develop the film along with the shots you expected to turn out. When shooting in very sunny places or into the sun, feel free to block the light sensor on your Lomo LC-A, LC-A+, LC-Wide, or LC-A 120 for just a moment as you take the shot. Since these cameras all tend to see that bright sun as the amount of light it needs and underexpose, blocking the metering view window will add a little time to the shot and bring out more details to the photographs. You could also just set your camera a few stops lower, but I like the finger blocking technique. It’s very effective for evening shots, too.

Aim into the sun to fool the meter into thinking it has plenty of light to get darker and sometimes more purple results. The dynamic flexibility of this film shines when you expose it right. But what is right for you? I can’t tell you that, it’s up to you.

Using Color Filters

Another easy way to give your LCP a new look is to shoot it through any one of many assorted color filters. You can do this with regular color film as well, but with LCP you get rewarded with interesting and amazing results. And the amount of exposure, again, impacts what you get. Plus it makes really cool images.

I was surprised by some of the filters and I think many are worth adding to your arsenal. Even just manually holding one in front of your camera is going to give you interesting results. I like to carry with me a color gel pack that has thick, colored plastic swatches. They are pretty easy to hold in front of almost any lens and will give you creative and interesting results on your LomoChrome Purple.

Shooting LCP as Redscale

Shooting LCP as redscale or as I like to call it, "purple scale". I really wanted to know what the LCP would look like when shot as redscale, so I rolled some backward, went out, and did a similar test to my exposure test. I picked a spot and shot ISO range between 25 and 800. The results were not of the best quality, but they told me exactly what I wanted to know about the film when shot backward.

I think either 25 or 50 ISO is the perfect speed to shoot this film at when used like a redscale film. It really complements the normally shot side as well, so don’t be afraid to expose both sides of LCP! It makes cotton candy visual delights!

Doubles

Ah, doubles. The concept of taking two images over another in order to create something new and wonderful. It's one of my favorite techniques as well, but I tend to lean towards the reloaded film doubles versus the ones you shoot on the spot. But, that said, both are quite fun to do and rewarding as a photographer. If your camera is capable of snapping several shots over the same frame like most of the Lomography cameras can, you can snap away with LCP to get interesting and fun results.

Really, the Lomography LomoChrome Purple is just a blank canvas of purple for you to get creative on. At least that is how I take it. And so I do that very thing with almost every roll I shoot. Because if having fun with your film and cameras isn’t fun, you aren’t shooting right.

Don’t let my ideas stop you from coming up with your own ways to do creative things with this film. You can apply a lot of the same techniques that would apply to redscale films or any wider latitude films to LCP, use a Splitzer or similar device, shoot at night, and so on. Your imagination is pretty much your limit when it comes to experimenting with the LomoChrome Purple. I highly suggest trying it if you haven’t already. And if you have, try something new with it and share it here in our wonderful film community on Lomography.

Lomo On!

See also: Creative Ways to Shoot with Your Lomo LC-Wide Camera. Make sure to share your snaps with the LomoChrome Purple film by uploading them to your LomoHome!

written by Robn Kester on 2015-03-03 #gear #tutorials #night #wide-angle #tripod #35mm #long-exposure #redscale #panorama #mirror #filters #multiple-exposure #creative #tipster #half-frame #creativity #doubles #mc #square-frame #regular-contributor #ebs #lomochrome-purple #monopod #section-gear #category-tipster #creative-ways-to