Requested Tipster: I love the contrast...I love to push!

20 62

Do you want get a great contrast and grain??….So PUSH IT!

One of the pictures that I like is that they have high contrast and some grain. Eventually I realized that I can get it easily if I pushed the film.

What does this mean? How do I do ?….

Well, the answer is simple, it means to push a film with a slow ISO, for example 100, works like a roll of 200, 400 or 800 ISO.

Follow this step:

1 .- Get your favorite film
2 .- In your camera, you must to configure the ASA to want to push
3 .- Shoot your 36 photos
4 .- When you go to the lab, you must to tell to the seller that It´s a film pushed and from how much ASA (the one of the roll) to how much ASA (the one you set)
5 .- Enjoy your strong contrasts!

Personally, if I use a Kodak ProImage I push it from 100 to 800 ASA, I love this!

To consider:
1 .- The x-pro slides are more sensitive, if you’re phasing it, don´t push too many steps, unless you want to get a lot of grain
2 .- The recommendation is to push a roll 3 steps at most. From 100 to 800, from 200 to 1600, from 400 to 3200.
3 .- Don´t forget to tell to the lab. If you don´t, your pictures will be overexposed.
4 .- Don´t forget your camera must have lightmeter, you can use your LC-A +. Even so, if you’re in low light and have your Supersampler, Fisheye, Colorsplash, Diana or Holga, you can use this technique so that your photos are not underexposed.
5 .- You can push any film: black and white, color slides, 35mm, 120mm, etc.

written by iaki on 2011-04-27 #gear #tutorials #film #contrast #push #grain #tipster #pushed #requested-tipster

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20 Comments

adi_totp · 2011-04-28 00:52
thanks for sharing! very great tipster!
wuxiong · 2011-04-28 01:01
If you push you film, then the photo lab will charge you more, is that right in your place/country?
stouf · 2011-04-28 01:44
Great results !
iaki · 2011-04-28 02:23
@wuxiong in Chile is more expensive to push it. I don´t know in other countries.
the_detourist · 2011-04-28 04:34
correction to this article: If you were to shoot 100 speed film as 800 speed, you would be using shorter shutter times, thus UNDEREXPOSING the film, and with normal developing the film would be very UNDERexposed, not over.
iaki · 2011-04-28 12:32
@the_detourist Thanks for this correction! You´re right!
paramir · 2011-04-28 14:46
great results indeed! pushing negatives by a few steps is very recommended :) gives them a bit of the x-pro look.
lalalalalalala · 2011-04-28 15:31
Oh, this is too cool! It's too bad my camera's just a regular point-and-shoot. I shall try this out one day, though!
queloyo · 2011-04-28 21:16
@iaki then its going to be a little expensive for me :)
isoterica · 2011-04-29 02:50
So here is my question, what kind of photo lab are you using when you get your film developed and tell them its pushed? Are you going to the drug store developer or do you have to take the film somewhere special? I have specified no color correction but have not yet had a push situation or even xpro.
iaki · 2011-04-29 02:59
@isoterica in my country there is not drug store for develop, only special photo lab. Anyway, only some photolabs push the film. But you can ask to photolab.
Sometimes I cover the film with black tape (holga tape) and I write with white pencil the asa and I say "This is a charge, please develop with this asa" :P
biq · 2011-05-01 03:21
sorry guys, but what does pushing mean?
nock · 2011-05-01 04:17
i thought that pushing the films regards to F-stops! At least that is what i've learned in film school :/ not really about ISO... since 1 or 2 stops in diference might give you the contrats and even depth of field you're so fond off...
the_detourist · 2011-05-01 04:24
guys, to boil it down:

youre underexposing film (shooting a 100 speed film, but telling your camera it is 800 speed, thus using faster shutter speeds), so the "information" captured if processed normally would be very dark/dim/nonexistant.

now when you "push" youre asking the lab to increase development time, e.g. allow the chemicals more time to develop the little information you have captured into the film, so you will end up bringing the film back up to an eye pleasing result, but since you did not capture much "information" with underexposing the film, you really are only getting the lights and darks, not much middle detail... thus your final developed negative has very high contrast.

i hope that made sense!

drugstores generally wont/cant do this because C-41 is a standard time process and to push your film theyd have to run it seperately with seperate settings ( telling the machine to allow it to linger longer in the chemistry)

if you want to push, seek a proper photo lab!
nock · 2011-05-01 18:44
@the_detourist yes that makes sense, but you can also pull the film! You can push or pull the film... all this is to prevent that you don't waste a roll of film if something went wrong like over or under exposing the film! Push is to get more, in cases of underexposing your shots and pull it in case you overexposed your film and want to bring it down.

Now, regarding the F-stops.... when you say at the photolab that you want to push or pull the film, you have to specify how much you want to push/pull it... and to do so you usualy say, "push it 1 stop" or "pull it 2 stops".
fash_on · 2011-05-03 01:10
Generally this is nothing to do with F-stops, that will just confuse people. Under or over-exposing the film by one stop, for example, is simple to do with an LCA (and many simple semi-automatic cameras) because you just have to change the iso dial, you can't change the F-stops (aperture). If you have a fully manual camera then you can change the F-stop or shutter speed to give the desired under or over exposure.

If you expose 200 iso negative or B&W film with your LCA set on 800iso, the film is underexposed 2 stops (200-400-800). You can take it to a pro lab and ask them to push it 2 stops, they will likely charge more. Or you can relabel your film/canister, making the iso 2 stops less (200-100-50) so 50 iso, and take it to a minilab/drugstore. The Pro lab will do a much better job, but the minilab is super cheap and the film may be grungy but sometimes that's what you want anyway :)
kamalfaiz91 · 2011-05-03 05:52
wow! great tipster!
chris-carnage · 2011-05-03 07:52
canon ae-1 with a macro lens, ilford XP2 and this little method.... i'm looking forward to trying =D
jennson · 2011-05-31 21:03
great!!! isn´t it hard to find a lab that processes normal colornegative film in different process than c41?
coquelicot · 2011-06-09 20:18
Great tipster! Only, I've just laoded my brand new LC-Wide with a 100iso film and set it at 100iso, and already taken a few photos. Can I still push the ISO, or is it not advisable because I've already taken photos at 100ISO? It's not sunny at all at the moment. More cloudy-rainy weather so my photos will be all all dark...