Kodak Portra 160VC for flowers

The above picture was taken with the new Kodak Portra 160VC. The film is very fine grained with a wide exposure latitude and excellent scanning capabilities. In this particular image, my goal was to increase the vibrancy of the image as much as possible without blowing gamma which is a common problem with images from digital cameras.

The image was taken using an Olympus OM-2S in Auto mode, a silvernosed Zuiko 100/2.8 and approximately 50mm of extension. Aperture was F4 to give myself just enough DoF for the top flower without busying up the background.

The negative was scanned on the Nikon Coolscan V-ED using the Nikonscan software. Extensive curves, cropping and saturation adjustments were made in Nikonscan and no additional editing was done except to resize and spot one blemish ICE failed to catch.

The "New" Portra 160VC is a very adaptive film during the scanning process. Depending on your scanner settings, it will mimick Velvia, Portra or even Astia. The biggest problem we run into with scanning Velvia is getting the greens to hold without gaining a blueish cast. 160VC provides solid "Velvia Greens" without the typical digital saturation look.

E-6 processing is getting increasingly expensive and difficult to find. The Portra films are processed C-41 and very inexpensive to have done. (this roll was processed in Wal-Mart for $1.76). For those looking for an alternative to Velvia, Portra 160VC is an excellent choice.



In this image, I backed off the saturation and curves to more properly reflect the actual scene. One thing I would like to point out in this photograph is the extensive highlight detail in the flower. Portra has a nice shoulder which gives a smoother transition into digital clipping (out of gammut). Click on the image to see a larger version. The dynamic range, as shown in this photo, is a function of both the film and the quality of the scanner. The NC version of Portra films tend to mute the colors slightly, have less chroma "noise" and a touch more dynamic range.

Click on the image below to see a crop from the full-size scan.



I am no longer shooting Velvia, which had been my mainstay since it first came out. The new Portra films give me better scan quality, greater sharpness due to the flatness of the roll-film feeder, awesome skintones and the flexibility to adapt to your needs DURING the scanning process. I can choose to shoot one family of films for portrait, wedding and nature photography.

Best of all, I can have it processed in 20 minutes at the nearest minilab.