Florida Everglades

[minoltaman]

Recently in Miami and Fort Myers
to attend a family wedding. Great weather!

Driving from Miami to Ft Myers across Alligator Alley
I wanted to stop but we didn't have a minute to spare.
I wanted the North view because it's more interesting than
the view to the South.

On the way back to Miami we stopped
on the other side of the highway and I climbed
on top of my brother in law's pickup to
take this shot.

When I got it back, I still had some of the road
in the picture so I cropped it out on the bottom.

Minolta Maxxum 430si,
Vivitar Series 1 zoom lens @28mm,
Kodak Portra 160 film shot with
a polarizer and on a tripod.

I'm a little astounded by how
grainy the shot looks. I like it!

No post processing except cropping.

Looking North from Interstate 75.

[minoltaman]

Another shot of the Florida Everglades. Much less grain that the previous one. This view is to the East.

[GeneW]

Tommy, the scanning process tends to exaggerate grain. And in C-41 films, so does any underexposure (not sure about your first shot). At lot of folks who shoot C-41 for scanning rate the film at half or two-thirds its nominal speed to get denser, less grainy negs.

Gene

[minoltaman]

Thank you Gene!! So when you say rate the film at half it's nominal speed do you mean "pull it", like shoot ISO 200 at 100?

[GeneW]

minoltaman said:

Thank you Gene!! So when you say rate the film at half it's nominal speed do you mean "pull it", like shoot ISO 200 at 100?

Yes, that's it exactly. Some folks pull just a little, like ISO200 shot at 160, but I find a full stop looks good. It takes a little experimentation to see what looks best to your eyes.

Gene

[mickeyobe]

I always thought that overexposure would increase the grain.
Where have I gone wrong?

Mickey

[GeneW]

Mickey, it's true that overexposure can be rough on B&W film, and can wash out slides, but C-41 is a strange beast. Something to do with the dye clouds rather than true grain. You can easily try it out for yourself by bracketing some shots in C-41 and comparing the results.

Gene

[mickeyobe]

Thanks, Gene.

Try it I will. There is always something to be learned here.

Mickey