People, Places and Photography

Olympus OM-2, Olympus OM Zuiko MC Auto-S 50mm f/1.4, cheap ISO 200 film set to ISO 50. I shot this as wide open as possible to get a sense of the depth of the scene. The slight blur of the background and foreground can give a sense of spacial distance of my son in the scene when shooting at, let’s say, f/2.0. Although the shutter speed maxes out at 1000th of a second on my Olympus OM-2, on this bright day, using a slow film helps. The film I used by the way was ISO 200 but I found by shooting this rather lackluster film, I set the ISO to 50 which gives about 2 stops brighter images, I get better exposure. It’s still a bit muddy in a way but when shooting in shade or overcast skies, this film is not bad. Anyway, just a little take away from this post, when shooting print film like Fuji Pro 400h or Kodak’s Portra line, set the ISO to half the ISO rating (for example, ISO 400 film set to ISO 200 in your camera). You’ll get less contrasty photos (a good thing), brighter skin tones and an overall better picture. Go ahead, try it!