Expose for the Shadows! Pulling Film for better exposures of this Spanish Galleon, The Andalucia.

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🎥 About This Video....
In this video I went to take photographs of the Spanish Galleon "The Andalucia". I was presented with a tricky situation! The ship was dark! I needed to expose for the shadows and develop for the highlights. This led to a more even negative to take into the darkroom for printing and it worked a treat. Basically I "Pulled" my film. Something not so popular but very effective for certain situations.

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😊 ABOUT MY VIDEOS

If my videos inspire, create ideas and help others in film photography and darkroom work then it's worth making them.
I always welcome comments that are useful towards the video subject that will help others understand the process within.
Keep shooting and thanks for watching.

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[ShootFilmLikeaBoss]

I'm sorry guys! I appeared to have uploaded this video in 720 instead of 1080p! I don't know how this happened. Apologies.

[erichstocker]

As usual a really clear, well-presented, well-demonstrated example of pulling film.

[rick-fstop-lewis]

You sure had your work cut out for you on this one. Dark subject, darkened sky, busy busy subject, plus the movement of the ship. You did fantastic!! LOVE the Crow's nest and cannon! I am still learning the whole push/pull process. Amazing how just a little less or more time developing can make such an impact. Film never ceases to amaze me. I still get a thrill waiting to see the print appear in the tray! Cheers Roger! If I ever win the lotto I'll have to make a trip across the pond and look you up...LOL

[flyingo]

I really appreciate your examinations of challenging photographic circumstances. We all come across situations like these much more frequently than we do “perfect” balances in subject matter. There are many different ideas and methods for achieving good results with such situations and yours are quite often spot on for efficiency of resources. Thanks again for another great “lesson”!

[retrofocusing]

The first time I tried pulling film was with Foma 200 and the results were very nice. This was my first departure from ending up with dense negatives on a regular basis. I was happy with those for some time, as they were still manageable in the darkroom. But getting flatter negatives by reducing the development time (I was already overexposing quite a bit) made me realize that one does not have to work so hard - it's just so much easier to achieve the print you have in mind when the negative ceases to stand in the way. My observation is that some of my best negatives give the impression of being somewhat flat and lifeless when assessed on the light box, but they really shine when they enter the enlarger. Some of them can make you think about a couple of ways to interpret the image instead of working out how to salvage something.

[film-walks-en]

What you did is normal with films (expose for the shadows and develop for the highlights).
A technique, which helps to understand the actual sensitivity of the film in your work chain, is to expose for the shadows by reducing the sensitivity of the film (eg. FP4 exposed at 80 ISO) and develop for the highlights, starting with 30% less than the manufacturer's development time. You need to do some tests in your work chain.
eg. Kodak Tmax400 exposed at 200 ISO by metering the shadows and developed with Xtol 1+1 for 6:10 minutes.. it allows you to have a negative that is "easy to print" with the enlarger. Obviously, tests should be done depending on the contrast in the scene but it is a starting point.

[Pascie]

Great video great channel from a fellow isle of wighter

[Heinz-jo]

I think it looks great! Carry on with more b&w!

[lensman]

Great work Rog. If you think photographing at 8am is weird, you should try getting up at 3am to drive to a location ready for the sunrise @ 5 am. Even I felt like freak. The funny thing is at that time, a young couple and their little one were having a bacon fry up on New Brighton beach in Wallasy. It didn't make me half hungry @ 5:30 am. That was three years ago. It was a bautiful day.

[theoldfilmbloke]

What a Lesson for the Darkroom 'Beginner' -- well done Roger mate !

[michaelb]

Never really understood pulling to expose for the shadows but you explained it. Thanks

[anthonylovesey]

Great photos of the Spanish Galleon. I've took a few photos of The Andalucia when it was in Cardiff Bay in May.

[StuartWoodall]

Not sure why I don't pull film more when it would help. Really useful video. And thanks for the shoutout at the end! @stuwoodallphoto

[richardjames]

It's a great experience, I visited the ship when it came to Plymouth last year. I also visited it when I worked in Spain

[emile]

Expose for the shadows and develop for the highlights.

[robertwebb]

Roger: you need to put your prints in a book form. I'd be the first one to buy it.

[sailorjohnboy]

7 years ago the El Galeon was in Panama City Florida and we did it crew Exchange. We took a bunch of their guys sailing on the Schooner Governor Stone and they gave us the behind-the-scenes tour of the ship and then we met up at a local establishment that evening and had a pretty good time. I have the same Canon picture except our Schooner was Sailing by Under the gun.

[davidjb]

Great explanation of the advantages of pulling film. I must confess that I have not used this technique much if at all. My first reaction to your challenge was to spot meter the highlights and shadows and then bracket from the average. What I realize after watching this video is that this approach will only work if the dynamic range of the scene fits within the dynamic range of the film shot and processed at normal conditions. What you have done is basically squeezed the dynamic range of the scene into the film by overexposing and under-developing, right? Check me on that. It would be helpful to know which developers lend themselves to this as I am sure they will not all produce the same results. Great video.

[mattkirwan]

Great video. A perfect subject / weather combo for the topic. I'm just getting (back) into film photography. In your example you mention under develop by x minutes - how might that translate to lab developed negs?

Eg: You overexpose by 1 stop (say expose film at 200 instead of 400 ISO box speed), the lab then receive that roll and without further instruction would develop for an 400 ISO box speed.

How might you communicate to the lab that you would like your roll under developing by 1 stop?

Would it be as simple as putting a " -1 " on the film/notes? Does that universally mean reduce development "time"?

[MarcoRoepers]

I shoot one roll of film every month. mostly one or two shots on a day . The whole film is shot in different circumstances, so I think that pulling or pushing a film is not useful for me. But exposing for the shadows is still a valuable advice. I shoot FP 4 and I think I can fix it in the dark room.