Increase saturation

<p>Hello,<br>

What are the usual techniques in color film developing/printing in order to increase saturation?<br>

* Does pushing film (=underexpose the film + overdevelop the film) change anything in term of saturation ? Does pulling film change something ?<br>

* During the color printing process, is there techniques to increase saturation ?</p>

<p>Cheers</p>

<p>Short of scanning and adjusting in Photoshop, it is difficult to make large saturation changes with film. Selection of film is probably the biggest factor. Velvia has the highest saturation I've seen in color film. Among color negative stock, Ektar 100 may be the most satujrated. </p>

<p>Exposure will make a difference. Underexposure by 1/3 stop often increases the saturation of slide film. For color neg film, it is hard to increase saturation with exposure, but you can decrease it with underexposure. </p>

<p>Increasing contrast can increase saturation up to a point. If you have pastel colors, higher contrast will make them more saturated. Once you reach the limits of the film and start blocking shoadows or blowing out highlights, the saturation will decrease. You can increase contrast by pushing the film, but not all films respond the same. You can also choose higher contrast print stock.</p>

<p>If you are working in large format, it is possible to make a variety of masks (low contrast b&w copies) that, in theory, can achieve any saturation adjustment you can do digitally. There are few people left who have experience with these techniques. </p>

<p>Since I haven't used straight optical prints in a dozen years, I would scan and work in Photoshop</p>

<p>High saturation films are crafted in two ways. One is through spectral sensitization and dye selection. But the key trick is inter-layer effects. When processing, layers that are strongly exposed will retard the development of layers that aren't. So anything that gets near a primary color is pushed further in that direction.<br>

Also, of course, the high-saturation color films also have high contrast.</p>

<p>THanks for your answers, I will think about that...</p>

<p>By the way, does anybody know if there are some techniques during color print process for higher saturation ? <br>

(i mean print in a lab in the classical way, with no digital) </p>