Film

[chwn]

I just finished my first in-studio shoot and tried five different types

of film. Most of my color photographs did not produce great skin

tones or were not very flattering. Could someone suggest a

great film to use that is available in 120?

[robert_kennedy]

For skin tones the best seems to be any Portra or Fuji NPH.

 

Now this is ointless if your lighting or exposure is off. Just what happened with the shoot? How were the pictures "unflattering"?

[charles barcellona www.bl]

In my experience, its hard to beat Portra 160 for studio/controlled lighting portraits. Neutral colors, smooth gradiation, good seperation of tones. Just a great portrait film.

[brooks short]

Chris,

 

I couldn't tell from your post if you are shooting color negative or transparency film.

 

The best transparency film for accurate color and pleasing skin tones that I have used in my commercial work is Kodak EPP.

 

If you're shooting color negative then your choice of film is only part of the problem. Your prints could be off color simply because the printing is bad.

 

What kind of film are you shooting and what do you mean by "skin tones that were not very flattering" ?

[chwn]

Thanks for all responses. I experimented with both transparency

and negative film in an attempt to find the most pleasing image

when printed.

 

The color of clothes were very accurate but skin tones were

overly red and showed veins and blemishes more than they

appeared in real life. I use a Hasselblad 203FE and felt like the

images were almost too sharp. I prefer sharp images but want

the model's skin to look more appealing.

[jonathan brewer]

The film isn't going to do it all with portraits, some sking will appear red, blemished, without make-up, how did you address the make-up issue. Did you use any filtration/diffusion?

 

Lighting is also in the mix, were the light sources softboxes, bare bulb, umbrella? What about your light ratio, that will make a difference?

 

You can't have it both ways, sharp yet complimentary and smooth looking skin, you can use a judicious amount of diffusion to smooth out the skin and still give the illusion of overall sharpness, which is something different.

 

Portra isn't going to cover you on portraits if you use a high light ratio, harsh light sources, no diffusion, and no make-up(which may or may not be necessary).

[._._z]

Film does not do the work of a good makeup person.

[kornelius_j._fleischer]

"skin tones ... overly red..." this is what my female sitters disliked about Kodak Portra 160. So I changed to Agfa Portrait XPS 160 and keep getting very satisfying results. Maybe you can give this film a try.