As someone who shoots film, doesn’t develop it myself, and likes to get good results, that’s more the kind of stuff I care about. Kodak can worry about how they make the film. I’m just very grateful that they do. Kodak films do tend to give your photographs a warmness, especially when compared to typical Fujicolor offerings. Portra 400 is no different in that sense, and I think it’s that warmness combined with the more muted colours that brings it so many fans. If it’s overexposed, it can cause unflattering skin tones and stronger colors. Underexposure can lead to more brown and red tones. So I prefer to meter at box speed.

If you’re uncertain of how your subject should be exposed the sky can be a good reference point in this sort of light. On Portra I feel that the sky, whether partly cloudy or clear blue, looks best when exposed with that extra ⅔ stop of compensation. This reduces some of the saturation in the sky, which often leans towards an unattractive cyan on Portra. If your entire scene is in daylight, chances are that metering the sky and adding this extra exposure will result in a good exposure for your image on Portra, no matter what the subject is.

Kodak Portra 160 vs. 400 vs. 800: What’s the Difference?

A reader suggested using a Hoya Skylight 1B filter to prevent cyan colour casts when rating the film at lower ISO values, such as 100 or 80. With its wide exposure latitude, you can shoot confidently in a variety of lighting conditions and still get beautiful, accurate colours. Features: He is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts, holds a Foundation Degree in Equitation Science and is a Master of Arts in Publishing. He is member of Nikon NPS and has been a Nikon user since the film days using a Nikon F5 and saw the digital transition with Nikon's D series cameras and is still to this day the youngest member to be elected in to BEWA, The British Equestrian Writers' Association. Fast forward to 1971 and Kodak launched another colour negative film called Vericolor. This also had Type S and Type L versions, which were given the codes VS and VL. In most of these images you can see that there is still plenty of detail and color in the highlights, but that colors in the brightest parts of the image are certainly on the soft side which is a desired look that I’m wanting to achieve. If you want to use the film and still retain more saturation, I would recommend not adding the additional two-thirds stop as I do and then also using GND filters to control the sky. You can actually end up with quite a bit of saturation on Portra if exposed this way, but be careful as shadows can get muddy and oddly oversaturated.

Now this quite a fun time to use Portra with some really interesting results! Night scenes with lights in them are going to have an incredible amount of contrast so a film like this really shines. It’s important to still make the image look like it was taken at night, so remember that shadows and unlit parts of the frame should still appear properly dark. My first tip for these scenes is that you shouldn’t worry at all about overexposing the light sources, instead concentrate on what part of the image you want to see rendered as a middle tone. Have you just got hold of a film camera and not sure where to start. We have lots of films to choose from, but you might be wondering which is the best one for you? Then read our guide Choose Your Film. It will give you a good starting point and a clear idea of what the different films do. Outstanding scanning results?with finer grain and an emulsion overcoat specially designed for scanners, Portra Films reproduce beautifully. You might think a film designed for shooting portraits and weddings and the like would be a bit sterile for street photography. In my opinion, that would be a wrong assumption. In the late 1950s, these were replaced with Type S for short exposures and Type L for long exposures, before a newer version called Ektacolor Professional was introduced in the early 1960s. This also came in Types S and L.I rate and meter Kodak Portra 160 at box speed, since Portra can color shift when over or under exposed. But otherwise, what you’ll is obviously how it renders skin tones. Kodak Portra 160 renders them very, very well. The film also tends to naturally skew more towards the warm end of the spectrum but for skin tones I’m sure you won’t mind this. If you’re looking for something cooler, then Lomography Color Negative 100 could be a good option for you. Generally speaking, I’ve never found a good reason to push or pull the film. The reason for this is because the film comes in 160, 400 and 800 emulsions. There's been a resurgence in film photography in recent times. It's not just experienced or traditional film shooters who are looking to buy analog camera systems and films. Thanks to a rise in the vintage look and analog trends, curious digital shooters are exploring the magic of film photography too.