Cross-processing The Bean ...

[dmr]

It's kind of strange, as I really didn't intend to have this roll cross-processed when I started it, but ...

To make a long story long ... I had a free day in Chicago last Sunday. I met a local friend for a late lunch and I planned to spend the afternoon and evening shooting. I set out maybe 2:30pm, finished up a roll of Kodachrome and started a roll of Sensia. After less than an hour I was getting uncomfortable, as this was the day when it was unseasonably hot and humid, the day when they had the fatality at the Marathon and ended it early. It was more like Birmingham in August than Chicago in October, too {expletive} hot and oh-so-sticky! So I went back to the hotel and took a power nap and planned to resume just before sunset.

I wanted to get some shots of The Bean at night, so I headed off in that general direction, intending to shoot the rest of the Sensia before I lost the remaining light of day, then switch to Fuji 800 for Night At The Bean.

Well anyway ... First attempt at a shot -- no meter movement at all! Pointed it right at the still light sky, nope! Took out the battery for a taste-test -- DEAD! So I went to the nearest Walgreens, they had a peg for 625 batteries, but no batteries! Next a CVS, nope! Another Walgreens, nada!

So here I was losing daylight, more than half a roll of Sensia (200 speed) still in there, a totally dead battery and no meter except the carbon-based light meter which I've carried with me for more years than I admit to. I'm confident enough exposing negative film in bright light using the Sunny-16 rule and my eyes, but in twilight, street light, ambient light in a park? Plus, this is slide film, and it can't take a joke as far as exposure is concerned!

Then the light bulb hit! If I exposed this film as if it were 200 speed negative film, cross process it C41 (meaning take it to Walgreens for a DO and play dumb). I may get more exposure latitude than if I had it E6 reversal processed normally.

Cross-processing is one of those things on my "eventually try it once" list, however, sometimes you just have to say "what the {heck}" and it looked like eventually was Sunday night! I had a good feel of what the speed and f-stop was like for photos I took with a meter in similar light, plus I was confident that I could hand-hold at 1/15 if I really concentrated, so I just went ahead and did it.

How I got them to take it at Walgreens is a story for another thread. <very big snotty grin>

Scanning the clear-base negatives is also a story for another thread.

I'm showing three examples from the cross-processed roll. First are two Bean shots, then one of the normal daylight exposed with a meter shots.

Comments?

 

[rogue_designer]

nice quick thinking there DMR, I don't know that I would have thought to cross-process to take advantage of the range - all things considered those came out pretty well.

 

[aad]

Cool! How true are the colors?

 

[dmr]

I don't know that I would have thought to cross-process to take advantage of the range - all things considered those came out pretty well.

This was one of those spur of the moment lightbulb thoughts, trying to salvage an otherwise called-off night of shooting. If ya ain't got nothin', ya got nothin' to lose, right?

Cool! How true are the colors?

Well ... uh ... not very! I would say between near-normal and surreal. The few daylight ones, like the one of the fountain with the gargoyles above, are the most normal, but the foliage is almost Land-Of-Oz dreamlike compared to what it was. Overall, the images tended toward green, with weak blues. I'm attaching some staged examples below.

The first is the Sensia negative, scanned as a color positive, right out of the scanner. Obviously the amber mask is missing. The second is inverted in Photoshop with no color correction. The third is after levels and curves, adjusting so the front of the theater building looks, to me on the monitor at home, close to what I saw that night. The building on the right, the El station in the background, and the subway entrance to the very left look more green than I perceived. The building at the very top looks near-normal with a slight green cast. Any more reduction of the green results in an overly-warm theater.

Scanning as a color negative was worse. Far more green, blues too weak to work with! Tried it only once. Positive and invert was much better.

As an aside, on "another network" I did learn that the color developing agent, the stuff that actually forms the color dyes, is a different formulation for C41 than for E6, and therefore less than accurate color rendition is to be expected when doing a cross-process such as this.

It was very interesting to try, anyway.

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

Nice photos.

I xpro often, and like the colors I get.

A C41 minilab can take E6 film easily and it will not affect the chemicals unless the E6 exceeds 5% of the throughput.

 

[dmr]

Nice photos.

Thanks.

I xpro often, and like the colors I get.

I may or may not try this little game again. I actually prefer more accurate colors. I was thinking, if I tried a new film and it gave me colors like this, I would never use it again. It's good to know that this is available, however. I'm sure I would have had major exposure problems if I had that roll processed as E6, so this was the lesser evil.

A C41 minilab can take E6 film easily and it will not affect the chemicals unless the E6 exceeds 5% of the throughput.

I've never heard the 5% figure before. I've heard of some mini-lab places refusing to do it, so I kind of did a "these aren't the droids you're looking for" trick and handed her the Sensia AND a regular roll of Fuji (and they do look similar), with the regular roll in my hand on top of the Sensia. She *DID* look at the first roll, but then just grabbed the second roll and threw it in the envelope.

I didn't order prints or scan, and I figured if anybody noticed the clear negatives, by that time it would be too late to stop it anyway.

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

In a new place I put a sticky label on the film wirh 'C41' written in in big letters.

Later I talk to the tech if they seem like they know about the concept of xpro.

In difficulties I make a note of their developing machine and Google for operator instructions and print the page that tells them they can do E6.

About half the photos in my gallery here are xpro.

 

[dmr]

In a new place I put a sticky label on the film wirh 'C41' written in in big letters.

That might work. Kind of like what we do here when we need a duplicate of a key stamped "DO NOT DUPLICATE" we put a white label over the stamp, "age" it with pencil lead, then write something on it like "storeroom" and they never question it. LOL!

Later I talk to the tech if they seem like they know about the concept of xpro.

My guess is that the lady at Walgreens at that time (mid 20-ish) has no clue what cross-processing is. I'm sure she's a very competent button-pusher on the Frontier, but not tuned in to film photography.

If they noticed anything, they didn't say so, they just handed me the two envelopes, negatives sleeved as usual, one of them very clear compared to the other. No scratches, no fingerprints, etc., fortunately.

About half the photos in my gallery here are xpro.

Ok, looking in your gallery, at least in your Top 10/12, you don't specify film and such, but my guess is that the Doll In Dumpster and Drumming are E6 cross-processed, and Flags and the bull rink one may be. Maybe also the Rua do Passo, but not sure. Am I close?

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

You're spot on.