Pushing Kodak Gold to 1600 ISO 

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Ahaha I only bring it out on the most special occasions!

That's true actually hey! I noticed that with the close up of the flowers, a very analogue tonality thing going on in the pushed version!

I'm glad you found it helpful! I figured if I was going to test things I might as well do it properly haha!

Cheers Niko! Glad to have had you around for like more than a year now ya legend!

Come say hi next time mate! Glad that you enjoy seeing the Cape scenes as a local haha! Next I'll have to go up the mountain, or hang around the waterfront or something lol!

Ahahahahahah they'll love this comment! I'll tell them the time has come to go on a great trek!

You know me Aristo I'm a serious pushing kinda guy ahahah, glad to have given some insight into options though!

Gotta try it out to find out I guess haha!

@@willysheepskin yes lol

Cheers man! I saw that scene and was like woaaah this warrants a photo for sure haha! The worlds least effective security gate!

It's really special hey! Get's even better as winter goes on haha, lovely soft light!

Dang Barney your mums a legend!

@@willysheepskin I mentioned it to her on the phone but said I couldn't afford to buy any, a few weeks later I got a random package and there it was, still waiting for some good weather to shoot it all.

Wait till you see how nicely Portra 400 pushes haha! I prefer to push 400 rather than 800 cus it holds up much more nicely in my experience!

Thanks Emanuel! Glad you enjoyed that! Was a mission to get it all done on time but thankfully worked out in the end haha!

Ahaha whenever I think about how long it's taken to grow it out I'm like "hmmmm maybe I should just hold off for a bit" lol! Think I've been growing it since like 2018 now, so it's taken some time but will be worth it when the time comes to give it away! Also glad you enjoyed the video man, happy to provide some insights into things haha!

Glad you enjoyed it Steve! I look forward to the next one too! Not sure what it's going to be but hopefully it's fun ahah!

Ahh thank you kind sir! Glad to have been able to make it so soon, and I'm stoked with the photos too haha!

Haha I'm sure the outcry will recover if I do end up cutting it! Glad that you learnt and enjoyed things though, the hand prints definitely win for me too!

Thank you Alexander!

Ahaha I laughed at that edit! Yeah the contrast and look of the pushed stuff lends itself well to a scene that benefits from the contrast, but contrast is very rarely good for the sort of portraits I make lol! All about the soft gradation in a portrait I am!

@@willysheepskin same And just to clarify, it's only the film which is not the best. Maya is looking even more gorgeous than ever!

Thank you Aengus! Cape town is a special place indeed! Lovely to hear that you got a kodachrome feel from the pushed stuff too, I wish I'd been around when Kodachrome was a thing haha! Only a pleasure to do the work for the comparisons, I'd have been curious forever if they hadn't been done haha!

@@willysheepskin -- Grew up with Kodachrome (35mm *AND* Super8!) and TriX. So I lean towards that warmish "Kodak" look (though I do like an expired Fuji 800 in 35mm!). And thank you for donating your hair -- my first ex-wife passed away from cancer in 2015, and our daughters grew/donated their hair -- it can make all the difference to someone going through chemo to feel "normal."

Thanks Erik! You've got summer coming at least which should be well suited haha!

Cheers matey! Gold for the golden! Black and white is the wave though, can't wait to hop in the darkroom with my B/W backlog I'm so ready ahah

Cheers Acirimis! The DVC is going to make a return as soon as I've got a nice new tape to film on cus all of my current ones have decided to shuffle off their mortal coil and can't be used lol!

@@willysheepskin Ahhh so humbling, good luck! haha

I'm glad you dig em man! I was worried that they looked terrible and that folks would be like "wtf is going on here" ahahah, I'm very pleasantly surprised with it overall too though!

Dankie mybru! I've never shot Lomo Xpro actually, but I'm curious now to see how it looks for sure haha! Shoutout to Cape Film Supply biiiiiiig time!

Cheers Justin! Glad to hear someone likes the box speed like me ahah! Always happy to mention things that I notice! The overseas trip should be a blast hey, but mainly excited to share stuff from expeditions that have already taken place haha, so ready! Have a good one man!

I think it looks cool in some scenarios but in general I'd rather have the extra tonal range to play around with personally!

Cheers Robbie! I reckon the +1 is definitely a more reasonable strategy haha, going to have to give that a go sometime!

Ahah you're the gold expert with your horde of 35mm my good sir! Very honored to have been given the first pack of this around here though, was so cool to try out!

PAIN! MISSED YA LAST WEEK!

Cheers Reimann! The more film the merrier! Also yeah the raw scans always look extra terrible especially from the Imacons cus I like to scan as flat and janky as I can and then pull the colors back out of the file haha, gives me more room to experiment!

I think that's a much more reasonable push to make haha! I should just shoot 4 different rolls and push them to 400 800 1600 and 3200 to see how far this stock can go and what looks best lol!

Thank you kindly big homie, we must hang out sometime soon I miss ya

It kinda does hey! Maybe I should try for that look more often in future, it might add something to the right kind of scenes haha!

Siiick! I need to shoot some 800T again actually it's really fun for the right subject matter! Cheers for stopping by Sander!

Woah that fisher price camera sounds awesome haha! Glad that you enjoyed the video and the experimentation Vely! More tinkering to come haha!

Cheers Brendon! I reckon I should just cruise around for a bunch of sunsets with it, it shines for the sunsets lol! Especially the pushed stuff actually! Maybe I just shoot exclusively pushed gold at sunset for a month haha, that'd be interesting! Also yeah man I'm still in the seriously contemplating stage about the whole hair thing, but it feels like the time is coming and I'm sure it'll go to good use!

Oh that's awesome Jake! Bryan's the Goat haha, that latest video of his is so rad (they all are but the latest one is too haha). I reckon get back into it if you're contemplating! So much fun to be had and many photos to be made! Glad to hear that you feel my pain on the long hair in winter front haha, I'm still psyching myself up to do it but the time is nigh at this point lol!

Ahhh cheers Sreeku! My pleasure! I'm very keen to play with it some more for sure, I think it has immense potential, and you are most welcome for the detailed review haha!

Thank you kindly! Crazy difference right!

I missed you too ahah! Glad that you enjoyed the video though, and don't worry that was the only properly sunnyish day this week, it's been cloudy and rainy here since lol! Winter is coming! Looking forward greatly to sharing some trip stuff!

Ahah cheers Marco! Gotta test the waters you know! I might have to reevaluate my take on things if more people prefer the look of the pushed too haha!

So interesting seeing how some folks prefer box speed vs. pushed! Glad to have given you some ideas for how to shoot it though Michael!

@@willysheepskin I’m definitely going to try this now!

Yeah man for sure! I think that one is a great example for when the push goes right, although I should probably bump the contrast in the box speed scan anyway it is still a bit flat haha! I need to give portra 160 a go again, don't think I've shot it in years now

Thank you Taoren!

Cheers Robbie! I'm jealous of your flatbed for print scanning haha, I should probably see if I can score one for a good price sometime since I have a fair few prints that I should probably scan lol! Hope you get to experiment heavily in your new darkroom very soon! (Also I definitely prefer it at box speed too, although the sunset stuff did have a vibe to it pushed haha)

Thank you, I had an expert called Maya help me out

I'm going to have to go back and reevalute how things look now too haha! The scenes were definitely nice though!

ahahah I should try out squarepushing sometime!

Cheers man!

Very true hey! Might have to give it a go sometime and then compare all 3 haha!

Das me 8-)

I got the first pack out of the first box to arrive at the Kodak distributor for Africa ahah! Although to be honest someone probably already brought some in from overseas at this point, first legit box though lolol!

Ahoy Kamari! Lovely to catch you in the comments once more haha! That's a super interesting question, and one that's definitely tricky to answer lol! I don't think there's a single thing that inspires me in photography really, the act of making the photographs or finding something to make an image of is what get's me most excited I reckon! When there's a final image to look at it feels like the journey of it's creation is over and it's almost sad. When I'm out there making things and something super special happens or shows up though, that's what gets me going and keeps me on the hunt for images! When a scene or situation pops up that's suuuuper special it's like being struck by a bolt of lightning and I go into like hyper focus mode and try figure out how I'm going to make an image that's worthy of the situation. It happens veeery rarely, but the idea of scenarios like that popping up is what I'm always chasing lol! Hope that helps!

@@willysheepskin William Sheepskin, you’re an incredible person. I never doubted the fact that you’ll eventually respond to a message I’ve sent in the comments, yet every time I get a notification that you’ve responded I’m pretty excited. I don’t even respond/read my emails in a timely fashion, but you somehow manage to give thoughtful response to nearly every comment under your videos. It might not seem like a big deal but given how superficial the internet can be it’s remarkable to see people striving for genuine and authentic interactions on here. -Enough with the lengthy tangents though - I definitely understand your answer and I can see how the film medium suits you. I can also relate to the appreciating the journey or process surrounding creating a photograph. I think regardless of level of expertise there’s an element of ‘randomness’ built into the medium that can’t always be taken into account when shooting film. That is to say, there is always a new perspective or something different to consider that pushes you to want to make “the next picture.” Idk if the Shrek movie franchise is as popular SA as it is in the States, but there is this quote where Shrek basically compares himself to an onion because he “has [so many] layers.” I feel the same way about film. Infinite layers and room to play and explore. Therefore the process of trying to take it all into account and make the best picture you can in that specific moment is exciting. In the context of what you shoot, I think your work is pretty successful as well from an artistic standpoint. Obviously I can’t speak on the specific artistic intentions behind your images, but your work is inspiring beyond a technical aspect. I myself feel compelled to want to travel more and see not only the places you’ve photographed, but more of the world in general. So to that I say thank you William

Ahaha someone at the lab made the joke that it was so thin cus they just cut Portra in half, I laughed so loud!

Doooo it the uni darkroom is where I learnt how to do stuff haha! Spent many happy hours in there, and would deffo highly reccomend it over setting up RA4 at home. I'm not sure if we have access to Color Mission, but I'll ask around and see if I can maybe get some in!

Gotta keep it living on the edge so it's never sure what picture will be it's last, that way it always has to try it it's best ahaha !

Ahhh it might stick around for a little while yet but the writing is on the wall for it at this point I reckon haha!

Dang that's an excellent price for 400H well done! Although it still scares me cus I've never managed to scan it nicely ahah - I'm potentially headed to an island someplace around Asia that I've never been to before!

@@willysheepskin Not Taiwan right? Otherwise I’ll hook you up with some locals!

@@akaYu07 Nooo I'd have sent you a message for sure if that was the case haha! I'll chat to you about it as soon as I've got tickets confirmed lol, don't wanna jinx myself!

Oh don't you worry if it was a curly fella I'd have mentioned it haha, it dries flat flat flat it's great in that respect, just flimsy lol!

Should be! If you can adjust the iso manually you just set it to meter for 1600, and if you can't manually adjust look up something called "DX code hacking" and you can push it that way!

Ahaha how dare you! Jk I definitely like the sunset ones a bunch too, I'm just a fan of maximum TONEZ so the scenes where it crushed the detail out of the shadows I wasn't too big a fan of lol! Also no no, the red one was metering for 1600 and the black one was set to 200, that way I didn't have to constantly adjust the ISO on em haha!

@@willysheepskin ah ok that makes total sense re: 2 light meters. I found some of the pushed ones had that extra contrast but didnt see the lost shadow detail as much. But definitely an interesting look pushed 3 stops. I thought you just pushed 1 stop and was surprised there was such a big color shift. Then i remembered you did 1600iso

This is hilarous, I wrote this comment when I paused at 2:48 exactly and he explains/answer my question at 2:50. Thanks Will.

I have two meters and figured I'd save myself some momentary mental gymnastics and just roll with two meters haha, guaranteed accuracy without relying on my dodgy numerical ability that way too!

@@willysheepskin haha fair enough

Only if you take the portrait muahahha!

Ah sorry Jo! I kind of figure that one can pause the video more easily than it would be to skip through them if they were on screen for too long haha! Shall post stuff soon though and then they'll be there to see for as long as you like!

@@willysheepskin true, but keep in mind many people like me like to watch it on their tv RU-vid app. And there is a giant overlay when you pause, so that’s not really a good option. Just a few seconds longer would be fantastic :)

@@Jo-np7rr dang I’d never thought of that actually, thanks for letting me know will keep it in mind going forward!

Agreed. We need at LEAST 3 Californias 😁

Breakin tha laaw 8-)