There are a variety of loopy concepts on the market in relation to experimental pictures. A number of exposures. Movie Soups. Taking pictures your rolls backward. However have you ever ever heard of anyone loading two rolls of movie right into a digicam on the identical time? Me neither, and that’s precisely why I’m going to do it!
The thought in a nutshell is to determine a solution to get a shade roll and a black and white roll of 35mm movie loaded into my Nikon F3 so that every press of the shutter exposes each movies on the identical time. After they had been developed I may probably stack or layer the developed negatives for a cool impact. Hopefully.
Going into this experiment I figured I’d have some issues to unravel. The primary can be getting the proper publicity for the again roll as a result of the sunshine has to not solely expose the entrance roll but in addition journey by the entrance roll to show the second roll behind it. After discovering out how a lot gentle discount happens when it travels by movie, I’ll offset every movie’s iso to match nevertheless many stops I want.
One other apparent drawback is that movie cameras are designed to deal with one roll at a time, and properly, that’s not what I’m doing right here. So going into this I anticipated some binding points, or perhaps even some ripped movie. It’s value noting that the winder on the F3 is so diesel I’ve torn movie leaders off a single roll earlier than not to mention including the extra resistance of two rolls.
Lastly, I assumed that doing this could mess with the picture sharpness of each the back and front rolls in some capability. Sandwiching two movies right into a digicam will transfer the entrance movie barely out of alignment from the aircraft of focus, and the again movie can be obstructed by the entrance roll probably delivering mush photos.
So let’s simply set the bar good and low right here; do I count on tack-sharp footage? Nope. If I come away with a couple of frames that had been lined up and uncovered all through, I’ll contemplate {that a} win.
Loading the Two Rolls
If cramming two rolls of movie into one canister sounds actually awkward and like an enormous ache, you’d be proper. It’s.
I attempted a couple of other ways of getting each movies rolled into one canister. I figured the easiest way to forestall the 2 sandwiched movies from getting caught when advancing was to verify the perimeters lined up completely. Doing this at the hours of darkness can be practically unimaginable, so I needed to give you a solution to begin the rolls into the canister with the lights on.
What I ended up doing was utilizing an empty canister to switch the roll of Fujicolor 200 into briefly whereas nonetheless connected to its personal canister. This non permanent switch was executed in a darkish closet so the movie wasn’t ruined, however then I may entry the top of the Fujicolor’s roll within the gentle to line up and tape on the second movie. This different roll can be T-Max P3200 black and white, and when within the digicam can be positioned behind the roll of Fujicolor 200, towards the strain plate.
After every little thing was lined up and taped collectively, I went again into the darkish closet and wound as a lot of the 2 movies into the one canister as I may match and lower off the surplus. Utilizing this technique I used to be in a position to load about 20 frames into the canister utilizing two 36-exposure rolls. Surprisingly, turning the spindle with two back-to-back rolls was just a little stiff, however not unimaginable.
With each movies loaded into one cassette, it took a couple of makes an attempt to get the chief proper. At first, I attempted chopping a double-leader beginning each movies on the winder, however that ended up creating a spot on the advancing spindle and a ripple between the movies. What ended up working was chopping the rear movie chief off straight and taping it simply behind the opposite chief of the entrance roll.
The rationale I selected to place the colour movie within the entrance and the black and white movie in the direction of the again is that I believed this could ship a greater finish consequence. I wouldn’t have to fret about shade shifting like I’d have if the sunshine traveled by the black-and-white roll first.
OK, so the digicam is loaded, and the exhausting half is full!
There Had been Some Failures
After some preliminary exams with my gentle meter, I measured a couple of 3-stop gentle discount by movie.
For my first try, I grabbed a roll of Kodak Ultramax 400 and Fomapan 400 to stack. To get my 3-stop distinction between the movies I made a decision to shoot the Ultramax at field velocity and pull the roll of Fomapan (Holga) to iso 50.
Sadly, this primary run turned out to be a bust. Whereas the colour Ultramax photos turned out high quality, the black and white roll didn’t have any photos uncovered. It seems to be like I would wish extra gentle to make it by the entrance roll of movie.
I can see from the publicity on the Fomapan negatives that there was undoubtedly a problem with the 2 movies not staying flat or aligning correctly within the digicam as properly.
Let’s Strive This Once more
Okay, so spherical two. I wanted extra gentle to hit the again movie so I elevated the iso distinction between the back and front movies. This time I used a roll of Fujicolor 200 and Kodak T-Max P3200. I rated these photographs at 100, overexposing the Fujicolor barely whereas creating the roll of T-Max at 3200.
To repair the binding challenge, I in the reduction of the rear movie so there was just one starter chief (the Fujicolor) getting superior by the sprocket wheel. I believe the issue was that when each movies had been connected to the winder it was making a bow and an area between the back and front rolls.
After loading and capturing 18 frames of the Fujicolor/T-Max rolls I used to be comfortable to see this time was a hit! Sort of…
With this try once more the entrance roll of shade movie got here out high quality, however now with a 5-stop distinction between the 2 rolls I had precise photos on the again roll of black and white. These photos had been nonetheless a number of stops under a “right” publicity, however nonetheless, they got here by!
Within the sharpness division, I didn’t see that a lot of a distinction within the Fuji photos, however the T-Max was a unique story. There was vital blurring mixed with extreme blotchiness of the grain from underexposure. Mainly, the black-and-white photographs seemed like I used to be like capturing a pinhole picture with out utilizing a pinhole digicam.
Additionally, I used to be given a pleasant reminder that I want to alter the door seals on my F3…
Combining the Photos
To merge the 2 negatives in Photoshop I stacked them collectively as layers after which used the rework device to get the alignment as shut as I may. I positioned the colour layer on prime and altered the mix mode to “shade” to composite the photographs collectively.
The ‘shade’ mix mode in Photoshop ignores variations in luminosity between your adjustment layer and your base layer so it transfers the colour from the Fuji adverse onto the T-Max adverse, identical to it will have been contained in the digicam.
Nonetheless, as a result of the T-Max photographs had been underexposed, straight merging the 2 movies lowered the general brightness. The shadow areas seemed a bit bizarre and mushy from making use of shade on prime of one thing that had no element.
I received a a lot better consequence utilizing a few of the contrast-based mix modes as a result of they modify the luminosity of the merged photos. ‘Mushy gentle’ seemed just like the ‘shade’ mix mode when merging the 2 movies however helped even out the distinction in exposures between the 2 rolls. ‘Pin gentle’ and ‘Exhausting gentle’ mix modes created one thing that just about jogged my memory of a cross-processed picture.
Another choice I attempted that seemed fascinating was not utilizing mix modes however simply adjusting the opacity of the colour layer all the way down to about 50%.
Going Ahead
After I was initially planning this experiment I questioned if the ultimate stacked photos would create some sort of neat separation or 3D impact. Whereas the method didn’t ship excellent outcomes that soar out of the body I’d nonetheless contemplate it a hit.
It’s value noting that there’s most likely a extra technical solution to go about doing this, however I get pleasure from tinkering round and simply messing with issues till they work. An enormous a part of the enjoyable for me with any movie experiment is all about trial and error.
In fact, there’s nonetheless loads of room for enchancment right here, however after just some makes an attempt, I’m in a position to get photos on each rolls with out them jamming up the digicam. In order that’s an superior place to begin in my guide.
Concerning the creator: Chris Kuhn is a photographer and YouTuber who creates content material about movie pictures. You could find extra of his work on his web site, Fb, YouTube, and Instagram. This text was additionally printed right here.
