# cross process: over- or underexpose?



## earthmanbuck (Jul 24, 2011)

I've been reading about cross-processing and bought a bunch of different slide films to try it out, but the first (and so far only) roll I attempted it on didn't really turn out as I'd hoped. It was Fuji Velvia 100, I believe, and all the pics I got looked like one or the other of these:











The look of them has kind of grown on me now (and I actually really love the second picture), but I guess I just want to know why they didn't come out with that more subtle "cross-processed look" I was expecting. I've been Googling and lurking on various message boards, and a general consensus seems to be that when cross-processing you are supposed to tell your camera you're using a different ISO film than you actually are. However, there seems to be a lot of debate whether you should overexpose or underexpose. From the look of the first pic, I'd say I need to underexpose a little so it doesn't come out so washed-out looking. But then I think, if I underexposed the whole roll, the second pic would have turned out even darker...

Anybody have any advice? I should also mention these were taken in a fairly dimly lit indoors area with a flash. Could the difference be the result of using a flash close up vs. further away?

(I should also get clarification that I understand the concept of overexposing and underexposing in regards to changing the ISO setting on the camera...if I'm using 100 film and set my camera to 200, that would be underexposing, right? And setting it to 50 would be overexposing?)

While I'm on a roll here (pun intended?), I might as well ask a couple other questions I have regarding changing the ISO setting on the camera:

1) I have also ordered some expired colour negative film. Do you think I will need to over/underexpose this as well?

2) Some of my fisheye pics on slide film turned out sorta murky and dark:






Should I be overexposing shots by one ISO setting when using fisheye?

3) I also have half a roll of Rollei Nightbird (a redscale film) on the go right now, but when I was reading about redscale a couple nights ago I became a little worriedthe site I was reading said to overexpose by 2-3 stops if using a homemade redscale film. The film canister says "*ISO 500/28º + 800/30º, for best creative results use 640 ISO*." What does this mean? Should I continue using the film set at 800, or move it down somewhere between 400 and 800?

Sorry to have such long and clueless threads as my first couple posts...I promise I'll hold back for a few days now, haha.


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## Josh66 (Sep 8, 2011)

I would shoot a test roll at varying ISOs and see what works best.

You might need two test rolls - one indoors and one out...

Find a subject and take pictures of it at a bunch of different ISOs (you'll want to write down which frame was which ISO...).  I would start at ISO 6 and take one picture at each 'click' till the end of the roll.  If your camera adjusts in 1/3 stops, that would get you up to ISO 12,800 or so (you will probably have to get creative with the metering to go that high - I can only set my camera up to ISO 6400).  If your camera adjusts in half stops, you would need even less frames to do this this (use a 24 exp roll in that case, if you can get one).

Going up to 12800 is probably a waste of film (  ), so I would do both the indoor and outdoor test on the same roll.  Start at ISO 6, then when you get to frame #19, reset it back to ISO 6 and move to the other location.
(Oh yeah, meter normally each time.)

Shoot a roll like that and process it.  My guess is that somewhere around the middle they will start looking good.



Not sure what the deal is with the fisheye...  Haven't used one before...




BTW, from everything I've seen, redscaled film is impossible to overexpose - it just gets less red as you expose it more.  A good starting point for redscale is half of the box speed though.  Depending on the film, this will get you deep reds or medium orange tones.  If it's an ISO 800 film, and you're shooting it at 800 - you will get _very_ dark reds.  Too dark, for my taste.

Not many people redscale 'good' film (most people use the cheapest film they can find), so I redscaled some Fuji Pro 160S just to see what it would look like.  I shot it at 80.  It was VERY red, like - 'people don't believe me that I didn't do it in PS' red.  It can be pretty cool depending on the subject matter.

I also redscaled some Fuji Superia 800, and it came out _really red_ like that too.  I shot that one at 400.

I'm starting to think those intense reds may just be the norm for redscaled Fuji film.  If you've shot much Fuji, I'm sure you've noticed that the film base is much redder than other films...

Next one up is a roll of expired Kodak Gold 400 that I redscaled.  I plan on shooting that one at ISO 25 or 50 (not decided yet).


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