Shooting Fuji Velvia 100
The Blackpool Coastline. 1/125s 50mm F8.0.
In the land of the dark room, the man with Kodachrome was King (yes, I really did just write that). But in all seriousness though, this was true. Kodachrome is perhaps the most iconic film stock of all, and it’s what most people shot in the West when it came to transparencies. As I have mentioned before, this stock is long gone and we most likely won’t ever see it again, leaving us with Fuji’s flagship slide film – Velvia. Loved by landscape photographers the world over, this is the one that people rave about the most today and, if someone is still shooting film in a serious manner, then you can almost guarantee it will involve Velvia.
Photographing this white MGB in bright sunlight was a big challenge but shadow detail could be recovered in post production. 1/400s 50mm F8.0.
When the sun goes behind a cloud, the car is much easier to photograph in more even light. 1/200s 50mm F5.6.
The red colour of this Abarth 500 is more purple here than it is in real life. 1/60s 50mm F5.6.
Why? Well first of all you can buy it in two different forms, the ISO 100 stock I will discuss this week, and the ISO 50 version which is most highly prized for having the finest grain of all. Colour is also critically important here, Velvia is known to have even more intense blues & purples than Provia and it’s this that can really add drama to photographs. Some of the sunset photos, that much more experiences photographers than me have captured, really do stand out visually with such striking colours.
Shooting a few frames for sports photography was an interesting experiment but I didn’t like the skin tones that Velvia produced. 1/1000s 300mm F2.8.
I also took my film camera along to the off-roading day I wrote about a few months back. Daihatsu 1/250s 50mm F5.6.
For those of you that forgot, some of the cars got really, really stuck. 1/250s 50mm F5.6.
And some cars got stuck over and over. 1/320s 50mm F5.6.
Unfortunately, I didn’t encounter a dramatic sunset when using this roll but thankfully I managed to find a wide variety of things to shoot, this time outside of London. I spent a week up north on several photo & video shoots, and I even gave this a go when shooting sports photography for my local hockey club. The extra purple tones really do stand out in some of the photos, especially in shadow areas. I don’t think this really is the roll to use for everyday shooting like Ektachrome or Provia is, so I think the is the last time I will use this like I have done for these photos. I am also not overly keen on the colour of skin tones in my images, though perhaps it wouldn’t look so bad on people with a darker complexion. It is definitely one to reserve for careful landscape photography to try and maximize the colour palette. Not to mention that Velvia 100 is also the most expensive slide film you can buy, so not one I’d want to shoot a lot of in a hurry.
A very large portion of Fish & Chips. Notice how purple the shadows are inside the box. 1/250s 50mm F8.0.
Aaron chowing down on his Fish & Chips before the seagulls descended to try and snatch it off him. 1/200s 50mm F8.0.
Blackpool Tower. This was a very challenging image for slide film with such a large dynamic range. 1/80s 50mm F8.0.
Having shot it I can see why this film stock remains popular today, as it produces a very unique result that will makes the right image really stand out. However, it is a bit of an acquired taste for general shooting, although at this point, I’d accused of missing the point. It’s not meant for that kind of work. For that reason, I don’t think I’d shoot this again on 35mm as I think this stock would work a lot better with my Bronica. As that camera has interchangeable film backs, I could swap it in and out when needed without having to waste an entire roll shooting things that were unsuitable. Coupled with the finer details and I am sure I would have a really great set of images. Certainly one for when I have more experience under my belt.
The pale blue of this Rolls-Royce Corniche was rendered rather well. 1/80s 50mm F6.3.
The attractive stone buildings of Middleton Tyas. 1/50s 50mm F5.6.
There’s some fun cars here as well. The purple hues of the film are really showing in this image in the road & the red MX-5. 1/80s 50mm F3.5.
What are your thoughts on Velvia? Is this a film stock you are keen on and have shot many times before? Let me know in the comments down below.
An abandoned logging mill in Yorkshire. Settings Unknown.
Inside the abandoned logging mill. I rested the camera on a wall in order to get a longer exposure without a tripod. 1s 50mm F4.0.
The red of this BMW Z3 was rendered more true to life than the Abarth 500 you can see above. 1/250s 50mm F4.0 with polariser.
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