Lomochrome Purple as red scale - A quick and dirty test :D

I shot my first roll of Lomochrome Purple XR 100-400 recently and loved the results. : D But, I wanted to know what it did when reversed like red scale film.

So, I took a piece off of a roll of my coveted stash long enough to get around 10 shots, flipped it and rerolled it into a new cassette. I did most of this in a changing bag so I could limit the exposure to light. That way, minus the leader sticking out of each cassette when I was done, I’d only lose a minimum of film.

I like to call it Purple Scale. :D

My goal was to pick a spot that would give me a wide range of color and light/dark to shoot from. I used a wide angle lens, and shot it at 25, 50, 100, 200, 400 and 800 from the spot in medium evening light. I figured that 25 was a good starting point since it was two stops below the film’s suggested range of 100-400. And I went up to 800 hoping to hit the film’s breaking point.

First off, here’s a sample of the negative scanned as a positive so you can see how cool it is. :D

It turns the image bright green! A standard Lomochrome Purple negative would be more in the pink and brown range.

So without further ado, here are some quick and dirty samples for you to see the possibilities.

ISO 25:

ISO 50:

ISO 100:

ISO 200:

ISO 400:

ISO 800:

My chemicals are on their last legs but the basic idea is the same. It seems to create a nice purple mask over the image at the 25-50 range and then the purple starts to become way less pronounced at faster speeds.

However, if you scan it as a positive and then invert it yourself, the results are very nice as well with more definition in the image and a different shade as well.

So, the real question at hand is, do I like the effect enough to use the technique more? I think so. It’s not nearly as fun and dramatic of a change as red scale is to standard C-41 film, but it’s still a neat way to get different results from the film.

I think it would also be really fun to do doubles shooting both sides. Use the standard side for your primary image and the Purple Scale side to fill it all in with the bright purple texture. It could be fun. :D

So that is my Lomochrome Purple XR 100-400 red scale test, because I had to know. And now you do too. :D

ams

written by alienmeatsack on 2014-03-22