Bleach Bypass filter combinations

[Jody Lipes]

i am shooting 5277 and bleach bypassing the print for desaturation and contrast control. i am also planning on shooting the interiors with an 82 filter, and the exteriors with a half correction to increase the monocromatic desaturated image and give a slightly blue tone to everything.

 

what would the effect of timing out the blue in the print be? would this process increase the desaturation of the entire image, or just a specific group of colors.

 

lastly, by adding various contrast reduction filters i am making the effect of the bleach bypass more subtle (in terms of the dramatic contrast which the processing yields) and increasing the desaturation?

[Michael Nash]

I haven't tested all these combinations myself, so this info is kind of second-hand. If David Mullen has time to respond during his current shoot I'm sure he could elaborate much better.

 

In general, timing out the blue will affect saturation in the complemetary colors (yellows/reds) the most. The effect on the overall image depends on the color content of the scene and any other desaturation techniques you're using.

 

You can counteract the crushed shadow detail engendered by the silver-retention process by using filters or flashing in camera. The degree of control and amount of shadow recovery is variable depending on the amount of filtration/flashing/silver retention you do. Adding white light to the image via filters or flashing will also help desaturate color, again variable depending on the other techniques you're using. These techniques are something you'll have to test to come across the combinations that suit you.

 

It's worth pointing out (again) that "bleach-bypass" means skipping the bleach bath COMPLETELY. The amount of silver left in the print is not variable with this process. If you want to selectively balance the amount of silver left on the print with an amount of flashing or filtration, you need to use a different process called ENR (Technicolor Labs) or ACE (Deluxe Labs) where the film IS bleached but then run through an additional bath of B&W chemistry to put silver back onto the print.

 

David's film Northfork (available on DVD) is a great example of what you desribe, and he includes his own flashing and filtration guide for that film in my article here:

 

http://www.cinematography.com/articles/northfork/

 

Also search the archives, as I'm sure David and others have explained this in posts as well.

[David Mullen ASC]

Flashing, low-con filters, smoke, low-con stocks all soften colors in similar ways, by mixing "white" into your colors. Bleach-bypass to a print softens the colors by mixing "black" into them. So combining the two together you get less saturation but you have opposite effects on contrast.

 

Using less color-correction and timing it back to normal does not reduce color overall, just in the colors that were underexposed by the incorrect color balance. So having a "blue-ish" image that is corrected back to "white" tends to look less saturated in the reds, especially if you leave some blue in.

[Jody Lipes]

thank you both. i'm going to do a test at CSC this morning, and this added knowledge makes my goal more clear. now my only concern is that this film will look to much like Northfork. any advice David?

[David Mullen ASC]

I don't know how to reply to that... Why use the same techniques if you don't want that look? Besides, unless you are shooting in anamorphic, a period movie, in Montana in winter, with b&w art direction, I don't think it will look like the same movie.

[Mitch Gross]

now my only concern is that this film will look to much like Northfork.

We should all have such problems. B)

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

Sorry, Mr. M., but the grey cake just looked like a grey cake. Most odd.

 

Phil

[Michael Nash]

Most odd.

Well that's kind of the point, isn't it? ;)

 

Personally I liked the monochrome touches like the black and white flag and the gray paint in the ketchup bottle. It blurred the line between what was optically abstracted and what was physically different from the real world. And that's kind of the point of surrealism; to make things hard to put your finger on. Is it this or is it that ?

[Jody Lipes]

i was just kidding David. i think your work is outstanding, and i would need about another twenty years to come close to being able to duplicate it.

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

The really depressing thing is that I will probably have no need to duplicate it. Sat in an edit the other day grinding my teeth (as quietly as possible) as I was forced to push every shot into clip so some grizzled BBC old-timer could see a satisfying amount of green on the P&W display. The pain.

 

Phil