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Visual Examples of Pushing Film In Development


Owen A. Davies

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If anyone has any visual examples of the product of pushing film a stop or two in the development process I'd love to see it. Can't find a lot of examples online regarding motion pictures and I would like to see the effect it has on the image. From what I hear it is more contrast, more grain, more saturation, darker darks, and lighter lights. I would prefer clips or screenshots of film exposed at box speed and then pushed in development on top of that, but beggars can't be choosers. I'm wondering if the pushed film look could achieve an image that resembles what a lot of the stock in 60s and 70s films looked like. Rich blacks and, rough detail, and a nice contrast. I'm also wondering if pushing film in development has the potential to make a 35mm film stock resemble more of what 16mm would look like with its roughness and character. Let me know, thanks. 

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Oh there are many examples. 

Nearly the entirety of "Phantom Thread" is 500T pushed 2 stops. It's one of the best examples to be honest, because it's so grainy, but it still doesn't look like 16mm. 

The Lost City of Z was also mostly 500T pushed 2 stops. Not a great movie, but another good example. 

Much of "The Favorite" was also pushed 1 or 2 stops 500T as well. 

I personally don't do much pushing because it's more expensive AND one stop ain't that much. If I have to push 2 stops, I'm going to light it properly. However, recently I did a shoot for my upcoming documentary where I by accidentally set the meter wrong on a roll of 250D and pushed the entire roll and it came out great. Really didn't see anything different, but I did process it the day after I shot it. 

To me, 1 stop ain't that much, you can get that back in post. 

2 stops tho, that's tricky. If you need 2 stops, you need to light OR push for sure. 

This is a great video that shows what you can do with 5219 rated at 1250 ISO 

 

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“Eyes Wide Shut” was pushed two-stops.

Technically you get increased contrast and grain but your blacks get worse, not better, because of an increase in base fog density. However with digital color-correction you can fix the black level. If printing film, you can help the blacks by printing down a denser-than-normal negative. “Eyes Wide Shut” pushed 500T by two stops but rated the film at 1600 ASA instead of 2000 ASA, giving themselves a little wiggle room for printing by having a bit more density.

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Owen...shoot some film and push / pull it to get the lowdown. You may find that you get different results from different labs as well. If you don't want to use cine' reels, break down some of the cine' film like Freestyle used to do, and shoot as stills and develop yourself. These examples you are looking for is something Robert H. should be doing Owen. 

You know, in the old days, we didn't push film or shoot expired film for effect. We did it because we had to. Dynamic range was bad and couldn't afford film back then, even though it was cheap as hell compared to film now.

These were all pushed a couple stops. The center photo is 6x6, the rest are 35mm.

photo-by-daniel-d.-teoli-jr.-peephole-l.

photo-by-daniel-d.-teoli-jr.-peephole-l.

photo-by-daniel-d.-teoli-jr.-peephole-l.

Selections from Peephole: Peering into the World of 1970's Hollywood and L.A. 2012

by D.D.Teoli Jr.

Below is an example of digital pushing to the extreme.

de-wallen-selection-copyright-2014-danie

Same photo, no pushing / post work...

dscf-sample-no-pp-mr.jpg?w=723

Why not shoot it right?

Photography is banned, can't take any readings, can't adjust your camera, everything is guestimate, had 5 days to make a book...bla, bla and bla.

Yes, you want digital examples of pushing, look up my Red Light Amsterdam DeWallen project Owen. EVERYTHING shot at night is digital and pushed in post!

26-de-wallen-artists-book-copyright-dani

But you don't need to push film to get the effect. Do it in post Owen. You can get all the effects you want from post. And it is more reliable than pushing.

Hakenkreuz in a Dress copyright 1973 Daniel D. Teoli Jr.

Hakenkreuz in a Dress  Los Angeles, 1973

D.D.Teoli Jr.

(No push...just post.)

<><><><>

Selection from Erwin and his Guns - Stereo Archive.

erwin-his-guns-wisconsin-d-d-teoli-jr-a-

DDTJRAC

Edited by Daniel D. Teoli Jr.
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