Cinestill 400D Redux, Part 5: The deadly but beautiful park

Here are the last of the pictures from my most recent roll of Cinestill 400D, shot on my Pentax K-1000 and 100mm macro lens.

These shots were taken at a park I traveled to with the express purpose of finishing off this roll of film.

I’m a bit overdramatic about how safe the park is because of the events recorded here, wherein I escaped death due to sheer luck and despite lacking a decent sense of self-preservation.

It had been raining heavily in the days leading up to my visit, and in fact, had been raining on and off during my visit.

So the first shot I took was of a large, beautiful rainbow. Can you see it?

I promise it is there. With Cinestill and this scan, it’s like those novelty posters where you have to look at it through your periphery in order to see it. It was more visible in real life. f11, 1/60 sec.

This turned out nicely. I’m really happy at how the ripples were captured. And as an added bonus: halation at the top right! f6.8, 1/125 sec.

This one isn’t quite as striking, but I still like it. f5.6, 1/125 sec.

And there it is. That sweet, sweet halation. I don’t know why I like the effect so much, but I do. f5.6, 1/125 sec.

I wanted to capture the sign, isolated by the surrounding chain link fence. I think it would work better with more contrast, and I might come back to this image and try some edits. f5.6, 1/250 sec.

I crossed a bridge with a series of murals painted on it. I decided to use this bright, cheerful panel for a shadow self-portrait. f8, 1/500 sec.

And that’s a wrap on this roll.

Lessons learned: if the goal is halation, I really need a lot of sunlight. Which means that if it’s overcast or mostly cloudy, I have to give up on the halation. From a strictly color reproduction perspective, I like ColorPlus 200, Kodacolor 200, and, slightly less, Kodacolor 400 more than Cinestill. But those emulsions don’t give me halation. So I really need to know, before loading the film, what I’m shooting for (ha ha, see what I did there?). Which can be hard if I know it will take me more than one session or day to finish off the roll.

I still like Cinestill, but I think despite it being ISO 400, this is a film I’d prefer in brighter conditions where I could also get away with a slower film. It works in darker conditions, but doesn’t have as much flare.

Next time: Ilford Delta 400 … half frame.