All shots were taken during a Red Trail hike on the Delaware Water Gap
HALLOWEEN RED-SCALED
Oh man, I just wanna say I think I discovered red-scaling film at just the right time!
About a week prior to these photos, I was browsing through a bunch of film-related YouTube videos and found one on how to red-scale 35mm film, and given that my time was running short on capturing some of New Jersey’s fall foliage- I thought a little Halloween hike would be the perfect opportunity to try this-
AND BOY DID THESE COME OUT SPOOKY!
So, what is red-scale film?
Essentially all it is taking film and shooting it on the opposite side of the strip. So instead of the light being exposed onto the emulsion layer, it’s goes through the film’s red layer first-
causing this red cast on all the pictures.
The process for it is pretty simple:
1.) acquire an empty film canister (I bought one for like $0.60 at George Street Camera in New Brunswick)
2.) get some scotch tape to bind the ends of the film strips together
3.) and use a pair of scissors to roll whatever film you’re using into the empty canister (NOTE: THIS MUST BE DONE IN THE DARK, I did this under my bed sheets)
And BAM, now you’re ready to rock and roll!
I used some Kodak UltraMax 400 to experiment with this, but one thing to consider is that since you’re shooting on the opposite side of the film, you’re gonna need to overexpose the shots.
I did this by dropping down the ISO from 400 —> 100, and I’m pretty happy with the results!
I thought I was gonna end up needing my tripod being that it was an overcast day with tree coverage above me, but shutter speed ended being right around 1/60th of a second- perfect enough for some handheld action!