The Light Touch
•Equipment
Touch the Light.....
John MacPherson
Landscape and Environmental Photography from Scotland
For many years I was a happy Kodak user, but the arrival of Fuji's Velvia and Provia/Sensia quickly had me reaching for their green boxes instead. I have used Velvia for years now and am happy with it for most situations. There are a couple of reasons for this. Having used it so much I 'know' roughly what the exposure for a given situation should be. This is helpful when working quickly and intuitively as it allows one to make best advantage of the opportunities presenting. The other reason, and this has saved me a couple of times, is that I can tell if my camera is malfunctioning if the exposure it indicates is way off what I would expect. I consider the 50 asa speed a bit optimistic and normally rate it at 40asa, and have it processed as 50asa.
Living in an area that can often be overcast I love the 'snap' that Velvia can give to landscapes on such days. My favourite light is 'bright overcast' when the light seems to emanate from below, and the absence of shadows and even tones can make for wonderful images. For some recent work I needed a bit of extra speed and tried the newer Fuji 100F, and I am delighted with it. The colours are far more subtle than Velvia, and in particular skin tones are rendered very well. The colours may not be as saturated as Velvia but it is a film that I intend using more often to see what effects it will produce in various lighting conditions.
I am a firm believer in finding one film you like and trying it out in all conditions until you really get to know how it 'works' then you can begin to exploit its strengths and avoid its weaknesses. For the work I do Velvia is hard to beat.
•Film
