This roll affords you the opportunity to travel all the way from Vienna to… Inchinnan.

I enjoy shooting in lower light. I feel it accentuates colours and, when captured well, almost looks like the colours have been edited — a bit of an irony considering I never edit colours. With my current setup, it is difficult; I don’t use a flash or have a tripod. This leaves me at the mercy of the film ISO and a steady hand.

In lower light conditions, the shutter needs to open longer to capture more light, otherwise you risk underexposing the image. Any movement while the shutter is open can introduce blur. You could use a tripod to keep the camera perfectly still, a flash to introduce artificial light (which doesn’t meet my need to capture things “as they are”), or a higher film ISO. The latter increases the sensitivity of the film, allowing for a faster shutter speed, at the cost of increased grain.

Going forward, I want to try Kodak Portra 800 and CineStill 800T to develop more confidence shooting in lower light. I’ve never used 800 ISO, but working with one camera means the roll can’t be reserved for night shots alone — it will be used during the day as well. Both stocks are known to handle daylight well, making them a workable compromise.

// -- TECHNICAL NOTES --
// camera: minolta x-300
// film: kodak portra 400
// roll: 026