[munyious]

hi there, to all the photographers out there i have some precious slide film (taken in tibet) that i took with the intentions of cross processing to get that blown out colour look. however now im wondering if it is worth just getting them processed as posotives and then adjusting the image in photoshop?? with the idea that the original posotive slide image will give me better clarity and more options to adjust later.

i have a lot of experience with cross processing in the past and love the results, so i would hate to sacrafice this if i do process them normally. of course i realise that photoshop is almost capable of any colour adjustments, i guess im just looking for peoples previous experiments and outcome experience? and how the end print result compares?

thanks for any help.

[Avenir]

I have no experience in doing this, in fact, I didn,t know what it was until I looked it up... sounds really cool, I'll have to try it out... anyway, good ole Google had some useful links

http://www.google.com/search?q=cross...8&oe=UTF-8

good luck

[munyious]

i checked out all the possible links and reviews i could handle flicking through, and found most of them just spoke about the cross processing process. a couple mentioned that you could try it in photoshop with detailed patience and colour balancing... but none of them made a comparison between doing the real thing, or trying it in photoshop with a slide scan??

please if anyone has tried both out there id love to hear any advice/experience. im a bit stuck as it is such a precious film. id do some more testing of my own, but i dont have access to a scanner at the moment.

by the way im glad previous replier has been inspired by the process. im a bit addicted to it.

cheers.

[art_director]

i tried doing this with an outstanding retoucher a few years back. we went the retouching route because our client wanted straight film in addition to the cross processed celluoid. we tried test after test but nothing, and i mean nothing, compared with the look of the real thing. in the end we processed it both ways to cover her request and get the desired look.

not saying it can't be done but i've never seen it look as good as the real deal.

best o' luck.

[andi*pandi]

cool stuff. thanks for posting!

[EnVoy]

What was your exposure set-up for shooting with the intention to cross process?

In my experience, you would have to greatly over or under expose the film (depending if you shot neg or trans) to achieve proper results when cross processing. If you go ahead and process your film now normally, it will come out unuseable. If you account for the under/over exposure, you would have to push/pull the film in development quite a bit, producing some highly contrasty or flat results (depending if you shot neg or trans).

Depending on how you pre-planned this shoot, you might be better off going ahead with the cross processing....

[Powaqqatsi]

You can make a copy of the original slide, and use the copy to do the cross processing .

[munyious]

Envoy: i was shooting at the correct exposure on slide film. i dont remember HAVING to push it for cross processing, but it has been a couple of years, so i may have forgotten? perhaps i might have to process it as transperancies if that is the case?

With the copies, how do i go about that? i have never done or heard of the process. do i end up with a whole roll of identical slide film not developed, that i can then cross process? this sounds like a great option. i dont have access to a lab, so i would have to have it done. let me know??

thanks for your help.

[EnVoy]

You must over/under expose the film depending on whic way you are going, C41 to E6 or vice versa. Depending on your testing (you are testing this process prior to a shoot, right?) it can be as much as 3 stops. I don't have my notes with me so I can't tell you the set up.

If you exposed the film normally, you can only process it normally. If you try to cross it, it will render your film unuseable. Believe me, I have done it.

As far as the copies go, huh? You can't copy unprocessed film, there is nothing to copy. An image exists only in latent form. Even if you could copy a unprocessed roll of film, you didn't shoot it for being crossed, so it would still come out unuseable.

I would process the film normally, then scan the image and get the desired effect in the computer. Then output back to film or print.

Next time plan ahead. Come up with a system, say, shoot chrome and overexpose +3 develop C41, and test it, test it, test it before you do a real shoot. This way you can go to Tibet and be confident your cross-process intended rolls will come out perfect. I've been there, and it would have sucked to come back and ruin my film because I didn't test beforhand.

[Powaqqatsi]

Originally posted by EnVoy:
As far as the copies go, huh? You can't copy unprocessed film, there is nothing to copy. An image exists only in latent form. Even if you could copy a unprocessed roll of film, you didn't shoot it for being crossed, so it would still come out unuseable.

Aahh, the film isn't develloped yet ? My bad, sorry mate no copying. I thought it you already had the slides processed. I didn't know you needed unprocesed film . Stupid me.

Ya, your best option would be Photoshop. I wouldn't ruin a film if I were you.

[munyious]

thanks for the great advice. im glad i checked it out on the forum, as i almost would have trashed the film. i basically hadnt shot slide film for several years while living overseas and thought it was time to get back into cross processing in tibet, but forgot the basics of having to push it. so that makes the decision a lot easier i guess.

back on the copies option; is there any way to make undeveloped transperancy copies of the developed slide film after its done? with the intentions of cross processing? or has its exposure settings sealed its fate?

thanks again for saving the film..

[EnVoy]

back on the copies option; is there any way to make undeveloped transperancy copies of the developed slide film after its done? with the intentions of cross processing? or has its exposure settings sealed its fate?

Not really. You can definatly dupe any film, but the cross processing technique involves an exposeure/developement setting combination. As an experiement, you could try to have a lab push or pull the dupe film and process it in the C41 chemicals. This wouldn't produce a true cross-process style, but might produce some interesting results. Worth a try if you have some cash to blow. Don't try this at a mini-photomat, though. You need to go to a professional lab who can do this stuff no problem. Talk to the lab technicians, they might have tried this before.

[munyious]

thanks for the tip, ill ask a lab and see what they say. might have to save up though!

thanks for all the helpful advice.