Pushing, pulling and exposure comp

Johnct · 11-07-2010, 04:33 AM

Hi,
Can someone enlighten me in simple terms about pushing and pulling film, how and when to do it and the benefits therin?

In addition, I want to make best use of my ME Super and know that it has exposure adjustments. Again, how do I make best use of this feature?

Sorry to sound so ignorant to something that many of you must apply routinely to your photograhy?

Thanks.

Johnct

Vendee · 11-07-2010, 05:32 AM

Pushing and pulling involves exposing a film at the incorrect ISO and correcting for this during the developing.

As an example, you might want to take some low light shots but you only have 400 ISO film. You would set your camera ISO to 1600 or 3200 which would allow you to take those low light shots without the shutter speed being too slow for hand holding your camera. All this means that the film you have shot has been under exposed. When you come to develop your film, you compensate for the under exposure by over developing. The final result is usually not as good as using a high ISO film in the first place but it will be acceptable and will have its own look, usually with lots of grain.

Pulling is the opposite. You might have a 100 ISO film and you have excellent light so you might run the film at 50 ISO and then underdevelop. This would result in finer grain which might be useful for portraits etc.

Exposure compensation is when you correct for lighting conditions which may have fooled your cameras metering system. For instance, if you are taking a shot of someone with the sun behind them, your camera will meter for all that light and reduce the exposure resulting in the person being very dark. Using the exposure compensation on your ME Super would result in the background being overexposed (blown highlights) but the subject person would be correctly exposed.

Do you have a manual for your ME Super? It is availible online and it explains how the exposure compensation works.

Edit.... in the case of your ME Super, the highest ISO you can set is 1600 but on more modern cameras you can push a film to 6400

Johnct · 11-07-2010, 03:32 PM

Thanks Vendee for your simple to understand and well explained reply.

I will now take another look at the manual.

Johnct

11-07-2010, 04:33 AM	#1
Johnct Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Kent Posts: 26	Pushing, pulling and exposure comp Hi, Can someone enlighten me in simple terms about pushing and pulling film, how and when to do it and the benefits therin? In addition, I want to make best use of my ME Super and know that it has exposure adjustments. Again, how do I make best use of this feature? Sorry to sound so ignorant to something that many of you must apply routinely to your photograhy? Thanks. Johnct

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11-07-2010, 05:32 AM	#2
Vendee Pentaxian Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Norfolk, UK Posts: 1,134	Pushing and pulling involves exposing a film at the incorrect ISO and correcting for this during the developing. As an example, you might want to take some low light shots but you only have 400 ISO film. You would set your camera ISO to 1600 or 3200 which would allow you to take those low light shots without the shutter speed being too slow for hand holding your camera. All this means that the film you have shot has been under exposed. When you come to develop your film, you compensate for the under exposure by over developing. The final result is usually not as good as using a high ISO film in the first place but it will be acceptable and will have its own look, usually with lots of grain. Pulling is the opposite. You might have a 100 ISO film and you have excellent light so you might run the film at 50 ISO and then underdevelop. This would result in finer grain which might be useful for portraits etc. Exposure compensation is when you correct for lighting conditions which may have fooled your cameras metering system. For instance, if you are taking a shot of someone with the sun behind them, your camera will meter for all that light and reduce the exposure resulting in the person being very dark. Using the exposure compensation on your ME Super would result in the background being overexposed (blown highlights) but the subject person would be correctly exposed. Do you have a manual for your ME Super? It is availible online and it explains how the exposure compensation works. Edit.... in the case of your ME Super, the highest ISO you can set is 1600 but on more modern cameras you can push a film to 6400

11-07-2010, 03:32 PM	#3
Johnct Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Kent Posts: 26 Original Poster	Thanks Vendee for your simple to understand and well explained reply. I will now take another look at the manual. Johnct