5 July 2024
Push processing at the Barcelona Blues Festival
Shooting a concert at ISO 3200 and developing at 20ºC with double the time. Two sessions, two rolls, a result you can't get any other way.
Two sessions. First the concert, then the darkroom.
Friday night we went to the Barcelona Blues Festival. 35mm rolls loaded at ISO 3200 (3-stop push). Low light, lots of grain, loads of adrenaline. Vanessa Collier on stage and us in the front row with the Leicas.
Sunday morning we came in to develop. We applied everything we’d learnt on Saturday about push development: extending the development time to compensate for the underexposure and bring back the shadows. The result: dense negatives, high contrast, expressive grain. Exactly what we were after.
What is push development?
Push (push processing) is the technique of developing a film as if it had been exposed at a higher ISO than the manufacturer recommends. In practice, you can “fool” the film into giving usable exposures in very low light, but you have to compensate in the darkroom by developing for longer.
A concert is the perfect setting to learn this, because it’s where you genuinely need it.
What’s included
- Theory class on push/pull
- 2 rolls of 35mm film
- Full development of both rolls
- Closing beer