I shot a whole roll of Portra 400 at box speed in my basement and wondered why it looked so flat

For months I kept getting these dull, muddy photos indoors, and I just blamed my cheap camera. Then a guy at the local camera shop in Spokane asked if I ever pushed the film for low light, which I'd never even heard of. Has anyone else had a lightbulb moment about pushing film that fixed their indoor shots?

3 comments

3 Comments

terrymitchell1mo ago

Oh man, that "dull, muddy photos" line hits home. I wasted so much film before I figured it out. My whole first year shooting was just blaming my lens, then I pushed a roll of HP5 to 1600 on a whim and it was like a different world. Total game changer for indoor stuff.

phoenixh741mo ago

Wow, my buddy did the same thing as @terrymitchell and his indoor shots got so much better!

sethanderson1mo ago

Did you also just happen to try it on a whim like that? Same thing happened to me with Tri-X. I was stuck in this rut of getting flat gray photos inside and kept thinking I needed a faster lens or better lights. Then one rainy Saturday I just grabbed a roll and set my camera to 1600 and developed it like normal. My jaw hit the floor when I saw the negatives. The grain was there but it looked good, and suddenly I could actually shoot at 1/60th inside without flash. It completely changed how I see my camera now.