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Fun with Film: Lomochrome Purple

Lomography released a new film a few years back called Lomochrome Purple XR 100-400. This film seems to have the intention of mimicking some old infrared films, but carries it's own special twist on color and contrast. We've shot a couple of the 35mm rolls and determined that this is quite a fun film to shoot...

A roll of Lomochrome can be shot at various ISO's from 50 to 800 or even higher. I tend to stick to 400 ISO, which seems to provide the most striking colors and contrast. Slipping to around 200 ISO still provides a great palette, and works well in bright sunshine. The colors at 200 are a bit more muted and are lovely. The lighting can greatly impact the tones that come across on this film... I've had sharp lighting and shadows create high contrast shots, while some soft sunset light casts a soft glow across the entire image. 

The photographs above were shot at ISO 100 (top left), ISO 200 (top right, bottom left) and ISO 400 (bottom right). Quite dramatic diferences!

In general, this film is easy to handle. No filters required, but you can add one to play around with your level of creativity. No special processing is required either, which is a huge perk - this stuff processes right alongside standard C41 color film. (We recommend The Darkroom for developing!)

The color shifts are striking on this film... greens turn to purple and blues, yellow goes to blue, and blue goes to cyan. Blue skies turn into soft cyan shades. The brighter the greens, the more purple and blue you'll get. Foliage is beautiful on this film, as it provides an almost alien view of what may be a standard landscape. 

This film can be a little tricky to come by... but a good source is the Film Photography Project. If they don't have it, then it may be difficult to find - but the standard film sites do stock it at times (B & H Photo, Adorama, even Lomography.com).

If you try out this film, get in touch and let us know how you like it! It's definitely a fun one to shoot, in our opinion!