Colour film stocks

The colour stocks, and what each does to skin, to sky and to green.

A colour negative stock is a set of biases, and the biases are the look. One film holds skin neutral and lets the sky go pale. Another throws the shadows green and the sky cyan. Name the stock in a prompt and a model applies the whole set at once, which is faster than writing warm highlights, muted green and fine grain as three separate clauses. Every entry here says what the stock does to skin, to sky and to green foliage, because those three are what a prompt has to steer.

The portrait stocks

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Three professional stocks built around a face. Wide latitude, low contrast, and a colour bias you pick on purpose.

Portra 400: Warm, low saturation colour with fine grain and skin tone that survives heavy overexposure.

Warm, low saturation colour with fine grain and skin tone that survives heavy overexposure.

Portra 800: The same warm, low saturation family one stop faster, with visible grain and a little more contrast.

The same warm, low saturation family one stop faster, with visible grain and a little more contrast.

Pro 400H: Cool colour with green shadows and pale mint whites, shot two stops over on purpose.

Cool colour with green shadows and pale mint whites, shot two stops over on purpose.

The everyday stocks

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Three cheap films from a supermarket shelf. More grain, more contrast, and a colour bias you cannot switch off.

Gold 200: Cheap, warm, yellow-forward colour with visible grain: the family snapshot look.

Cheap, warm, yellow-forward colour with visible grain: the family snapshot look.

UltraMax 400: Gold turned up: warmer, grainier and more contrasty, at twice the speed.

Gold turned up: warmer, grainier and more contrasty, at twice the speed.

Superia 400: Green in the shadow and cyan in the sky: the Fujifilm bias at consumer speed.

Green in the shadow and cyan in the sky: the Fujifilm bias at consumer speed.

Cine film in a still camera

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Three stocks from the motion picture line. One keeps its anti-halation layer, and two have it stripped off.

CineStill 800T: Tungsten balanced cine film with a red glow around every bright light.

Tungsten balanced cine film with a red glow around every bright light.

CineStill 50D: Daylight balanced cine film with very fine grain, clean colour and almost no glow.

Daylight balanced cine film with very fine grain, clean colour and almost no glow.

Vision3 500T: The motion picture stock itself: tungsten balanced, very wide latitude, and no glow at all.

The motion picture stock itself: tungsten balanced, very wide latitude, and no glow at all.

Saturated, and strange

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Three stocks that do not try to be neutral. One is only saturated, and two rewrite the colours outright.

Ektar 100: The most saturated and finest grain colour negative Kodak makes, and it is not for faces.

The most saturated and finest grain colour negative Kodak makes, and it is not for faces.

LomoChrome Purple: A colour shift film: every green leaf comes back magenta and purple.

LomoChrome Purple

A colour shift film: every green leaf comes back magenta and purple.

Harman Phoenix: High contrast, heavy grain, a strong red bias, halation, and almost no latitude.

High contrast, heavy grain, a strong red bias, halation, and almost no latitude.

Shoot one of them

Copy a prompt into an image model and pay for that one run. No subscription.

Open an image model

Other look groups

Black and white film stocksThe stocks, and what each one does to grain, to skin and to the sky.8 black and white stocks Slide and instant filmThe positive stocks, their narrow latitude, and the wording for each.8 slide and instant stocks Camera and formatThe ways to size a frame, and the wording that gets each one.8 cameras and formats Darkroom and processThe changes made to the film itself, and the wording for each one.6 darkroom processes Historical processesThe processes from before the film roll, and the wording for each.10 historical processes Photographic genresEach genre written as the lens, the light and the distance that make it.16 photographic genres Product and commercialThe shots a product needs, and the light, shadow and edge each takes.10 product shots

Cinematic techniquesShooting a video rather than a still? The same reference, for the camera in motion.

Start from the subject. A face wants Portra 400, or Portra 800 in low light, or Pro 400H if it should look cool and airy. A landscape wants Ektar 100. A snapshot wants Gold 200 or UltraMax 400. A lit street at night wants CineStill 800T.