Some more photos from my recent roll of Catlabs Pro 320. A lot of my photography this winter has focused on this small orchid plant in my back room, shot mostly with the SMC 50/f4 Macro lens.

With this roll I started experimenting more with backlit photos and using shadows to create pleasing compositions.

Metering these is tricky. Trying to balance the backlight with the shadow detail, as well as the slight increase in light required by a closely-focused macro lens. Usually I’d try to meter on one of the shadows, then decrease two stops to put that shadow in to Zone 3. Then increase exposure by 1/4 – 1/2 of a stop to compensate for the long lens extension of a closely-focused macro lens.

This mostly worked. The highlights get a little ethereal sometimes, but I like the overall effect.

These were shot using a Pentax Spotmatic ii. Developed in Rodianal 1+50 for 19:00 at 20C.

Full album

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