Severe Underexposure Problem

[Owen]

Hi Forum Members,

I shot six rolls of Kodak Portra NC160 and Kodak Proimage 100 35mm films (a wedding) which I intended to print and also scan the negatives so that I can put them in a Powerpoint presentation. I have not yet processed the negatives because I am unsure of which corrective method is best. They were all flashed photos taken at 1/60 f22 instead of 1/60 f8 (which was the typical meter reading). I expect the pictures to come out very dark if processed normally.

Should I ask the photo finishers to push process by +3 stops or should I process normally and then do the correction digitally, or should I do a combination of both?

Thanks in advance.

[Photo-John]

What kind of camera and flash? If the camera had TTL flash metering and you were close enough, the exposures should be fine. one option is to ask for a "snip test." For that, they cut enough off to process a couple of frames and then you evaluate the film from that short strip. Also, print film has a lot of latitude. Theoretically, even if you underexposed by a stop or more, the film would still be useful.

[another view]

It will take a really good full-service pro lab to do a snip test, but a lab like that is who you'll want to deal with in this situation. I don't know if having print film pushed three stops or two stops left with one stop underexposure is better - really, it's a choice of the lesser of two evils.

[Broncosaurus]

I would have the film devoped normally. Once you have your negatives in hand and are ready to print from them is when you decide on how best to adjust print exposure. Having your lab print a few contact sheets will give you a good idea of what will be the best exposure to print with.