This is my first roll of testing out the popular LomoChrome Metropolis 35mm film by Lomography. It is one of the favourite 35mm films used by film photographers to explore their creativity. This film stock has its own unique colour tone, saturated and high contrast and is very suitable for travel sightseeing, creative portraits or fashion shoot. I was planning to use one of my two rolls of LomoChrome Metropolis 35mm film for travel portrait shoots. It is easy to get this creative film stock if you know where to buy 35mm films online in Malaysia if you do an online search.
As a personal travel portrait photographer, I shoot travel portraits for tourists in Kuala Lumpur. Recently I have a shoot with Dewi Tan, an influencer who travelled all the way from Jakarta, Indonesia for a 3-days holiday in Kuala Lumpur. We were shooting at one of the tourist attractions at Kwai Chai Hong, Chinatown in Kuala Lumpur. I was also testing out the Kodak Vision3 250D and LomoChrome Metropolis 35mm film at the same location and I did get some great results. I found out the LomoChrome Metropolis colour tone is quite unique and it definitely great to shoot in an area with high-contrast lighting conditions.
I really like the results of the LomoChrome Metropolis for travel portraits. The lighting in Chinatown is very tricky and required to find the best spots before taking the shots. After 2 hours of outdoor shoots, we took a break at one of the cafes just behind of Kwai Chai Hong. Meanwhile, we shot some indoor portraits with the film stock as well. For this film stock, I noticed when shooting indoor, there will be a lot of shadows on the subject and probably need to find the best lighting, which is either soft sunlight from 45 degree or using window natural lighting method. Now I know LomoChrome Metropolis film will create a lot of shadow, I can shoot even better results next time.
I bought the LomoChrome Metropolis 35mm film around RM110 for two rolls on Shopee and I think it’s quite affordable. You can also get Lomography products from Amazon US which ships worldwide.
According to Lomography, you can choose different ISO from 100 to 400 to yield different results. I decided to try shooting at ISO 400 for more light. This is my second time shooting portraits with the Contax G1 film camera ever since the boudoir shoot with Yumiko. For this travel portraits shoot, I’ve set the camera ISO to 400 and shoot at wide open aperture at F2-F8, at the mean time monitoring the shutter speed so it doesn’t go lower than my lens focal length and it will be alright. I have the film lab developed it normally without pushing or pulling. I always wanted to shoot more portraits with this lovely film camera with the Carl Zeiss Planar T* 45mm lens because it can produced sharp images.
When it comes to travel portraits and film photography, sometimes I love to have the background blur to let my subject more in focus. If there are interesting landmarks or backgrounds, I would get both the subject and background in focus so that the tourists can have a nice travel pictures to bring home. To make good use of this, I always shoot during the golden hours to get the good lighting.
I might also want to try shooting LomoChrome Metropolis at night, probably I might give it a try next time when there’s a chance.
There are still many street photography projects I wanted to try with the LomoChrome Metropolis film stock. Recently I test shooting the Kodak Vision3 250D at night, and can’t wait to see the results. For this travel portrait shoots with film, I think I can still improve the photos by finding the best lighting.
If you are planning a vacation in Kuala Lumpur and are searching for travel photographs or street candid moments, please feel free to contact me for a photoshoot session. I will take you to the best photo spots in Kuala Lumpur. You can choose whether you want digital or analogue film photos with vintage vibes, or I will choose one which ever is best for you.
No doubt with it’s unique high contrast and muted color, this LomoChrome Metropolis is film photographer’s favorite 35mm film for shooting landscapes, sightseeing and creative portraits. You might also be interested in the Kodak ProImage 100 film that is suitable for travel photography. This post will be updated from time to time as I will also be testing out the LomoChrome Metropolis at different film speeds. So stay tuned for more.
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