Amazing visual events can occur by taking color slide film and processing it to produce negatives. It is possible to push the film up to a speed of 10,000, dramatically increasing the color saturation, raise the level of contrast, and crate a pointillistic grain structure.

Get a thirty-six-exposure roll of Kodak Ektachrome 200 Professional film. Set the film speed at 1,200.  Bracket your exposures 1/2 and 1 full f/stop in both directions. If you push the film any higher, you will need to be extremely careful in your exposures to retain acceptable shadow detail. You will be able to shoot in very low levels of light or use very high shutter speeds to stop action.

Contrast will be greatly increased, as in all push processes. A scene of low contrast will come out to be one of at least average contrast. A scene of high contrast will come out looking like it was shot on litho film.

There will be a noticeable increase in color saturation. Colors can begin to vibrate, look very intense, take on a "Day-Glo" appearance, and become deeper and more brilliant.  The grain will appear quite oversized. You can literally pick out the different points of color.

Overall, the composition will tend to become more abstract, bold, impressionistic, and striking. The process is great for creating a mood. It is not suited for a situation that requires clarity and sharp detail. It should offer the same oppurtunity to see things in a different manner. Predawn, after sunset, and night now become times that are accessible for you to photograph.  This is not the time to go and shoot the beach at noon. With these poster-like colors, the images tend to cry out to be printed bigger than normal. Consider getting some larger paper to print on if you find these images successful.

After exposing the roll, the film will be developed twice, once for black-and-white and then again for color. After completing the black-and-white process you can either dry the film and carry out the color process at a later time or continue on and complete both processes in succession. Be certain not to use any type of wetting solution like Photo-Flo if the film is dried before doing the color process. At this point, watermarks will not matter because the film is going to be developed again and the wetting agent can cause difficulties in the color development.

After completing the black-and-white process develop the film following normal C-41 development procedures.  The color developing process will add color couplers and the density and color saturation will appear more normal. The entire process may be carried out under normal room lights. Be certain to maintain accurate temperatures.

After the film has dried, inspect it. It will appear pink because the slide film does not contain the orange mask as do regular color negatives. Make a contact sheet to see exactly what you have to work with. The highlights should be fairly dense and bold and the shadow detail will look thin. The colors should be intense with the grain quite visible. Negatives with good detail in the shadow area and with highlights that are not blocked indicate proper exposure. You should have exposures at 600, 800, 1,200, and 2,400.  Check to see which film speed worked best.

Because there is no orange mask you will probably have to add about 20-30 points of yellow to your regular starting filter pack. A low-contrast scene should print like a normal negative. A contrasty scene may require exposure times of over a minute. Although the colors will be much more saturated and the grain very noticeable, the overall color balance of the scene should remain the same as you saw it. This process does not create false colors like infrared, but it enhances what is already there.

Use this process to step into some new areas that you felt were off limits with your conventional use of materials, Normally you would use color materials to depict a scene. Now is your chance to open up and express your feelings and mood about a subject.

The following table for the black-and-white portion of the maximization process will give fairly accurate and consistant results:

After the black-and-white portion of the maximization is completed, the same roll must be processed a second time with the normal C-41 development procedures, or you can dry the film and finish the C-41 process at a later time. The finished negative will appear extremely thin and kind of creamy-pink in color; this is normal.