Living in New Mexico and working sometimes in Mali, I shoot in bright,
high-contrast light at whatever time of day I encounter something I need
or want to photograph. Color negative film can capture the brightness
range I usually encounter pretty well, but most color print papers
cannot. A low-contrast portrait paper might do better for you, but you
might lose some contrast that you want.
To get around this problem I realized I had to do two things: (1) Shoot
tranparency film (and bracket). It has less latitude than negative film,
but more than color paper. (2) Go digital. Your negatives probably have
detail that color print paper won't reveal. With scanned negatives, I
can reduce contrast and print on my Epson 870, and get a better print
that would be possible with traditional printing.
Also, Gold is a high-contrast, high-saturation film. You might try Kodak
Supra, a film made for photojournalists. It is tough, durable,
inexpensive, and good. (You might need to order it through the mail,
depending on where you live.) Supra 400 has more contrast than its
predecessor, Ektapress PJ 400, but will probably give you better results
than Gold in high-contrast lighting. Some people shoot Portra for
low-contrast, but I have found it too flat outdoors. Fuji NPH is good
too.
Joe
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