
Psychedelic Blues Overview: Psychedelic Blues film will give you beautiful color streaks throughout your images.
Since it’s an experimental film (created by Dustin Adams through a process of fogging consumer 35mm film), expect different and unique results with each roll and a fair amount of grain.
It also does best rated at box speed without any overexposure. Pick up some Psychedelic Blues here: Dustin Adams Photo Film Shop.
It’s often out of stock, so be sure to follow the Psychedelic Blues Instagram page for stock updates!

Psychedelic Blues Film Review by Ashli Dunphy
Dustin Adams creates the Psychedelic Blues film in small batches, and they are all a little different. He starts with a consumer film, and then fogs it with various light sources.
I love the unpredictability and the bright colors of this film.
When I use this film, it always brings me back to the joy of the moment. It helps me to see what I felt.
What To Expect From Psychedelic Blues Film
You can expect bright and colorful light leak type effects on your film. The edges of your film will have strong streaks of yellow, red, or pink.
Each type of Psychedelic Blues film will have a different look to it. Psych Blues #2 and #3 have a strong light leak effect, #4 has a holographic color effect, #5 has the color effects along the border of the image, and #6 has the color effects in shapes like circles and rectangles. The images in this post at with Psych Blues #2.
You can check out the sample images in the Psychedelic Blues shop for examples of each type.


How To Shoot And Meter Psychedelic Blues Film
I find it does best either in an auto mode, or metered bulb-in at 90 degrees. It does not do well overexposed, in my opinion.
I almost always shoot this in my fully auto Nikon Action Touch (KEH Camera: Nikon Action Touch) these days.

Where It Performs Best
I personally prefer it in colorful or darker environments. For example, dark water (i.e. the Atlantic Ocean) and bright blue skies makes a great backdrop for this film.
I’ve seen awesome landscapes done with it, too.


Where It Struggles
For starters, it’s an experimental film created with consumer 35mm film, so, it’s going to be grainy. It doesn’t bother me, but I know it can be a deal breaker for some.
I think it’s great struggle can be seen in very white environments and when it’s overexposed. The times that I’ve shot it inside all white rooms or metered for shadows, it just came out looking wonky (not the good kind of wonky).

Thank you so much, Ashli! If you have questions about Psychedelic Blues Film, leave them below in the comments, and you can find more of Ashli’s work on her website and Instagram!
Check out all of our film reviews here!

Blog Comments
Jen
February 16, 2018 at 9:26 am
Magical! I love this film so much.
shootitwithfilm
February 16, 2018 at 9:51 pm
It really is so magical! ♥
Beth Herzhaft
May 19, 2022 at 4:19 pm
Hi! I am finally shooting the psychedelic blues film I purchase in 2018. It has been refrigerated.
My question is where and how to process it? Does it get processed with regular C 41?
Thanks!
BH
shootitwithfilm
May 19, 2022 at 5:04 pm
Hi Beth! Yes, Psych Blues film can get processed with regular C-41 film, so you can send it to any lab that develops color film.
Scanning Pysch Blues can be a little tricky if the lab isn’t familiar with what the colors should look like, so you might have a little bit better luck with the professional labs such as theFINDlab, Richard Photo Lab, or Indie Film Lab who work with Psych Blues a lot. If you send it to a local lab, you might just want to reach out to them ahead of time so they know what to expect when scanning it.
Let us know if you have any other questions!
Beth Herzhaft
May 19, 2022 at 6:29 pm
Thanks!! I’ve sent a lot of stuff to RPL in the past so I will try them. That was just regular film though. Hopefully the age of the film won’t be a problem.