Why is the contrast in this picture so brutal? Is it only because of the lighting?
I took the picture with my Canon A1 through a Canon FD 1:4 70-210mm lens on CinestillXX film with ISO 400. I used a pretty small aperture because I had the setting sun on 10 o’clock. (The wind turbines in the back are about 4,5km away, the Minion less than 500m)
That can work, but the bright area starts leech in to the dark areas.
If you're looking for an analogue solution, your best bet is a graduated neutral density filter. It's pretty much designed for this exact scenario. It's a filter that sits on your lens. Half of it is grey (like sunglasses, but without impacting the colour tone) and half of it is clear. You can rotate it around and align it with the light/dark boundary in your subject. It will reduce the light from the bright area of your subject, whilst leaving the dark part of your subject unaltered. This will let you expose longer for the shadows without blowing out your skies.