Film: the Good the Bad
Going back about a month or two ago when I first started shooting film and really getting into film photography, I was pretty iffy on the whole thing. I mean, like it seemed cool and I was pretty excited about it, but like was I really gonna continue to shoot film for a while? That was something i’ve been really thinking about recently. Nonetheless, I still mainly shot film for a complete month and shot through four rolls of portra 160 and really got comfortable shooting with the little nifty film camera I bought. And I came away with a lot of things to say about film, both good and bad, but things that I think would be interesting to hear for those who wanna get into film or have been interested in film. So here’s my first impression of film photography after shooting for about a month and a half.
The Bad
For all y’all masochists and narcissists out there we’ll start with the down sides to shooting film that I have come up with. I’ll just keep it to five things to keep the list and reading short, I just don’t wanna make y’all read a lot, and I don’t wanna write a lot to be honest. Anyways, here are my top five downsides to film:
Small Amount of shots (35-38 on 35mm film)
Manual focusing takes a long time
Capturing moments is harder
Lack of reviewing shots once taken
Developing and Scanning
I’m gonna be serious with you, when I first got my film camera, and loaded it up with film and took a test shot, I then realized that I just wasted a shot that could have been fire. My whole first roll, which you can check out in an earlier post, was full of shots that were underexposed or out of focus or just of random stuff that I shouldn’t have even tried photographing. But then again there were like 10 shots that were fire. But thats like 10 out of the 35 shots that I had.
Having been used to being able to shoot as many shots as I wanted on my digital camera with virtually no repercussions, stepping into the film world was kind of frustrating. Also, I’m not a very patient person when it comes to shooting photos, I really like to just shoot and go but with film you really have to sit there and think about what you’re doing.
Which has done some good and bad stuff for me, I mean I have gotten better at noticing compositions that I like so that’s cool. But literally the number one thing I hate the most about film is having to develop and scan the film. The main reason I hate it so much is that I don’t know how to develop film myself so I had to send it off for 3 WEEEEKS bro, and wait that long just to get the scans back (Which has now motivated me to learn how to develop film myself).
The Good
Honestly though, the bad stuff isn’t that bad in the grand scheme of things. All those down sides are pretty manageable and to be honest, doing film has kinda taught me to be a better photographer and more patient creator. I’ve actual found myself appreciating what I’m looking at before I shoot it, just to make sure I get a really cool shot that isn’t a waste. Anyways, on to the good things:
Film has a special “feel” to it
Forces you to pace yourself
Already color graded in some cases
You look cool af and hipster af
You become well versed in manual mode
I’m gonna be honest, I couldn’t really find and good things about film that were tech based that digital photography hasn’t done better in. I mean, we made digital cameras to be “better” than film cameras. But I think my list still kinda holds up. There is a special feel to film though, kinda that nostalgic, old-time vibe that you can’t really get with digital without doing a lot of post work. All that good grainy silkiness is already ingrained in a roll of film, which for me and my style, makes it really easy to color grade cause I just have to change like to things and i’m good. So that’s a big thing for me.
Also, i’m like a pro at counting stops and guessing what settings I need to shoot in specific situations without having to use the light meter. I could easily teach someone how to use manual mode without even really trying because I had to shoot manually for an entire month and some change. In my opinion is better to rely on your manual knowledge than just letting the camera auto pick your settings, it just gives you more creative freedom. stand out
Also, like I said before, you really have to pace yourself when shooting. You obviously don’t want to be wasting them expensive rolls, so i’m always now looking at compositions with my eyes and kind of shooting with my eyes and visualizing before using my camera. Which kinda makes for a better photo in my opinion. But the biggest thing is that a lot of people do be complimenting when they see my camera, and how hipster I look. I’m not really being serious but like thats a plus.
But yeah, this past month or so has taught me a lot about photography, patience, and perseverance. I mean having to wait like three weeks just to get all my rolls back kinda sucked but it was worth seeing what I shot throughout the months. I do plan on learning how to develop my own film so that’ll be something cool to blog about too. Hopefully I don’t mess it up too much. But yeah, film photography has really done some good to me and I feel like it’ll be the main way i’ll shoot. Maybe more like a 50/50 split with digital, but we’ll see. Anyways, stay lit 🔥
