Hi, everyone!
For the past few months, I've been taking it upon myself to delve into the depths of film photography and try my hand at full manual shooting.
It was certainly a great experience and a real eye opener for me.
I started out immediately shooting digital when I began doing photography.
When I was growing up, film was still widely used and digital photography was still in the works.
However, nowadays, film photography is seeing a great decline.
Yes, there are many advocates of film photography out there still bearing the flags of film but there is no denying the fact that digital photography is quickly dominating the whole photography ecosystem.
Over the past few years there has been an explosion of digital photographic equipment that caters to photo enthusiasts and hobbyists of all levels of expertise.
Things like fully automatic settings, instant preview of photos, large storage allowing way more than 36 frames per card, immediate online sharing and even wireless controls make photography so much more accessible to the masses.
Even so, I believe that there is still much to be learned from shooting film.
Just to make things clear, it should be understood that shooting film here also means shooting manual.
Here, I present five lessons I learned from shooting film.
If you've seen the advertisement for the Nikon Df, you see a man gazing into the scenery, pausing, taking a deep breath, calculating and weighing up his options before lifting his camera and pressing the shutter button.
Why is that?
The Df is a digital camera; why didn't he just snap a photo and check the screen?
Well, it's because that's what you would do when you shoot using a film camera (which is what the Df was modeled after).
I shot the photo above at Masjid Sultan Salahudin Abdul Aziz Shah in Shah Alam while I was doing my internship.
It is a photo of the congregation leaving the mosque after Friday prayer, where you can see the people perfectly framed within the opening of the window.
In the distance you can see a building, also within the framing of the window.
The building serves as a filler, so that the blown out sky does not take away the attention from the people.
This photo took me a while to frame, set, focus, wait for the right moment, and finally capture.
The thought process was to use my surroundings to my advantage.
I had a a large frame and direct sunlight was shining on my subjects (the people).
I had to get my metering spot on so that I obtained a good exposure.
I knew that I only had one shot at this because film is precious and I am extremely selective when it comes to things I shoot on film.
When I was happy with my composition and focus, I took the photo.
And the above is the result.
What this shows is that because you know that you are shooting on film, you take more care and more consideration before taking the shot.
If I didn't have this beautiful frame or if there wasn't enough people in the crowd below, I wouldn't have taken this photo.
Film isn't simply shooting and deleting photos in playback.
You become more mindful and more intelligent in choosing your shots and setting your settings.
There are also point & shoot film cameras, but even those don't always come out as you intended.
When you know that what you want is the decisive moment, you have to be clever in your photography.
This teaches composure and patience, which people often take for granted in photography.
You can emulate this practice of patient shooting by pretending that your digital camera is a film camera.
Follow these steps the next time you're out shooting:
Was it overexposed/underexposed/correctly exposed?
Was the focus on?
Were the settings correct?
Did it turn out the way that you wanted?
Answer these questions and if a lot of them are negative, then that is a wonderful opportunity for you to learn from your mistakes.
The supreme advantage of shooting digital is that you have all your settings recorded in the EXIF data.
Review the data, review your photo and figure out where you went wrong and where you need to improve.
Do this often and you will find yourself miles better than when you first started.
On the contrary, sometimes time isn't a luxury you have.
This airplane was speeding by and I really wanted a shot of it.
Now, it's one thing to track a moving subject with a camera, it's another thing to shoot it on film.
When I heard the plane passing by, I quickly estimated my settings, pre-focused, framed and captured the photo.
I believe I was at ISO-400, f/8 at 1/1000 sec and focused at infinity.
I honestly didn't know if the photo would turn out okay because the metering in the camera was telling me to shoot faster.
Pointing your camera upwards into the sky at 1PM is certainly not the wisest thing to do but I really wanted the shot and I just followed my gut when I had to guess my settings.
Guessing your settings is something that you learn and develop from experience.
A very good exercise is to have a preset for certain situations.
Let's say you're outside and it is sunny, about 10AM on the clock.
You want to photograph your friend who's standing in the sun.
My guess is that your settings should be ISO-100, f/4 at 1/250 sec.
Was I right?
Try it out yourself!
Whenever you're out shooting, make it a little more fun by always guessing your settings before taking the shot.
You'll find yourself remembering settings off the top of your head without even realizing it.
Life is but a fleeting moment.
Sometimes we're so afraid we overthink things and blow them out of proportion.
We don't trust ourselves enough to go out of our conservative norms and try something new.
We feel as if the normal way is the only way.
We are so afraid that if we don't play it safe, that if we can't see the immediate outcome, then the risk is too big to take.
This is something you have to overcome; the fear of failure.
And with film photography, it can be one mighty deterrent.
I agree that in this day and age, it may seem unwise to only shoot film when going on trips or vacations or holidays with your family because you want to go back home with photos that are actually usable.
You don't want overexposed group shots, out-of-focus photos with the famous landmark or even double exposed photos with your loved ones.
You want photos that are nice, intact and good enough to be uploaded to Facebook.
True, that's what we really want nowadays.
But that's not what life's about.
Challenge yourself, take a leap of faith and let your life pan out in a beautiful, artistic way that you couldn't have imagined.
You know you can set your settings right, you have practised composition, focusing and framing for weeks and you have in your possession a film camera to use.
All that's left is to decide whether to bring that digital camera of yours along for that trip to Bali or that film camera your friend lent you.
You only have space for one.
Which do you choose?
Trust me, if you went for the film camera, you would not only come back from Bali with great memories, but you will have the photos to remind you of such a wonderful time you had with your family.
Digital photos are good, yes, but nothing beats the nostalgic feel of film photos.
Sometimes, even when you have doubts in yourself and your capabilities, just take a chance.
Speaking of fear of failure, you must realize that you will most probably go through a few horrible rolls before finally getting it right.
But that's okay.
As with every part of maturing as a person, as a photographer you must also go through the learning process.
Everyone who has gotten good at something started out by being bad, and that's nothing to be ashamed about.
Practice is of the utmost importance in honing your skills.
You cannot expect to immediately get award-winning photos right after you bought your first camera.
Greatness takes time and for some people it takes more time than others.
Don't worry about "falling behind" or "taking too long".
With consistency, passion and determination, you will get better and your hit rate will steadily increase over the course of your learning curve.
The more rolls you go through, the better you will become (that is, if you learn from your past rolls).
However, even with all the practice and learning in the world, sometimes you just don't get the keepers.
"Keepers" is photography lingo for photos that can be considered usable.
For instance, the photo should have good composition, spot on focus, correct exposure and a certain aesthetic value before it could be considered a keeper.
Conclusively, it is okay to not always get the shot.
Even professionals with decades of experience still miss their shots some times but they don't beat themselves up about it.
Photography is a never-ending learning process.
You just get better with every click.
In whatever it is that you decide to do in your life, not just photography, always cherish the experience.
Good or bad, you can always learn from your experiences.
It is what makes you wiser.
Shooting film is something I want to do more.
The thrill of shooting 36 frames a roll without previewing even a single one of those shots is absolute fun and the joy of actually seeing the photos after they've been processed is almost euphoric.
You curse the bad ones but the good ones, oh, the good ones just make you want to pump your fists and do a little dance because that's how much it means to get the shot.
I learned a lot from shooting film and I will definitely put the experience to good use in the future; even when I'm shooting digital.
I'm not saying we should all swiftly switch to film.
There isn't even that many film cameras around out there nowadays.
Even so, if you do find that you are capable of borrowing or buying a film camera, go for it!
You'll have a wonderful time exploring a new way to shoot your normal photography.
You could also take up film photography as one of your photo projects!
I hope that these five lessons that I shared with you will help you out in some way.
I'm not an expert or anything and these are just my experiences from shooting film.
But I do feel that at some point in a photographer's life, they should at least try out film photography once.
It's the only way anyone can become a complete photographer.
To check out all the photos from this entry and more, go to my Flickr gallery here.
For the past few months, I've been taking it upon myself to delve into the depths of film photography and try my hand at full manual shooting.
It was certainly a great experience and a real eye opener for me.
I started out immediately shooting digital when I began doing photography.
When I was growing up, film was still widely used and digital photography was still in the works.
However, nowadays, film photography is seeing a great decline.
Yes, there are many advocates of film photography out there still bearing the flags of film but there is no denying the fact that digital photography is quickly dominating the whole photography ecosystem.
Over the past few years there has been an explosion of digital photographic equipment that caters to photo enthusiasts and hobbyists of all levels of expertise.
Things like fully automatic settings, instant preview of photos, large storage allowing way more than 36 frames per card, immediate online sharing and even wireless controls make photography so much more accessible to the masses.
Even so, I believe that there is still much to be learned from shooting film.
Just to make things clear, it should be understood that shooting film here also means shooting manual.
Here, I present five lessons I learned from shooting film.
1
GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT
Shot using a Nikon FE10 + Zoom-Nikkor 35-70mm f/3.5-4.8s on Kodak Tri-X 400 film
If you've seen the advertisement for the Nikon Df, you see a man gazing into the scenery, pausing, taking a deep breath, calculating and weighing up his options before lifting his camera and pressing the shutter button.
Why is that?
The Df is a digital camera; why didn't he just snap a photo and check the screen?
Well, it's because that's what you would do when you shoot using a film camera (which is what the Df was modeled after).
I shot the photo above at Masjid Sultan Salahudin Abdul Aziz Shah in Shah Alam while I was doing my internship.
It is a photo of the congregation leaving the mosque after Friday prayer, where you can see the people perfectly framed within the opening of the window.
In the distance you can see a building, also within the framing of the window.
The building serves as a filler, so that the blown out sky does not take away the attention from the people.
This photo took me a while to frame, set, focus, wait for the right moment, and finally capture.
The thought process was to use my surroundings to my advantage.
I had a a large frame and direct sunlight was shining on my subjects (the people).
I had to get my metering spot on so that I obtained a good exposure.
I knew that I only had one shot at this because film is precious and I am extremely selective when it comes to things I shoot on film.
When I was happy with my composition and focus, I took the photo.
And the above is the result.
What this shows is that because you know that you are shooting on film, you take more care and more consideration before taking the shot.
If I didn't have this beautiful frame or if there wasn't enough people in the crowd below, I wouldn't have taken this photo.
Film isn't simply shooting and deleting photos in playback.
You become more mindful and more intelligent in choosing your shots and setting your settings.
There are also point & shoot film cameras, but even those don't always come out as you intended.
When you know that what you want is the decisive moment, you have to be clever in your photography.
This teaches composure and patience, which people often take for granted in photography.
You can emulate this practice of patient shooting by pretending that your digital camera is a film camera.
Follow these steps the next time you're out shooting:
- Plan your shot beforehand.
- Frame it in the viewfinder.
- Manually focus on where you want your focus to be.
- Manually set your settings.
- Wait for an interesting subject/moment
- Capture it!
- Do NOT preview your photo. (Better yet, set the preview to OFF in your menu).
- Only look at your photo once you've gone back home from shooting and after you've transferred your photo to your computer.
Was it overexposed/underexposed/correctly exposed?
Was the focus on?
Were the settings correct?
Did it turn out the way that you wanted?
Answer these questions and if a lot of them are negative, then that is a wonderful opportunity for you to learn from your mistakes.
The supreme advantage of shooting digital is that you have all your settings recorded in the EXIF data.
Review the data, review your photo and figure out where you went wrong and where you need to improve.
Do this often and you will find yourself miles better than when you first started.
2
FOLLOW YOUR GUT
Shot using a Nikon FE10 + Zoom-Nikkor 35-70mm f/3.5-4.8s on Kodak Tri-X 400 film
On the contrary, sometimes time isn't a luxury you have.
This airplane was speeding by and I really wanted a shot of it.
Now, it's one thing to track a moving subject with a camera, it's another thing to shoot it on film.
When I heard the plane passing by, I quickly estimated my settings, pre-focused, framed and captured the photo.
I believe I was at ISO-400, f/8 at 1/1000 sec and focused at infinity.
I honestly didn't know if the photo would turn out okay because the metering in the camera was telling me to shoot faster.
Pointing your camera upwards into the sky at 1PM is certainly not the wisest thing to do but I really wanted the shot and I just followed my gut when I had to guess my settings.
Guessing your settings is something that you learn and develop from experience.
A very good exercise is to have a preset for certain situations.
Let's say you're outside and it is sunny, about 10AM on the clock.
You want to photograph your friend who's standing in the sun.
My guess is that your settings should be ISO-100, f/4 at 1/250 sec.
Was I right?
Try it out yourself!
Whenever you're out shooting, make it a little more fun by always guessing your settings before taking the shot.
You'll find yourself remembering settings off the top of your head without even realizing it.
3
TAKE CHANCES
Shot using a Nikon FE10 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D on Fuji Pro 400H film
Life is but a fleeting moment.
Sometimes we're so afraid we overthink things and blow them out of proportion.
We don't trust ourselves enough to go out of our conservative norms and try something new.
We feel as if the normal way is the only way.
We are so afraid that if we don't play it safe, that if we can't see the immediate outcome, then the risk is too big to take.
This is something you have to overcome; the fear of failure.
And with film photography, it can be one mighty deterrent.
I agree that in this day and age, it may seem unwise to only shoot film when going on trips or vacations or holidays with your family because you want to go back home with photos that are actually usable.
You don't want overexposed group shots, out-of-focus photos with the famous landmark or even double exposed photos with your loved ones.
You want photos that are nice, intact and good enough to be uploaded to Facebook.
True, that's what we really want nowadays.
But that's not what life's about.
Challenge yourself, take a leap of faith and let your life pan out in a beautiful, artistic way that you couldn't have imagined.
You know you can set your settings right, you have practised composition, focusing and framing for weeks and you have in your possession a film camera to use.
All that's left is to decide whether to bring that digital camera of yours along for that trip to Bali or that film camera your friend lent you.
You only have space for one.
Which do you choose?
Trust me, if you went for the film camera, you would not only come back from Bali with great memories, but you will have the photos to remind you of such a wonderful time you had with your family.
Digital photos are good, yes, but nothing beats the nostalgic feel of film photos.
Sometimes, even when you have doubts in yourself and your capabilities, just take a chance.
4
YOU WON'T ALWAYS GET KEEPERS
Shot using a Yashica Electro 35 GS + Fujicolor Superia 200 film
Speaking of fear of failure, you must realize that you will most probably go through a few horrible rolls before finally getting it right.
But that's okay.
As with every part of maturing as a person, as a photographer you must also go through the learning process.
Everyone who has gotten good at something started out by being bad, and that's nothing to be ashamed about.
Practice is of the utmost importance in honing your skills.
You cannot expect to immediately get award-winning photos right after you bought your first camera.
Greatness takes time and for some people it takes more time than others.
Don't worry about "falling behind" or "taking too long".
With consistency, passion and determination, you will get better and your hit rate will steadily increase over the course of your learning curve.
The more rolls you go through, the better you will become (that is, if you learn from your past rolls).
However, even with all the practice and learning in the world, sometimes you just don't get the keepers.
"Keepers" is photography lingo for photos that can be considered usable.
For instance, the photo should have good composition, spot on focus, correct exposure and a certain aesthetic value before it could be considered a keeper.
Conclusively, it is okay to not always get the shot.
Even professionals with decades of experience still miss their shots some times but they don't beat themselves up about it.
Photography is a never-ending learning process.
You just get better with every click.
5
EXPERIENCE IS ITS OWN REWARD
Shot using a Nikon FE10 + Zoom-Nikkor 35-70mm f/3.5-4.8s on Kodak Tri-X 400 film
Good or bad, you can always learn from your experiences.
It is what makes you wiser.
Shooting film is something I want to do more.
The thrill of shooting 36 frames a roll without previewing even a single one of those shots is absolute fun and the joy of actually seeing the photos after they've been processed is almost euphoric.
You curse the bad ones but the good ones, oh, the good ones just make you want to pump your fists and do a little dance because that's how much it means to get the shot.
I learned a lot from shooting film and I will definitely put the experience to good use in the future; even when I'm shooting digital.
I'm not saying we should all swiftly switch to film.
There isn't even that many film cameras around out there nowadays.
Even so, if you do find that you are capable of borrowing or buying a film camera, go for it!
You'll have a wonderful time exploring a new way to shoot your normal photography.
You could also take up film photography as one of your photo projects!
I hope that these five lessons that I shared with you will help you out in some way.
I'm not an expert or anything and these are just my experiences from shooting film.
But I do feel that at some point in a photographer's life, they should at least try out film photography once.
It's the only way anyone can become a complete photographer.
To check out all the photos from this entry and more, go to my Flickr gallery here.
“It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera… they are made with the eye, heart and head.” - Henri Cartier-Bresson
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