Nothing is more frustrating than getting bad film scans. These 5 tips will help you get the most out of your film photography journey.

Digital is practice for film photography is the first thing I’d like to get out of the way. There’s a classic 2010s video from American Hipster that goes into this. The more one photographs, the better one gets, but film is expensive, so it’s good to practice with digital. This doesn’t mean buying a new camera. Bex Finch, in the video linked here, just used her iPhone 4 to practice.

But how did people practice in the film age? Pre-visualization. Instant film. Using lots of cheap black & white film. Drawing. Walking the streets and then journaling about all scenes that would’ve made great photos. As one can see, our digital age has allowed us to indulge in a photographic futsal that allows us to practice at photography even more than those in the past. But are the photos better? I guess history will decide. (It rarely does, though.)

Second, film loves light. The more the better. With digital, most of us were taught to under expose and bring up shadows in post. This is because digital loses data when over-exposed, and nothing can bring a clipped highlight back. Film is the opposite. With film, if you under-exposed, nothing will bring back shadow detail.

But how did people practice in the film age? Pre-visualization. Instant film. Using lots of cheap black & white film. Drawing. Walking the streets and then journaling about all scenes that would’ve made great photos.

Third, pushing film doesn’t mean that you magically turned ISO 400 film into ISO 1600 film. If you shoot into the light with ISO 1600 film and the subject is covering that light, that subject will still by underexposed. In fact shooting into any backlit subject means that you have to add 1.5 stops to 2.0 stop more light, thus defeating the purpose of pushing the film. Pushing film also means getting a noisier image, e.g. more grain. This means your images won’t be as sharp. This doesn’t mean they won’t be considered aesthetic. I quite like the touch of grain on pushed film, but it’s an acquired taste with most consumers preferring glossy, digital perfection.

Fourth, film is analogue. For me this means film soaks up light like a sponge. The brightest areas are the “wettest” but the darkest areas might not get wet at all, e.g. exposed. This might be just another way of saying my third point, but it’s really important to know that like an analogue watch, analogue film is inexact.

Fifth, you don’t have to shoot film to do photography. If it’s not in your budget, don’t do it. It’s not worth going into debt for. Let’s say one spends $1000 a year shooting film and doing development. Let’s say they do that for 6 years. If they put that money into an indexed fund like the S&P 500, they would have about $7926 today!!

They say film slows you down, but you can get the same effect by shooting a digital camera on manual with the ISO set to 400. To slow yourself even more, add a meter for both incidental and reflected light. Just leave the smart phone at home, or go flip phone if you have to.

Wrapping Up with Key Insights

I shoot film as a form of therapy. I am working through lots of trauma I got from shooting digital and becoming addicted to social media. There were 5 people who I thought I could trust with anything because we went on so many adventures, but as I write this during the holidays, I have heard nothing from them. And when I reach out, they simply ghost me. I feel that I was so obsessed with Instgram that I let my life go by at the expense of friends, family and career. Don’t let this happen to you.

I shoot film to unplug and find some kind of inner peace. I take my phone around to practice. But I also leave the phone at home, and just note what would have been a photo I would have taken. I write about that. I haven’t posted to Instagram in over 300 days. I still use it DM folks I know or have met while traveling. I sometimes share IG stories, but using Instagram is so problematic for me. I keep it to a minimum.

I shoot film and try to keep unserious with a certain sense of joy. Shooting film is a privilege and luxury these days.