Hey guys! As many of you know, I made the transition to shooting medium format film last summer and I am hooked! I've gotten a lot of questions about this change from photographers, so I'm attempting to answer them one-by-one on my blog. I'm tackling four more questions today, but make sure you click below to read past posts if you missed them!
Is Shooting Film Scary?
Do Clients Care About Film or is it Just a Trend?
What are the Costs Involved with Shooting Film?
How do you Process and Edit Film Photos?
How do you Deal with Changing Light Situations?
When were you Confident Enough to Transition to Film?
What is your Metering Technique?
Q: Do you feel like you tend to shoot more posed (albeit in a casual way) now that you have a film camera? Are you still able to shoot "on the fly" or does it have to be a bit more deliberate?
A: Shooting film has forced me to be more intentional with my posing. I know I can’t fire off a slew of shots for each pose and delete all but the best one. I need every frame to count. One of the benefits to shooting film is it does force you to slow down. A slower pace during my time shooting portraits of a couple has turned out to be a benefit. The couple seems to relax into each other and enjoy the time more than when I was more fast-paced. And shooting film has stretched me to become better at posing – both leading the couple and coming up with more creative poses. I can certainly still shoot “on the fly” when needed, but overall I am more thoughtful and choosey than I was when shooting digital.
Q: How many rolls of film do you use per shoot?
A: The medium format 120 film that I use in my Contax 645 holds 16 frames per roll. I typically shoot anywhere from 6-8 rolls of film for engagement or portrait shoots and 15-25 rolls for weddings. For portrait and engagement shoots, I am 100% film and then for weddings, I shoot some digital when light is not plentiful -- that's why the number of rolls varies so widely from wedding to wedding.
Q: How has film changed the way you archive your work? Where/how do you store your negatives?
A: Because I get high resolution digital scans made of all of my negatives, the way I archive my work hasn’t changed all that much. I still store the high res JPGs on a server with mirrored drives in my home office as well as storing one copy online through PASS. The negatives are stored by my lab until year’s end and then shipped to me. Currently I am keeping them in binders in my office, but I’m sure I’ll have to think through a better storage solution for the negatives once they build up more. I don’t anticipate ever needing to go back to the negatives, so I have thought about just giving them to clients once the job is delivered, but haven’t implemented anything along those lines yet. I still feel like I'm pretty early on with my journey in film, but I'm loving it and am excited to see where it takes me!
I hope you've found this post helpful! Let me know in the comments below if what I've shared has left you with any thoughts or questions!
Is Shooting Film Scary?
Do Clients Care About Film or is it Just a Trend?
What are the Costs Involved with Shooting Film?
How do you Process and Edit Film Photos?
How do you Deal with Changing Light Situations?
When were you Confident Enough to Transition to Film?
What is your Metering Technique?
Q: Do you feel like you tend to shoot more posed (albeit in a casual way) now that you have a film camera? Are you still able to shoot "on the fly" or does it have to be a bit more deliberate?
A: Shooting film has forced me to be more intentional with my posing. I know I can’t fire off a slew of shots for each pose and delete all but the best one. I need every frame to count. One of the benefits to shooting film is it does force you to slow down. A slower pace during my time shooting portraits of a couple has turned out to be a benefit. The couple seems to relax into each other and enjoy the time more than when I was more fast-paced. And shooting film has stretched me to become better at posing – both leading the couple and coming up with more creative poses. I can certainly still shoot “on the fly” when needed, but overall I am more thoughtful and choosey than I was when shooting digital.
Q: How many rolls of film do you use per shoot?
A: The medium format 120 film that I use in my Contax 645 holds 16 frames per roll. I typically shoot anywhere from 6-8 rolls of film for engagement or portrait shoots and 15-25 rolls for weddings. For portrait and engagement shoots, I am 100% film and then for weddings, I shoot some digital when light is not plentiful -- that's why the number of rolls varies so widely from wedding to wedding.
Q: How has film changed the way you archive your work? Where/how do you store your negatives?
A: Because I get high resolution digital scans made of all of my negatives, the way I archive my work hasn’t changed all that much. I still store the high res JPGs on a server with mirrored drives in my home office as well as storing one copy online through PASS. The negatives are stored by my lab until year’s end and then shipped to me. Currently I am keeping them in binders in my office, but I’m sure I’ll have to think through a better storage solution for the negatives once they build up more. I don’t anticipate ever needing to go back to the negatives, so I have thought about just giving them to clients once the job is delivered, but haven’t implemented anything along those lines yet. I still feel like I'm pretty early on with my journey in film, but I'm loving it and am excited to see where it takes me!
I hope you've found this post helpful! Let me know in the comments below if what I've shared has left you with any thoughts or questions!
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