I am a professional photographer. Here’s how to take film photos with analog cameras

The “film look” trend has exploded on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, and there’s no better way to get that authentic analog photography style in your images than to shoot your photos on real analog film. Sure, the rise of compact digital cameras and high-quality cameras built into your phone has made photography much easier – and cheaper – but there’s something beautifully nostalgic about shooting film.

I have already written about best types of film cameras you have to choose where you can buy them and which film to use inside. So here I’m going to walk you through the key things you need to know to actually capture your first images on film. I’ll also walk you through the process of developing your roll of film and how to save a lot of money by scanning your negatives at home using your digital camera.

Keep in mind that the topic of “how to take a photo” is essentially endless – not to mention highly subjective. So rather than trying to produce a comprehensive guide to every element of photography, I’ve instead tried to focus on the key elements you need to know: from how to analyze the light in a scene to what aperture to use. From there, it’s up to you to dive deeper into the world of photography and become the next Ansel Adams.

How to take photos on film

The first thing you’ll need to do is load the film into your camera, which isn’t always easy and varies a lot depending on the type of camera you’re using. But the Internet is an incredible resource, and there are many guides on how to load film or YouTube videos for almost every film camera ever made.

Once you have your film loaded into your camera, the first thing you need to learn is how to set your exposure. If you’re experienced in digital photography, much of this will be familiar to you, but even if you’re new to photography, it’s not that difficult to master.

Three things control your exposure: the ISO speed of your film, the aperture of your lens (i.e. how open it is and therefore how much light it can let in), and the shutter speed (i.e. how long your shutter stays open, exposing your film to light). The more light that enters, the brighter your images will be and vice versa.

ISO speed is set by your choice of film, whether it’s the relatively low ISO 200 of Kodak Gold or the more sensitive ISO 3200 of Ilford’s Delta 3200. Some cameras will automatically read this information from the film cartridges, while others will require you to manually set the number on the camera. That just leaves you to consider your aperture and shutter speed, both of which will be determined simply by the type of photo you want to take and the conditions you find yourself in.

If you want that dreamy shallow depth of field where the background is blurred around your subject, you’ll need a wide aperture of f/1.8 or faster if your lens allows it. This lets in more light, so you’ll need a faster shutter speed to compensate. Remember, the smaller the f-stop number, the wider the aperture and the less depth your image will be in focus.

Want your landscape to be more in focus? Great, you’ll need a narrow aperture of f/8 or f/11. This smaller hole means less light comes in, so you’ll also need a longer shutter speed to give your film time to expose properly. But a longer shutter speed means you risk getting a blurry photo, especially if you’re shooting handheld.

It’s best to get exposures of 1/15 second or faster on a tripod to ensure your camera remains steady and you capture a sharp image. If you’re shooting handheld in daylight, consider your shutter speed first – perhaps keep it at least 1/150 of a second and adjust your aperture accordingly. If you know you will be shooting handheld in dark conditions, select a more sensitive film stock such as Kodak Portra 800 for color images or Ilford Delta 3200 for black and white.

However, determining what settings you need for correct exposure isn’t always straightforward and requires you or your camera to essentially analyze the ambient light in your scene to decide on settings. This is called “metering” and some cameras, like the Mamiya 6 or Canon 1000F, come with built-in light meters. When you point them at the scene, a scale in the viewfinder will indicate whether you are overexposing the scene or not. If you overexpose, reduce the aperture a stop or two or use a faster shutter speed. And if you’re underexposing the scene and need to brighten things up, open your aperture or reduce your shutter speed.

Manual light measurement

Some cameras, especially older models like the Magnificent Yashica A TLR from 1959 – you don’t have a light meter, so you have to solve it another way. Historically, photographers have used physical photometers. But today, many photographers, including myself, have discovered that using a phone is all it takes. There are various light meter apps, like the one I use called Light Meter, that allow you to enter your camera settings and use your phone’s camera as a light meter to determine your exposure. I’ve used it for photos on 35mm and 120 film, and it has never failed me.

However, getting the perfect exposure isn’t always easy, and part of the fun of film photography is that sometimes you don’t always get a perfect image. It’s about trial, error, and learning as you go. Exposing for a bright sky and a dark, shadowy foreground is a nightmare, even for today’s best digital cameras, because you’ll need very different camera settings depending on whether you want the bright or dark parts to be exposed correctly.

With film, it’s up to you, the photographer, to decide what you want to exhibit for. If you measure your scene correctly, you can’t go too far wrong. Many films, including Kodak Gold, benefit from being slightly overexposed. So if you get different readings for different parts of a scene, it’s often best to go with the one that will result in the brightest exposure.

If you’re not sure, take two photos: one slightly overexposed and the other a little underexposed, and then you can decide which is better.

Having a more modern point-and-shoot camera or SLR with automatic settings takes out some of the guesswork, because the camera will decide the settings itself. But it’s not always perfect and some scenes will fool even the best cameras’ light meters.

So now that you’ve taken your photos, it’s time to develop them

The best way to develop and digitize your film

Taking your film to a local camera store is the easiest way to develop it. You can also send it to a lab and have them develop and scan the negatives using their film scanner. You then recover analog photos and digital files. Easy.

While this eliminates the hassle of developing and digitizing, the downside is that it becomes expensive. For example, my local lab will develop a roll of 35mm film for £6 ($8), but then it will cost an additional £10 ($13) on top. per movie for high-resolution scans. Sure, $20 doesn’t seem like a huge cost to process a roll of film, but when you start producing multiple rolls of film per week, that cost starts to add up. You can do more of the work yourself to reduce this cost.

I am not interested in developing houses. While there is various kits which make home development easier than setting up an entire darkroom, a lot of precision is required to get it right. And I don’t want that much extra kit in my house, so I’m happy to pay a local lab to do the development. However, what I will do at home is scan the negatives to get digital files.

Although good labs use dedicated film scanners, if you already have a digital camera and macro lens, it’s not that difficult to do it yourself. I use a Valoi kit which attaches to my camera lens. It has a built-in backlight that shines through the negative, allowing me to take your photo of each frame and simply pass the strip onto the next frame. It’s simple, and even if the Easy 35mm And Easy kit 120 are not particularly cheap, if you shoot a lot of film it won’t take you long to recoup the cost.

You are then left with a bunch of raw images from your negatives. Import them into Adobe Lightroom Classic and use a plugin called Negative Lab Pro to convert and adjust them to achieve the look you want. It’s up to you how far you want to go, as some of you may want the look as close to natural film as possible, while others Others will want to achieve a more unique look in their shots. However, as with any art, there is no right or wrong way to do anything, and it simply comes down to personal preference.

In the end, you’ll end up with your film images, shot on your own film camera using your favorite film stock. Hooray! You have succeeded. Now rinse and repeat until your house is full of photos and your bank account is hopelessly empty.

Additional Pro Tips for Film Photography Beginners

Start cheap. The movie might be an itch that just needs scratching, or you might just not get into it at all. It’s worth finding an affordable film camera, like the Canon EOS1000F – and try it before spending thousands on a fancy kit.

Don’t exceed. It’s not like digital, where you can take hundreds of images in an afternoon and then decide to keep one or two of your favorites. Well, you can, but it will cost a fortune. I like to limit myself to one roll of film per event. Part of the charm for me is being more selective about what photos I want to take, resulting in less photos, more photos. significant photos.

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. It’s part of the process, even if you’re an experienced photographer. Mistakes will happen, whether it’s accidentally opening the camera’s film door halfway through a roll or simply getting a completely wrong exposure. Yes, it costs money to make a wrong shot or mess up an entire throw, but you will also learn from those mistakes.

A photo is not good just because it is on film. It should always have good composition, good lighting, good exposure, good focus and a good subject. In short, it must be a good photo, regardless of the medium it was taken on: film or digital. So continue to develop your skills as a photographer while practicing with film.