Film, The Alternative Process
“We live in a digital era with modern and well made cameras. So, is it a good idea to get back to using film or should we wake up to reality? Martin Henson has a hybrid solution and explains everything in these pages”
So what is hybrid film to digital workflow and how does one work with it? First let me give you some facts that hopefully might encourage you to try film as an alternative way to capture images.
Film and digital capture are completely different media. They are used for similar purposes, but are completely unrelated to each other, up to a point.
Most people will get better instant results from digital, whereas film involves more processing to get to the digital scan and things can go wrong if you are not careful, right from the taking stage to the end of negative development.
So, why use film?
Arguably, film makes you a better photographer as you will have to think about the relationship between shutter speeds and apertures. You don’t get a live view after capture and you will never see a histogram; this all has to be done using skill, knowledge and having a greater understanding of how colours you see in the camera viewfinder translate into tones and dynamic range.
You can buy superb film cameras and lenses second hand at very low prices these days. I suggest the best way for landscape photography and studio work is to go for the medium format ones. Personally, I like the…
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The low popularity of film is largely connected to people who have never used film and then take up the hobby, they do listen, however digital is the modern way of capture and its rare that people move backwards, especially when there is no understanding of film and its merits. I moved from film to digital then back again, mainly LF film because I love the whole process and feel more in control and a sense of satisfaction that the greats such as Adams etc used the same cameras and lens as I do now.
“HDR, why not use masks”, the way I work from scanned negs means I have the best of both worlds, the joy of LF film capture and neg development, scanning then enables me to mix both the traditional way and digital processing for contrast , tonal range etc on the computer, a mix that works well.
I cannot comment on colour work as I only do BW imagery , however it does make the traditional way harder to do and would and does stop people from going down that road.
My article here gives a brief insight showing that film is not a dead duck, an alternative way of capture that’s still alive and kicking, it might be old fashioned, however I strongly believe that using a basic light capture camera, a hand-held light meter and the way it slows one down and think before pressing the shutter button is a great way to learn the art of exposure, composition etc and really makes one see that the most sophisticated digital cameras don’t make the photograph or photographer, it just makes the process easier to get to the end result, good or bad.
Thanks for your comment
Well said Martin.
I agree entirely with your initial remarks, and I hope the rest of the article is as comprehensive and informative.
Only those who come from a serious use of film know the truth but I sometimes wonder if the new photographers are listening. I have made similar points for some time and in general I find that the new digital photographers, including those who should know better feel that there is always a better digital solution to getting your hands wet in all those smelly chemicals.
Is HDR as good as a correctly exposed and processed negative? Why not use tonal masks. This seems to be the way they would rather go because they understand computers, and anyway the other way takes too long.
You do not have to convince me about what can be done with a black and white negative but it’s not so easy with a colour one. Digital photography is more akin to the use of transparency film which had its own techniques of exposure, the use of filters and processing.