7 minute read
Why Film?
By Stuart Clook
Why use technology from yesterday to make pictures when it costs you every time you trip the shutter? Especially when you don’t really know if you’ve got everything right until you get home.
Some of those worries can start to run through my mind even before I get back to the car, let alone when I have got back home. Was the exposure right, did I remember to account for reciprocity and the filter? Did I fog the film when I bungled loading that last roll or when the dark slide was a bit sticky going back into the holder? Did I have any film in the film holder? Yes, it has happened!
With only a limited amount of film that I can carry (or afford), I need to make sure that each exposure counts. The cost of a “good” negative is not that much in reality, less than a cup of coffee when I last worked it out. The cost of making mistakes, though, or when the scene didn’t really justify it, well that just keeps adding up.
You might think these are major disadvantages to using film, yet on the contrary, I believe they are some of its major benefits. Rattling off a dozen or more shots of the same scene just in case, or because you think it looks nice, onto one of your Gigabyte cards, then the drive to improve your photography, both artistically and technically, is not quite the same in my opinion.
Now, if you only have a couple of film holders with you, or a roll of film with a limited number of exposures, then I would suggest that you are much more likely to make a “good” picture, and maybe even a winner! Why? Because each exposure has to count.
I use film cameras, not just because they help me to make better photographs, but because I love working with these manual processes. By manual I mean it is me making the decisions; I am in total control and the only one to blame. To calculate the exposure setting you really have to study the scene and read the light
where it matters. Agreed, a film SLR can do all this automatically, but I don’t work with an SLR. The nearest to “automatic” is my MF rangefinder with a centre-weighted light meter. If I am walking about on holiday or have family celebrations I use it and it's great, otherwise, I will still use my spot meter to decide where I want detail or where I can blow the highlights or crunch the shadows if I need to. This way of working, especially with a large format camera, has a choreography all of its own. This act, or process, of making photographs with these cameras is all part of the experience and joy for me.
When I dive under that dark cloth the rest of the world goes out of mind. The day job, home? In fact, I stop thinking about everything else as I become totally focussed on what’s on the ground glass. Trying to find a solution to the scene, studying the edge of the frame, where to position the lens, that’s what’s important. Then I need to work out the exposure setting, how I am going to print ̶ and does that influence the composition? Round and round I go, in a sort of mental gymnastics, as I try to find the “ahh-haa” moment. This is what I really enjoy when I have my camera with me.
Would I get the same joy and satisfaction with a digital camera? I don’t think so. I have not used any of the digital medium or large format cameras with a digital back, and besides, these cameras are way outside my budget to consider.
Camera cost raises another plus for film cameras. There is a huge range: small ones, big ones, all sorts of formats, newish ones and very old ones. From “free to a good home” to some you wouldn’t want your other half to know about. So, if you are afflicted with the GAS syndrome, film may be your answer.
Why film?
How do I make my pictures? Even before I get the camera out, I ask, ‘Is the scene worth it, can I make it count? Can I find a composition that works, will it say what I want it to, or express how I feel? This usually gets me thinking about how I am going to print the image as well; this can and often does influence how I work with the camera.
If I have my MF camera with me, then I have a viewfinder I can use to help. When I am using my 4x5 camera, which doesn’t have a viewfinder, I use an old Linhof viewfinder on a lanyard (that I picked up on eBay) to compose the scene, help work out where to put the tripod and which lens to use. Setting up the 4x5 takes time, so I’ll only get the camera out when I think I have something worthy. If I am travelling light(er) then I will likely have one of my pinhole cameras with me. These are literally wooden boxes, and I have drawn a couple of sight lines on the box from the corners to where the pinhole is to help frame the scene.
Kotukutuku fuchsia- Platinum over silver leaf
To work out my exposures I have an old Minolta spot meter and I use the same zone system to calculate my exposures that Ansell Adams used back in the day. I make notes in a small notebook on the exposure settings and development i.e N- or N+ etc. You could say my notes are the equivalent of a digital EXIF data.
I use B&W film most of the time, and develop at home using daylight tanks. I use Kodak HC110 to develop as it keeps for a very long time. I might mix up the compensating developer D-23, if the scene had a large dynamic range, to help manage the contrast. I can get better results this way, rather than N-2 or -3. I have just received some 510 Pyro as well. I have yet to open and use it and I’m saving it for the holidays. This is a brandnew film developer that has generated a fair bit of hype.
It’s good to see that someone else can see a big enough market in film to launch a new developer. Speaking of new stuff, Ilford brought out a new darkroom paper earlier this year; so much for saying film is dead!
If I am going to print from the film negative, I have a couple of enlargers that go from 6x6 all the way up to 10x10 inches, although I work mostly with the Alternative printing processes. These are contact printing processes and require a negative the same size as the final print. To do this I digitise my film
for enlarging in Photoshop before printing digital negatives up to 16x20 inches. My workflow is something of an analogue and digital hybrid one; I like to think of it as yesterday's magic with today’s wizardry.
To digitise my film, I use my Nikon D800e with a 90mm macro lens on an inverted tripod. The film is held in a Negative Supply film holder on a good-quality light tablet. I usually take two or three shots per frame, depending on the negative size, and stitch in Lightroom. In PS I invert and adjust contrast and tones to suit. To print my digital negatives onto a transparency I use a converted Epson printer that uses up to seven shades of black Piezography ink and the QTR RIP. This printer setup allows me to make very accurate calibrations for the different printing processes I use. It’s very similar to making and using icc profiles that you would use when inkjet printing.
Monowai - Carbon transfer
Working with a film camera, developing, scanning, printing digital negatives and making prints using lightsensitive emulsions that I have made and coated papers with, is what photography is all about to me. It is hard to describe, but it really is the “making” part that excites me. It’s what gets me out of bed and what keeps me awake at night. The problem-solving, the hands-on and the sense of achievement when it does all come together, keep me going back for more.
If you like exploring, experimenting, and enjoy the creating part, then I think film and analogue printing processes win ̶ hands down. You have more permutations and combinations than several lifetimes can explore.
