5 Lessons I Learned from Shooting Film (that I will use in my digital photography) – Cleveland Family Photographer
I just received my first roll of film back, it was a process of trial and error for sure. And while my thoughts are fresh I wanted to share these 5 lessons I learned that I will utilize in my photography journey:
- Slow down, you don’t need those 1000 images of the same thing. Wait for the perfect moment before you hit the shutter. It will make your job so much easier later.
2. Manual focus is easier than you think. It is worth it to switch to manual, or at least to use focus ring for the fine adjustments. There are challenging focusing situation and sometimes it is nice not to rely on your camera to get it perfectly.
3. Shooting “wide” is pretty and all, but close that aperture a tad. It’ll be worth it. I am a sucker for a nice creamy bokeh, but this would have been a great picture, if the dog wasn’t a black blob (and the kid wasn’t all blurry).
4. You can get a good picture without any editing. Remember the times before PS and Lightroom? Neither do I. But imagine it is that time and try to get a great shot straight our of the camera. It is a nice exercise to boost your photography skill.
5. And, to double down on the previous point: the original colors matter. Choose the subject, styling, and environment to all go well together, that will save you tons of time on editing. I love the muted, vintage-y look the film gives, but it’s even better when the colors are thought through to begin with.
Have you tried shooting on film? What lessons have you learned?
I’d love to take a couple of complimentary pictures of you on film, if you book a photoshoot with me here -> BOOK.