Learn Film Photography
Guides to every part of shooting film, in the order you'll meet them: choosing and loading film, getting the exposure right, developing the roll, and making prints or scans from the negatives. Read them in sequence as a course, or go straight to the one you need.
Start with the beginner's guideFilm Basics
What film is, the formats it comes in, and how to choose and load it.
- Film Photography for Beginners A practical first guide to film photography: choosing a first camera and film, getting the exposure right, and getting your rolls developed and scanned.
- How Film Works How photographic film records light: silver halide crystals, the latent image, emulsion layers, the base, and what developer and fixer actually do.
- Film Formats Explained The film formats in use today, from half-frame and 35mm through 120 medium format (6x4.5, 6x6, 6x7) to 4x5 and 8x10 sheet film and instant film.
- Types of Film The difference between color negative (C-41), color reversal slide film (E-6), black and white, chromogenic, cinema (ECN-2) and infrared film.
- Film Speed and ISO What ISO means on a roll of film, how film speed relates to grain and stops of exposure, what box speed and EI are, and how DX coding works.
- How to Load Film Step-by-step loading for 35mm and 120 roll film cameras and large format sheet film holders, plus how to avoid fogging, slipped leaders and blank rolls.
Exposure and Metering
Getting the right amount of light onto the film, with or without a meter.
- Exposure: Aperture, Shutter and Stops How aperture, shutter speed and film speed combine into an exposure, what a stop is, f-number scales, reciprocal settings and exposure value (EV).
- Light Metering for Film How light meters work, the difference between reflected, incident and spot metering, why meters aim for middle gray, and how to meter tricky scenes on film.
- The Sunny 16 Rule How to use the Sunny 16 rule to expose film without a meter, with a table for overcast, shade and backlight, and how to adjust for other apertures.
- Exposure Latitude Why color negative film tolerates overexposure, why slide film does not, and how latitude, dynamic range and the characteristic curve shape your exposures.
- The Zone System Ansel Adams and Fred Archer's Zone System explained in practice: the zones, placing shadows, N+1 and N-1 development, and how to use it with roll and sheet film.
- Reciprocity Failure What reciprocity failure is, why long exposures on film need extra time, how to use manufacturer formulas and tables, and how color shifts in long exposures.
Cameras, Lenses and Filters
The kinds of film cameras, what to check when buying one, and how to control focus and tone.
- Types of Film Cameras How SLRs, rangefinders, twin-lens reflexes, point-and-shoots, medium format systems and large format view cameras differ, and which suits what kind of photography.
- Buying a Used Film Camera A checklist for buying a used film camera: shutter speeds, light seals, meters and batteries, lens haze, fungus and separation, and what CLA means.
- Depth of Field and Hyperfocal Distance What controls depth of field on film, how format changes it, how to read a lens depth-of-field scale, zone focusing, and how to set the hyperfocal distance.
- Large Format Movements How view camera movements work: rise and fall, shift, tilt and swing, the Scheimpflug principle, image circle, and bellows extension exposure factor.
- Filters for Black and White Film How color filters change tones on black and white film, which filter darkens skies or lightens foliage, and the filter factors to add to your exposure.
Developing Film
Black and white, C-41 color and E-6 slide processing at home.
- Developing Black and White Film at Home A complete beginner's guide to developing black and white film at home: equipment, loading a reel in a changing bag, developer, stop bath, fixer, washing and drying.
- Black and White Developers How black and white developers differ: fine-grain, acutance and staining developers, stock and one-shot dilutions, and how to choose one for your film.
- Push and Pull Processing What pushing and pulling film means, how much extra or less development to give, what it does to contrast and grain, and how to tell your lab.
- Stand Development How stand and semi-stand development work with highly dilute developers like Rodinal 1:100, what compensating development does, and how to avoid bromide drag.
- C-41 Color Developing at Home Developing color negative film at home with a C-41 kit: temperature control at 100°F, developer, blix, stabilizer, chemical life and common mistakes.
- E-6 Slide Film Processing How the E-6 process turns slide film into positive transparencies: first developer, reversal, color developer, bleach and fix, and why E-6 is so temperature sensitive.
The Darkroom
Setting up a darkroom and making prints by hand, from contact sheets to alternative processes.
- Setting Up a Home Darkroom What you need for a home darkroom: light-tightness, safelights, an enlarger and lens, trays, wet and dry sides, ventilation, and a temporary bathroom darkroom.
- Darkroom Printing Basics Making silver gelatin prints in a darkroom: contact sheets, focusing the enlarger, test strips, paper development, fixing, washing, and RC versus fiber paper.
- Variable Contrast Paper How variable contrast paper works, what multigrade filter grades 00 to 5 do, split-grade printing, and how graded paper compares.
- Dodging and Burning How to dodge and burn a darkroom print: making tools, timing, keeping them moving, burning in skies, flashing, and writing a print map.
- Alternative Processes An introduction to alternative photographic processes: cyanotype, salt prints, Van Dyke brown, platinum and palladium, lith printing and wet plate collodion.
Scanning, Storage and Troubleshooting
Getting negatives into a computer, keeping film and negatives safe, and diagnosing what went wrong.
- How to Scan Film Ways to digitize negatives and slides: flatbed and dedicated film scanners, camera scanning with a macro lens, inverting color negatives, resolution and dust removal.
- Film Grain What film grain is, why fast film and pushing make it larger, how developer, exposure, format and scanning change how grain looks, and grain aliasing.
- Shooting Expired Film How to shoot expired film: the one-stop-per-decade rule, how storage changes everything, base fog, color shifts, and developing old black and white film.
- Storing Film and Negatives How to store unexposed film in the fridge or freezer, archive negatives and slides in sleeves, and get film through airport X-ray and CT scanners.
- Common Film Problems How to diagnose common film photography problems from the negative: blank rolls, thin or dense negatives, light leaks, fog, scratches, uneven development and more.
Film Photography Glossary
139 terms defined in plain language, from 120 film and acutance to the Zone System, each linked to the guide that explains it in full.
Browse the glossary