1/29/2024 0 Comments Digital camera retro lookBut then you have to get the roll processed into negatives, and those negatives need to be scanned into actual photos you can use. $10 for 36 exposures that I can’t even view right after I take them (Yeah, yeah, there are cheaper film stocks). A roll of 36 exposures of Portra 400 is like $10. Then there’s buying film rolls, which are pretty expensive. This is because shooting film is inconvenient for most people like my dad. He has no intention of shooting on film ever again because he has everything he needs to take a photo in the palms of his hands. My dad shot on film as a teenager in the 80s (he was probably even using a Canon AE-1 or A-1 himself). We live in a time where taking photos is more convenient than ever. If you shoot on film, you probably understand how much more difficult shooting on this format is than digital. And a lot of people who don’t shoot on film still feel the same way. But even though I can actually get the film look with film, I still want it replicated in digital. So here’s the elephant in the room: if I or other people want the film look, why not shoot on film? Most people want to just skip the whole “using an actual film camera as a reference point.” They just straight-up want to shoot on nothing but digital and still get a “Film Look.” I’m a person who shoots both formats and then uses the photos I take on film to better the process of replicating them on digital. But let’s put this point aside and see why a lot of growing photographers and influencers still want the look.īecause I’m a weird case. I won’t make every digital photo a perfect replication of a film stock, but if I could get just the feel of film in one way or another, I’ll take it for the bulk of my work. So in this regard, I’m forced to replicate the feeling of my film photos onto my digital ones so that I have consistency. So regardless of the format I choose to shoot in, film or digital, I want all my photos to still have the same feel. I also want this “film look” to be a staple in my style. And believe me I won’t stop until I get there no matter who criticizes me for it I now see it as something of a challenge. I want people to see my digital work but still have the emotions associated with viewing film.Īnd despite replicating film being a difficult and very nuanced process, I want what I can’t have. There is something about film that doesn’t get old the way digital does. I want the feeling that it gives people - a feeling of vintage-ness, a feeling of timelessness. How the colors are rendered, how highlights roll off, the film grain. There’s something special baked into film photos. It has its own vibe, heartbeat, and soul. Every photographer I have read about and have seen in museums and galleries shot on film. So if I shoot on digital, why would I ever want to make my photos look like film anyways? Shouldn’t I just embrace a “digital look” for a digital photo? What’s the point? They are two different formats anyways, and maybe they deserve to be separate.īut there’s something about a film photo. So why do I want my photos to look like film? By nature, that’s impossible, but it sure hasn’t stopped me from trying. There’s also a plethora of different stocks to choose from, so is there really even a real “Film Look” people can identify with?īut the main problem is that film is analog after all, and I’m trying to force a digital format to be a copy of it. I might be able to fool some people about the true medium I took a photo, but I’ll never get it right each and every time. I research other photos people have taken on film. The sheer truth is that I’ll never be able to replicate film on digital perfectly. But every time I think I got it just right, I look at the photos later and say to myself, “I’m still not quite there yet.” Really, what I mean by this is replicating vintage film by observing the traits and characteristics of stocks like Portra 400, Kodak Gold 200, and Ektar 100. Trying to replicate the “Film Look” has been something of a secondary photography goal for me during my four year career. I’ve been obsessed with making a digital photo look like film for the longest time.
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