Film photography: it's all the rage, but it's expensive. It's tricky, and it's slow. So today,
I'm going to show you how you can get 90% of the benefits just from this.
And today's video is sponsored by Squarespace. If you need a domain name,
a website, or an online store, make your next move with Squarespace.
Now, the first 30% is the restrictions brought on by shooting a roll of film. Twenty-five years ago,
I went to America, visiting Death Valley and Yosemite National Park. I wanted to capture it,
photograph some landscapes. We stopped at this little rest stop,
and I picked up this incredible camera, shoots panoramic wide photographs,
but it only had 24 frames. I spent nearly all my money on it as a 16-year-old. I knew I had
to be very careful about every frame I captured because I didn't want to waste any. Doing things
that forced me to be creative and careful is where I first fell in love with landscape photography.
So today, I'm restricting myself to 24 frames with a digital camera. On a normal shoot, I'd probably
only take three or four landscape photographs. But in the process, I'd shoot about 100
frames. Today, I've got 24, which I have to admit, I'm a little bit nervous about. I'm still going to
use autofocus. Oh no, the autofocus wasn't on, so I've just wasted one, two, three frames. I used
to shoot film; I usually always wasted the first two or three just to be sure the film was in the
camera. I'm glad we don't have to deal with that anymore. But I'm going to do everything handheld
today, and I'm going to take my first image here of this tree. Just a nice shot to get me going.
Right, I've just got down to this lake, and there's a swan just down here. So I'm going
to take this opportunity because it's really exciting with the handheld. Yeah,
just try and capture it. It's got its head in the water now, framed by these trees. I need
to be careful to get the exposure right. Try that. I'm zoomed in as far as I can go. I've
shot one frame off. I might let's go down to f2.8. There we go, try again, wait for it to
pop up. My wildlife photography is probably not my forte, but I just want him to pop his head
out of the water. Anytime now. There, try that. Oh no, how many frames is that? Three frames. I
really think this is going to be a nice image, but it's difficult. This is where a bit of fear,
uncertainty, and doubt creep in because the next 30%, taking us up to 60% of film photography,
is that we don't have any of the fancy features we've become accustomed to on our digital camera.
The screen is completely off. If you can see that, I'm just going to be using the little
screen there, the little screen that a film camera might have that tells me the aperture, the shutter
speed, and the ISO, which I've fixed at 400, as if it was a 400 ISO film. I'm not adjusting that. So,
I've only got my shutter speed and my aperture to adjust to get the proper exposure. I don't
have a light meter with me, so I'm relying on the little inbuilt meter that the camera has,
just with the readout on this screen. I then can't review the image. I've
turned the screen off completely. So when I take a photograph, it's not popping up,
and I've just got to wait till I get back to see if I've managed to capture anything. I'm going
to try and get a little bit closer though. I'm just going to rest against this tree.
Oh, it's looking beautiful now. I think I need to underexpose it a little bit,
actually, because it's got bright white. Now he's going away behind the trees. Let's creep
around here. Now he keeps moving. I need to go over here now as it's swimming away. Oh,
it's quite nice with the background actually as well. There we go. Can you see? Let me move
this around a bit. There he is, just serenely swimming away in and out of the water. I got
some of the trees in the background as well. I think that's going to look really nice. I just
hope I've exposed it properly. Lovely moment though, and the fact I'm not rapid-firing away
like many wildlife photographers would do is quite enjoyable. It's on my skill,
and I've got no one else to blame if I've mucked it up other than myself.
So with film photography, obviously, you could put in another roll of film. But I
think as digital photographers, we've become accustomed to there not being an ongoing
physical cost for resources such as film. Yeah, I want to stick to 24 frames today,
which is starting to become a problem because back there, oh, this mud is a problem as well. It's so
muddy. I'm getting stuck in it. Back there, I took a couple more images, sort of abstract things,
and then I got another chance with the swan. I'm certain that I underexposed another of
those shots. But now, I'm faced with these reeds here and these trees under the water,
which I think looks really nice, but I'm not convinced I can get a good image of
it. How many frames I've got left? Another 10 maybe, maybe 11. And I don't think I want to
waste one on this scene here, and there's a bit of blue sky starting to appear. So,
I want to get up the hill there for sunset with enough frames to do something with that. Oh man,
should I take it? I mean, it's not a great shot, but it could be the reflections in the water are
interesting. Just make sure I've got the exposure right. All right, I'm going to do it. I think
it's quite interesting. Going to underexpose, make sure I've got my highlights protected and
fire away. That pressure of making use of every single frame really does make you think hard.
Right, we've emerged out onto the top, and there's some lovely color in the sky now. I think it's
going to be a really beautiful sunset. I'll tell you about the remaining 30% and the missing 10%
in just a second. But as you know, this video is sponsored by Squarespace. In my opinion,
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about Squarespace is it will grow with you. So, you can start with a very simple online gallery,
and your images are going to look big, bold, and beautiful—way nicer than anything that
social media can do. You control how they look, you control how they are presented,
and I think that is a beautiful thing. You can then, if you want, upgrade to an online store,
and that's just as easy to do. I've been putting some new stuff for sale recently,
and it's an absolute breeze. It doesn't take long, and yeah, you can make a bit of money from your
photography. The other thing is you don't need any technical knowledge. Squarespace does it all for
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there, so then we all win, and you'll get 10% off your first purchase. Right, if I just spin around
this way, look at the light over there, and I have to get my camera out sharpish to capture that.
Oh yes, I think that sky over there is just looking phenomenal. And I've just gotten to
review the image to get excited about it, and I can't. In a way, it's transformational. It's
almost allowing me to connect better with the things I'm photographing. But that remaining
10% is simply the medium with which we capture our photographs. With a digital camera, it's
obviously on the sensor, on a film camera, it's on the film itself. That's the only difference,
and that doesn't matter, I don't think. The medium with which we capture the light matters,
and that's especially the case with nearly all film photographers who scan and digitize
their pictures anyway. I don't think the way we post-process makes any difference,
whether it's the darkroom or Lightroom. I don't think it matters. What does matter is printing.
We'll talk about that a bit more in a second. I've got about five frames left. I'm going to
have another little go with this here. It's just looking fantastic. I'm going to frame it with a
few of these trees. I'm really not sure about the exposure. Oh, it just looks lovely because
I want to capture all the detail of that sky. Yeah, that's just looking fantastic.
It's pretty bloomin' dangerous where I'm stood here on the edge. I'm going to underexpose a bit
so I get the sky. Oh my God, it's so windy. Feels very dodgy. I'm going to focus on that cliff,
some color in this sky, and capture it. Oh, luckily the wind is blowing back onto the cliff,
but it's gusting around, and it doesn't feel safe at all. So, let's go and talk about that
final 30% of printing. Now, when I think back to my film photography days, the thing that
stands out the most, the thing that was the most enjoyable about it, was when you eventually got
those prints in hand. And it can also be done with digital photography. It's why I'm pushing
printing so often because when your image comes off the printer and you get it in hand,
you feel that physical, tangible thing. You've brought photography back into the real world. It's
just so special, and I think probably that's more than 30%. It's one of the most important things
in fine art or creative photography, is printing your images. I really don't think whether it's
captured on film or a sensor really matters. It's what we do at the end of the process,
how we eventually consume the photography. And if you use the C-type print where the process is
exposing your photograph onto photosensitive paper and then putting it through chemicals,
which I did with this print here, I think that's far more meaningful than starting with
film and finishing on a screen. So, yeah, if you are considering buying a printer,
click on this comparison video here that may help you out. Or if you want to be inspired to try
printing and be entertained at the same time, you can watch me drag this beast up a hill just here.
Think you'll enjoy those videos. I had a great day. I'll see you again very, very soon. Bye.