Just like vinyl records, traditional film photography is making a comeback in our digital age. The traditional film camera on the verge of extinction in the 2000s when digital cameras were easy and to use and readily available. Traditional film photography has never gone away for some photographers who believe the realism and artistic thought process of film is more important than the ease of digital cameras. Dan Doyle Pleasantville photographer believes there are several advantages in using film instead of digital cameras.
1. Your Costs are Significantly Lower
For Dan Doyle, the cost of film photography is cheaper on the front end. Digital cameras have a higher initial cost because of the technology included and the accessories needed. To begin working with digital cameras, a photographer needs the camera, lenses, rechargeable batteries, and memory cards. In contrast, a traditional film camera needs only the camera body, lenses, and film. The low cost of film photography was one of the reasons why this became the most important journalistic medium of the 19th and 20th-centuries. Low startup costs make it easy for anybody to pick up a film camera and become a photographer.
2. A High Dynamic Range
Masterclass reports photographers working in film and digital often comment on the improved high dynamic range of film. A digital camera does not show the contrast between different colors as well as a traditional film image. In particular, Dan Doyle Pleasantville photographer points to the contrast between black and white, with monochrome images having a distinct advantage when captured on film.
3. No Need to Plugin
A traditional film camera does not require electricity to work correctly. Batteries and recharging the SLR body are not needed because of the manual operation of a film camera. The digital age of photography is defined by digital cameras struggling to cope with long trips and cold weather. A photographer has the chance to look inside a film camera and explore its inner workings. Understanding how a film camera works adds to the mystique of using this kind of camera.
4. Taking Care With Film
The Darkroom reports film can make a photographer think more about the images they want to capture. In the era of digital and Smartphone cameras, photographers tend to snap images without considering proper framing and composition. A photographer working in film is challenging themselves consistently to capture the image correctly with one or two exposures. Film cameras have a limited number of exposures on every roll of film, which Dan Doyle believes improves the standard of the images captured. Photographers working with the traditional film need to consider every shot before capturing them to make sure they do not waste the 24 or 36 images captured on every roll of film.
5. Understanding Light and Color
Unlike digital images, a roll of film manufactured by one company will differ from that made by another manufacturer. Each brand of the film carries a specific makeup of chemicals that change the final product. When a photographer works with film for a prolonged period of time, they will discover the different types of film to use for specific purposes. Different film sticks are favorites of photographers because they can add contrast and definition compared to digitally produced images.
6. Enter the Dark Room
In the digital age, we have become accustomed to cropping and editing images to suit our needs. The development of film stock is more difficult to achieve and requires training to achieve perfection. Developing images from film stock gives you a sense of pride and requires some skill to complete correctly. Entering the darkroom and working to manipulate an image is a hands-on, satisfying way of producing images that meet your needs. The darkroom is filled with the chemicals needed to produce photographs, and mastering the production of images is a fun process to undertake.
7. You Never Know What you Have Captured
In the 2020s, we have become accustomed to seeing the results of our photography work appear instantly on the screen of a digital camera. Traditional film cameras do not provide you with the same sense of gratification. Instead, you will find yourself waiting for your images to be developed to see what you captured. The use of traditional film stock is vital to your success as a photographer, with every image needing to be planned. Among the issues that can change your photography work are double exposures, light leaks, and soft focus.
8. Images you can Hold
Among the reasons why film stock photography is popular is the need to develop images physically. Digital photography allows us the chance to store almost unlimited images on a memory card, with film stock creating photographs that can be held by photographer and subject.
Dan Doyle Pleasantville photographer believes the use of traditional film stock will continue to be popular because it will never become technologically obsolete. Advances in digital photography will continue to be made, with photographers holding onto the manual manipulation of film stock photography.
