MY APPROACH TO

COLOUR 35MM FILM

PHOTOGRAPHY
MAYA BEANO

JULY 2018

© 2018 MAYA BEANO ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

THIS GUIDE IS FOR PERSONAL, NON-COMMERCIAL

USE ONLY. PLEASE DO NOT COPY OR DISTRIBUTE
WITHOUT PERMISSION.
CONTENTS
Preface…………………………….………………Page 3

How I Got into Photography……………….Pages 4-6

Why Film?……………………………………..Pages 7-8

Frequently Asked Questions……………..Pages 9-11

My Opinion on Post-Processing………..Pages 12-13

Cameras and Lenses………….………..…Pages 14-19

Cameras - Summary…………..………………..Page 20

Film…………………………………………..Pages 21-33
Film - Summary…………………………………Page 34

Multiple Exposures……………………….Pages 35-36

How Does Film Work?……………………Pages 37-41

Developing and Scanning……………………Page 42

 PREFACE
Welcome to my brief, informal guide to colour 35mm film photography. My initial idea was for this to be a simple home for all the questions that I
receive about film photography, but after much deliberation, I decided to turn it into a story-like account of my ‘photography journey’. This will flow
better, and I will be able to put things into context while answering the questions.

In this guide, I’ll first describe how I got into photography. I’ll then talk about what film photography means to me and why it is my medium of
preference. I’ll then answer frequently asked questions and offer my opinion on post-processing. Next, I will give an overview of the cameras and
lenses that I use before moving on to describe my experiences with various film types. A couple of pages on multiple exposures will then follow. If
you’re interested in the science behind film, there is a section on this towards the end of the booklet. Some comments on developing and scanning
will also be included. You can skip to any of these sections at any time.

This little booklet is here to offer you some ideas about the cameras and film available to you as opposed to offering you step-wise instructions to
photography. It is aimed at people who already have some experience in photography (film or digital or both). If you are new to film, I hope I can give
you an insight into what makes it such a beautiful medium. I will introduce some of my favourite photography tools, but the things that are more
important than these tools are your vision and your creativity.

- Maya

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 HOW I GOT INTO PHOTOGRAPHY
I first started shooting 35mm film in 2014. Well, I first started in 1995, but I don’t think my
days of taking wonky photos count. I was only four years old in 1995, but I was desperate
to use my mother’s camera. Growing up in the 90’s, I just about managed to catch a time
when film cameras were most people’s only option. Digital cameras had already been
invented, but they weren’t readily available in the 90’s, and I certainly hadn’t heard of them.
I still remember the day my father bought a Sony digital camera in 2003. It was the first
time I’d ever seen one. My whole family was mesmerised by the phenomenal resolution
that it boasted… 2 megapixels. It was like we’d found treasure!

As a kid, I was very interested in documenting the world around me. I never managed to
keep a written diary, but I had quite a few photo albums lying around the house of photos
I’d taken with my mum’s film camera. That’s as far as it went. My interest in photography did
not grow very much in my teenage years, as I went to a very science-focused secondary
school. I’m not complaining - it was a great school if you loved science, which I did. I come
from a family of engineers, and I grew up thinking I’d become one too.

In the years 2000-2009, I did no photography whatsoever. In the years 2010-2018, I did a
lot of photography. If I count my childhood years 1995-2000, then I have been taking
photos for about 15 years now. That’s more than half of my life, but realistically, it wasn’t
until a few years ago that I started taking photography seriously.

My little brother on his toy horse, 1995

4
 HOW I GOT INTO PHOTOGRAPHY
A lot of my photos from the 90’s seem to feature my brothers and
their childhood toys…

My brother playing with his dominoes in my room, 1998

5
 HOW I GOT INTO PHOTOGRAPHY
In 2009, I finished school and moved to Cambridge, where I studied Natural
Sciences and did a master’s in Chemistry. I didn’t end up becoming an engineer
after all.

It was at university that I rekindled my long-forgotten passion for photography. In

the summer of 2010, I bought a digital SLR camera, a Canon 450D. I used this
exhaustively for event, music and theatre photography to earn some pocket money.
I had some pretty good times doing that, but event photography wasn’t really for
me. I was more excited about photographing my family, my friends, landscapes and
nature because those were the kinds of photos I enjoyed looking at most. At some
point along the way, I upgraded to a Canon 550D. I’d probably say that 2012 was
the year I realised that I wanted photography to be a much bigger part of my life.
Taking photos gave me so much peace - it was my way of being grateful for all the
beauty I came across in life. I wanted to preserve as much of it as I could.

After I finished my master’s degree in Chemistry in 2013, I was at a crossroads. I had

a place on a very challenging fully-funded PhD programme in Cambridge, but I
knew very well that if I went for it, I’d have absolutely no time for photography. It was
in one of the top academic research labs in Organic Chemistry in the world (which
also happened to be the same lab in which I did my master’s), so I ended up going
for it, only to discover very quickly that a PhD was not for me. A few months into it, I
quit. Digital long exposure of the River Cam, 2013

It was a difficult decision at the time, as I still loved Chemistry very much, but there
were so many things I wanted to do in the world. Spending the rest of my twenties at university, as I came to discover, was not one of them. I started
shooting 35mm film almost immediately after I left my PhD, and I also settled into a new science research job in Cambridge. It was a challenging
position, but unlike the PhD, it provided the work/life balance that I was after. I had time to do science, photography and many of the things I love in
life. I now still work as a full-time research scientist alongside taking photos.

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 WHY FILM?
So how exactly did I start shooting film? Well, my digital camera, the Canon 550D, wasn’t working very well. It kept getting stuck in-between shots for
some reason. I was growing quite frustrated with it, and as a temporary solution, I grabbed my mum’s Canon film camera from the 90’s. I remember
taking all 36 exposures in one sitting. When I got the film developed at a local store, I was absolutely enamoured with the results. The colours of my
friend’s room were transformed into soft pastels, shadow areas were pleasantly textured and the whole thing just felt very natural to me. Best of all, the
negatives were lying in my hands, tangible, real, everlasting… this was a beautiful experience after having lost so many of my treasured digital photos
to hard disk failure, which was my fault because I forgot to back them up properly.

From that day onwards, I wanted to know how film worked, I

wanted to try out different types of film and I wanted to
physically hold the scenes I was photographing. I found
learning about film chemistry very interesting (silver chemistry -
I will talk a bit more about it later on).

I now feel compelled to say that I still like digital photography.

I scan in my film negatives digitally, and I also edit them
digitally, so you probably won’t see me going around saying
#shootfilmnotmegapixels. This is something I often get asked.
A lot of people assume that if someone shoots film these days,
they must be doing it because they reject the norm that is
digital photography. I don’t reject digital photography - I just
prefer the feel of film. Ultimately, the most important thing for
me is the emotional response that a certain photo evokes. If I
see a photo I really like, I care very little if it’s digital or film. I
eventually got my Canon 550D repaired, and I use it from time
to time.

Friends on film, 2014

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 WHY FILM?
To elaborate on the previous point… Sometimes I receive questions along the lines of, “Isn’t digital photography so much better? Film is for hipsters.”

I really enjoy film photography and think it's a great skill to have. I have huge admiration for creative people who can master several skills and use them
in an interdisciplinary way. The more the merrier.

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 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1. Which cameras, lenses and film do you use?

This is covered on pages 14-34.

2. How do you take multiple exposures?

This is covered on pages 35-36.

3. I am looking for artwork for my music album/book cover/music channel and your photos fit perfectly. This is a commercial venture which I
am making money from. Can I use your photos for free though? I will give you exposure and publicity in return.

No. I license my images for commercial use for a fee.

4. I am a student of photography looking for opportunities to shadow a professional photographer. Could I please shadow you when you’re
taking photos?

As photography is not my full-time job, and I am not a professional photographer in that respect, I don’t mentor photography students. I actually
wouldn’t have any time for it. I have a full-time job outside of photography, and I only really take photos at the weekends or when I go on holiday.

5. I am considering doing a course/degree in photography because I want to become a professional photographer. Do you think I should do
a photography degree at university? Which course would you recommend?

I’m not a photographer by training or by profession, such that I have never studied photography or attended any courses in photography. I am fully
self-taught, so I am not able to give any advice on photography courses unfortunately.

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 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
6. Can you teach me how to edit my photos? Do you sell presets?

I don’t have set rules I use to edit my photos. I treat every photo differently, and I therefore don’t have presets to sell. I have shared my opinion on post-
processing on pages 12-13, but I don’t have the time to teach photo editing unfortunately. If you’d like to learn how to use photo editing software,
there are plenty of free tutorials on the internet, which is how I learnt. I would recommend the open-source software called GIMP as a starting point.

7. How do you juggle your life as a scientist and your life as a photographer? How do you find the time for both?

As a I mentioned above, I don’t take photos everyday or every week even. I actually take a lot of downtime to focus on my other responsibilities and
interests in life. My creative energy comes in bursts. Sometimes weeks will go by without me picking up my camera, and sometimes I’ll take 100 photos
in the space of three days. Whatever I do in life, I always factor in downtime and welcome it.

8. How did you develop your style of photography over time?

I don’t feel like I consciously developed a style in photography. I take photos of the things that inspire me. Most of the time these happen to be
landscapes. Sometimes I plan things in my head a bit when I get an idea for a photo, and other times I just live in the moment and take a photo of
whatever captures my attention.

9. Where do you buy your film from?

Mostly online. There aren’t many places in Cambridge to buy film. When I’m in London, I buy film from the Photographers’ Gallery just off Oxford
Street. They have a huge selection.

10. Do you develop your own film? If so, do you use any special darkroom techniques?

I rarely develop my own film nowadays - I get it developed professionally. When I developed my own film using C-41 chemistry in the past, I just
followed the standard process. More on how film works, developing and scanning on pages 37-42.

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 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
11. How do you shoot in dim light on film?

Rather than using high ISO film, I use low ISO film combined with low shutter speeds. This way, I avoid high grain levels. I have trained my hands to stay
very still at shutter speeds as low as about 1/15 sec. Anything lower than that, I rest the camera against whatever’s available or use a tripod.

12. Where do you store your film? Do you keep it in the fridge?

I used to be proud about not needing to store my film in the fridge, but the UK has seen some crazy heatwaves in the past couple of years that I am
proud no more. A few rolls I shot were affected by this in a not-so-pleasant way. I now store all my film in the fridge to protect it from heat damage.

13. How do you protect your camera equipment from the cold?

When your cameras and lenses are exposed to cold temperatures, say -10 to -30° C, you have to be careful when you go back indoors to a warm place
because the warm air in the room will start condensing on the cold surfaces of your equipment. This air can also condense inside of your cameras/
lenses, leaving them wet on the inside. A way to overcome this is to use silica gel pouches in your camera bags so that they absorb the moisture out of
the air. Also, leave your cameras and lenses in your bag, and leave the bag closed for an hour or so after you go back indoors so that the warm air
doesn’t get to your equipment. Another thing to bear in mind is that batteries will work a lot slower in cold temperatures. If your battery stops working,
it’s probably not because it has been drained, it’s because it’s cold. The chemical reactions that make the battery work slow down in cold temperatures.
Warm it up by keeping it in pockets close to your body.

14. Have you ever thought about shooting black and white?

Colour is such an integral part of my work. I don’t think I’d enjoy black and white as much.

15. Do you cross-process your film?

No. I get my film processed using the chemistry intended for it (this is always either C-41 chemistry or E-6 chemistry depending on film type).

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 MY OPINION ON POST-PROCESSING
Should photos be edited at all or remain raw? Should photography accurately portray reality?

Post-processing refers to image editing in photography and is a huge topic of debate in the photography world. Many people use it to enhance the
quality of their photos and impart their own unique character to the photos, while others see image editing as a big no-no and claim that it is ‘cheating’.
I happen to fall into the former category. I edit my film photos digitally.

I really enjoy image editing and I use it to take my work beyond what my eye sees and what my camera produces. In short, I use image editing to
produce what my mind sees. Now some people say that this is a form of art and not photography. I’m totally happy with that label, although I don’t
really understand that kind of reasoning. Image editing has always been a part of the photographic process, from darkroom editing techniques to
digital editing software. I see myself as a visual artist who relies on photography to create my work.

I do think there are certain circumstances when photo editing is unacceptable. For example, if you are a photojournalist, your responsibility is to
portray a scene as it happened. You might edit the contrast and the brightness a bit, but you should be very careful about maintaining the integrity of
the photo and its message. If you’re an event photographer, the guests may not be pleased if you end up altering the whole mood of the event in the
photos. If you are a fashion photographer, I would hope you are not digitally altering your models’ body proportions.

For the most part, when people are using photography as a form of art to show us the world through their eyes, post-processing can be an invaluable
tool.

While I am a fan of post-processing, I always try to start with the best image possible out-of-camera. Things like composition and exposure are very
important, and I always pay attention to these when I’m taking a photo. I sometimes also use physical filters on my lenses to steer the mood of the
scene in a certain direction (ND filters, coloured filters and circular polarisers). I think it’s important to know your cameras inside out before you can
start getting creative with them. Thankfully, you can find the official manuals of most cameras online.

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 MY OPINION ON POST-PROCESSING
There are different levels of image editing…

There are various levels of digital editing, and here’s what they look like in my head:

1) Basic editing: This includes things like cropping, rotating, editing the contrast, the brightness, the shadows, the highlights or slight edits to the
colours to ‘bring them out’. Editing out minor distractions such as dust or scratches in the photo I would also include here. The majority of what I do
editing-wise falls into this category. Examples of software for this level of editing: PhotoScape (free), Paint.NET (free), Adobe Lightroom (not
free)

2) Intermediate editing: This includes things like big changes in colour or temperature such that the mood of the scene is affected, adding gradients,
or removing unwanted parts of the photo like a lamp post or a tree sticking out in the middle. While I rarely use gradients, I do sometimes
manipulate the mood. Another thing I’d also include here is combining images I’ve taken with the exposure bracketing feature. Sometimes I will set
up my film camera on a tripod, take photos of the same scene at different exposures and finally combine them in post-processing to create a photo
with a higher dynamic range. Examples of software for this level of editing: GIMP (free), ON1 Effects (free), Adobe Photoshop (not free)

3) Advanced editing: This is when you ‘create a scene’ almost from scratch using hundreds of layers and a lot of computing power. Some artists
create collages and others create total fantasy lands with people floating in mid-air and the like. I am intrigued by this, but I don’t have that much
experience in it. I have experimented with collages in the past, but I’d probably never make the people in my photos fly. Examples of software for
this level of editing: Adobe Photoshop (not free)

You may not agree with the levels of editing I’ve presented above, but I’ve simply categorised them according to how much of my time they take. Post-
processing is a very subjective matter. It’s all about taste.

If you are new to post-processing and would like to start incorporating it into your work, I would recommend an open-source software called GIMP.
This is one of the most powerful free tools.

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 CAMERAS AND LENSES
1. Canon Prima Zoom Mini - The Point-and-Shoot Camera My
Childhood Photos Were Taken With
I previously mentioned my mother’s film camera from the 90’s. This was a Canon Prima Zoom
Mini, a very simple point-and-shoot released in 1992. It lay collecting dust for years in our
drawers, but when I started using it again in 2014, I was very impressed with the quality of the
photos it was taking. I took this camera with me to the Dead Sea in Jordan in December 2014
and shot what I consider my first ever full series of photos, which I ended up calling Surreal
Waters. Later in 2015, I took it to Cornwall in the UK, and the protective case I was using with it
ended up flying into the Atlantic Ocean. Less than a year later, the camera failed when I took
it to Arctic Sweden, and I couldn’t find anyone who knew how to repair it. Alas, this camera
had to be thrown out. I miss how simple it was to use. You just clicked, and it took a photo.

RIP Canon Prima Zoom Mini 1992-2016

From Surreal Waters, December 2014

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 CAMERAS AND LENSES
2. Canon AE-1 - My First Film SLR Camera
Just before the Canon Prima Zoom Mini failed, I had luckily found a Canon AE-1 on eBay. I spent
many weeks reading about the best film camera to buy as a beginner, and the Canon AE-1 came up
time and time again. I was grateful that I had taken this camera too to Arctic Sweden in January 2016,
otherwise I would have been left with no film cameras when the Canon Prima Zoom Mini failed. Unlike
the Prima Zoom Mini though, this camera has a shutter priority mode, which means you can adjust the
shutter speed and let the camera calculate the aperture for you to get the correct exposure. This
feature is called Automatic Exposure or AE, and it is electronically controlled. First released in 1976,
the Canon AE-1 was Canon’s first film SLR with a microprocessor in it.

This was the first film camera I

owned with interchangeable lenses, but the mount being an FD mount rather than
an EF mount meant that I couldn’t use the EF lenses I already owned from my digital
photography days. Therefore, I bought some FD lenses (on eBay again), a Canon
50mm f/1.4 and some wider angle lenses like the Canon 28mm f/2.8 and Canon
24mm f/2.8 for landscapes.

So what became of this camera? In 2017, I sold it on eBay, but only because I
upgraded to a Canon A-1 SLR and received a Leicaflex SL2 from my grandfather as a
gift. There was nothing wrong with this Canon AE-1. I just had limited space to store
all the new cameras I had acquired - not a bad problem to have.

From Polar Warmth, January 2016

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 CAMERAS AND LENSES
3. Canon A-1 - My Favourite SLR Camera
The Canon A-1 will always be one of my favourite SLRs. It came out in Japan in 1978, only a couple of
years after the AE-1. I bought it on eBay after discovering that it has an in-built multiple exposure
functionality. Before I got this, I was trying to take double exposures with the Canon AE-1, but this was
quite a fiddly and difficult process. I would not recommend it. If you’d like to experiment with double/
multiple exposures, try to buy a
camera that has that function built
in. It will make your life so much
easier.

Besides the multiple exposure

function, the Canon A-1 also uses FD lenses, so when I sold my Canon AE-1, I made
sure to keep the FD lenses I had bought.

The Canon A-1 has both aperture priority and shutter priority modes. If you’re not
confident with full manual control, you can set the shutter speed or the aperture,
and the camera will automatically calculate the other value for you so that your
photos come out with the right exposure. This camera also has a full automatic
mode which calculates both the shutter speed and the aperture for you should you
wish. This was all incredibly advanced technology for the time - so advanced that
the first sentence in the official Canon A-1 manual states, “Congratulations! You are
now the owner of the most exciting and advanced camera on the market.”

Earlier this year, I sadly sold this camera and upgraded to a Canon EOS 3 so that I would be able to use my Canon EF lenses with it - these were the
lenses I used with my Canon 550D. I didn’t want to waste such good lenses. Most recently, I bought another A-1 because I missed it too much. If I were
to recommend just one film camera, it would be the Canon A-1.

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 CAMERAS AND LENSES
4. Leicaflex SL2 - The Heavy One
Ahh, the Leicaflex SL2! I keep hearing mixed things about this camera - some think it might
be the best film SLR ever made, while others don’t see what the fuss is about. I fall into the
former category. This is a seriously sturdy piece of kit, and I wouldn’t expect any less from
Leica. It was released back in 1974 when the Leica company was known as Leitz (a story my
grandfather told me several times). This camera used to belong to my grandfather. He used
to collect film cameras, and he gave it to me about three weeks before his death. “If it
doesn’t take good pictures, it’s your fault” were the last words he ever said to me as I left his
house. They still echo in my head, and the whole thing feels very surreal to me.

Along with the

camera, I was the
lucky recipient of
four fixed focal
length Leica-R
lenses, all made in
Canada. The only
downside to the
SL2 camera is that it’s incredibly heavy to carry around, and the Leica-R lenses
that come with it are equally heavy - a sacrifice I have to make in exchange for
unrivalled build quality. I think twice before taking this camera on holiday
with me, as it gave me neckache when I took it to the US. I mostly save it for
special occasions now. If you are looking for a reasonably light camera to
carry around with you all over the place, I wouldn’t recommend something as
heavy as the Leicaflex SL2. I would recommend a lighter, smaller SLR like a
Canon AE-1 or A-1.
From My Grandfather’s Camera, October 2016

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 CAMERAS AND LENSES
5. Canon EOS 3 - The One That Looks Like a Digital Camera
This is the latest camera to join my collection. I found a brand new one on eBay. As I mentioned
previously, I bought this because I wanted to be able to use my EF lenses again. The Canon EOS 3,
released in Japan in 1998, is a relatively new camera in the film world. It is marketed for
‘professionals and advanced amateurs’, and if you are familiar with any Canon digital SLR, you will
have absolutely no problem learning how to use the Canon EOS 3. Having owned a 550D, I
probably spent about ten minutes familiarising myself with the functions of the EOS 3 (they are very
similar). It also looks like Canon’s digital SLRs and is both heavy and big. It’s easier to travel with the
Canon A-1 than with this.

The EF lenses I keep

referring to are the Canon
50mm f/1.8, Canon 28mm
f1.8 and Canon 24-70mm f/
4L. I can vouch that these
lenses in combination with
the EOS 3 give superb
quality - I shot my Polar
Warmth II series with these in
Arctic Norway earlier this
year. I got these photos
developed and scanned professionally such that I was able to do huge prints
of them (size A0 and even beyond). The EOS 3 has a 45-point autofocus system
which functions so swiftly I couldn’t find any faults with it. The autofocus in this
camera is faster than in any digital camera that I’ve ever used, and the results
are very sharp. Furthermore, the EOS 3 has an in-built multiple exposure
From Polar Warmth II, February 2018 function, something that I cannot do without these days.

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 CAMERAS AND LENSES
6. Olympus Trip 35 - The Pretty One
Honestly, I only bought this because I found it very pretty. I found it on eBay for not very much
money. It it completely solar-powered (observe the solar cells in the lens). This is a great
companion on trips, something I think you can deduce from the name (Trip…). It doesn’t need
batteries, it is very light and it is incredibly simple to use. This is my go-to camera when I’m
going away for just a couple of days and need to pack very lightly. This camera automatically
chooses a shutter speed of 1/40 or 1/200 depending on the scene. So, if it calculates that a
shutter speed slower than 1/40 is needed for a dim scene, it automatically prevents the shutter
from firing. Whereas I can take a slightly underexposed photo with my other cameras, I can’t
with this one. I can rarely get the shutter to fire after sunset.

Solar cells

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 CAMERAS - SUMMARY

Canon Prima Olympus Trip

Canon AE-1 Canon A-1 Leicaflex SL2 Canon EOS 3
Zoom Mini 35

• Point-and-shoot • Shutter priority • Shutter priority • Full manual • Shutter priority • Point-and-shoot
• No controls mode and aperture control and aperture • No controls
• For total • Full manual priority modes • For people who priority modes • For people who
beginners control also • Full manual like well-made, • Full manual like cute
possible control also heavy cameras control also cameras
• For beginners possible possible
• For everyone • For advanced
amateurs and
professionals

Conclusion:
• I’m happy using any camera really…

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 FILM
Where do I even start?
I feel like I could talk about film forever, but I’m going to stick to brief descriptions because even then, this section is going to be quite long.

Before I start… here are a couple of useful things:

1. Film formats
The format of a film is an indication of the size of the film. There are tens of film
formats, many of which have been long discontinued. The most popular film
formats today include 120 format (medium format) and 135 format (35mm).
All of the film that I’m going to be talking about is 35mm film (I have never
used 120 format, although I would like to in the future). There is also instant
film, which has recently seen a resurgence, but I don’t use it very much.

2. ISO number
Every film has a number associated with it known as the ISO speed. This is a
measure of how sensitive the film is to light. The higher the ISO speed, the
more sensitive the film is to light, and the easier you can shoot in dark
conditions e.g. evening or indoors. With that increased sensitivity to light
comes increased noise in the form of film grain, so you will notice that when
you shoot at ISO > 400, film grain starts becoming more noticeable. I
personally avoid shooting at ISO above 400 nowadays. I prefer the fine, soft
grain that you get with low ISO film. I personally have no rules about which Shot with Kodak Portra 160 at a shutter speed of 1/4 sec. I used a
ISO to use for different times of the day. For example, I often use ISO 160 film bench to help me stabilise the camera.
in the evening with my hand resting against something or with a tripod.

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 FILM
Kodak
• Kodak Portra 160 and 400: Kodak Portra is a professional line of
film that I use very frequently, especially Portra 160. What I love
about this film is its low contrast, which gives the photos a smooth
look overall. The gradation in the tones is very soft, such that there
are no harsh jumps from tone to tone. The colours are very natural
and creamy in texture with a touch of pastel. If you choose a scene
that is already quite gentle, the effect can be strikingly peaceful.
This film is very high up there on my list of favourites. It’s quite
expensive though.

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 FILM
Kodak
• Kodak Ektar 100: This film is a lot higher in contrast than Kodak Portra.
The colours are also quite saturated, but in a pleasant way. I use Kodak
Ektar when I want to highlight the vibrancy of a scene. Even though it is
high in contrast, it still gives relatively soft results because of its very fine
grain.

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 FILM
Fujifilm
• Fujifilm Superia 200 (now discontinued, they
advise Fujicolor C200 as a replacement): Fuji
Superia 200 was sold as ‘consumer level’ film. It
reproduces colour quite naturally with low
contrast. However, it seems to give a slight green
tint especially in the shadow regions, which I’m
not a fan of. I guess I could rectify the situation in
post-processing, but even then it still puts me off.
It doesn’t do it every time, but there certainly is a
tendency. Other than that, Superia 200 was
pretty good for the price.

• Fujifilm Superia X-Tra 400: Same issue as

before really, the shadows come out on the
green side, but otherwise a good film to practise
with as it’s relatively cheap.

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 FILM
Fujifilm
• Fujichrome Velvia 50 and 100: Fuji Velvia has a huge wow
factor for me. It exaggerates any mood you give it in a very
pleasant way. Both Velvia 50 and Velvia 100 are incredibly
saturated and smooth (velvety, you could say, and that is
where the name comes from). Because of the low ISO speeds
(50 and 100), these are meant to be used in bright daylight, Low light scene
but I actually use them in low light too (which means I have to on Velvia
use quite a low shutter speed to compensate for the film’s low
sensitivity to light). I absolutely adore Velvia and I hope it’s
never discontinued. One thing I would comment on is the
saturation - I often find I have to desaturate the photos a bit
when I edit them so that they don’t look totally unrealistic. Also,
this is an expensive film, but it’s easy to see why.

Daylight scene
on Velvia

25
 FILM
Lomography
This field of
• LomoChrome Purple: This used to be my one of my favourite
films. It is meant to mimic the effect of infrared film, causing all yellow flowers
sorts of colour shifts. With LomoChrome Purple, greens turn has turned pink
into purples, and yellows turn into pinks. Anything blue turns with
into a funky cyan. Now, I said this used to be one of my LomoChrome
favourite films because they recently changed the formula. I
Purple, shot at
don’t know if I’ve just been unlucky so far with the new formula,
but it comes out with a red/green cast instead of purple/cyan, ISO 100 (old
which is a shame because this film is expensive. It’s just not to formula).
my taste anymore. I’ve looked everywhere for the old formula,
Lomography shops, other camera shops and I even emailed
Lomography but had no luck. They told me they changed the
formula because they ran out of the old emulsion. I don’t want
to give up on it completely yet, so I might just give it one more
try. I used to shoot with this film at ISO 100. They say you can Green leaves
shoot anywhere between ISO 100-400, but I noticed that as
have turned
the ISO went up, the purple colour changed into more of an
intense navy blue. I preferred the purple at lower ISO. pink/purple with
LomoChrome
Purple, again
shot at ISO 100
(old formula).
Notice how cyan
the sky looks.

26
 FILM
Lomography
• LomoChrome Purple

Shot on the new formula of LomoChrome Purple at ISO 100. It is hard to believe that this film is also LomoChrome Purple. The colours look
nothing like the old version. Notice the strong red/green cast. I ordered a 5-roll bundle of the new stuff, and it all had the red/green cast. This
may not be an issue for many people though. It depends on what you like.

27
 FILM
Lomography
• Lomography Color Negative 100, 400 and 800: These are pretty cool, and not as expensive as LomoChrome Purple. The colours are quite
realistic and vibrant, and the contrast is pretty average. I haven’t used these in a long time, but I think they’re quite fun to practise with. In fact, I
might start using these more often.

Photos taken with Lomography Color Negative 800

28
 FILM
Lomography
Highlights are overpowering.
• Lomography XPro Chrome 100: The results are very saturated and
high in contrast. I don’t like the way it handles highlights (they are
always blown out), but it’s meant to do that. It’s one of the films I
experimented with when I first started shooting film.

29
 FILM
Revolog
• Revolog 460 nm: This film turns the
whole scene into a blue/violet haven. I
imagine the 460 nm part refers to the
wavelength of blue light? This film has an
ISO speed of 200. I have a lot of love for
this film, but I find that it’s not very
consistent from batch to batch. In general,
I always overexpose this film by 1 stop,
sometimes more (you can do this with
certain cameras using the exposure
compensation dial). If your camera doesn’t
have that function, you can set the ISO
These two photos are examples of when Revolog 460
speed to lower than 200, say 100. This
tricks your camera into thinking your film has a lower sensitivity to light works quite well. Both were overexposed.
than it actually does, hence the camera overexposes the film to
compensate for this. When it works, Revolog 460 nm is great.

An example of when
Revolog 460 doesn’t work
so well. This scene was a
lot brighter than this
photo would suggest. You
can barely see anything.

30
 FILM
Konica
• Konica VX 200: This film was discontinued quite a while ago, but you can still
find expired rolls of it being sold on eBay from time to time. Some expired
batches of this film give quite pleasant colours - mainly pinks.

When I took this sunset photo, the illuminated part of the

mountain looked a bit more orange than seen here. On
expired Konica VX 200, it looks very pink.

31
 FILM
Kono
• Kono Donau Ultra Slow Film: This ISO 6 film is meant to be used for long exposures. You
can also use it for normal exposures. The results always come out smooth, blue and moody. A
couple of years ago, I tried capturing some long exposures with it in Arctic Sweden, but the
results were less than optimal as my hands got so cold and I gave up. I have a couple of rolls
of this that I’m going to be experimenting with soon. I feel like it has a lot of potential, but it’s
also expensive.

32
 FILM
Kodak
• Kodak 2254 Super Low Speed Film: This is motion picture filmstock with ISO 1.6. It gives
quite dramatic results when you use it in your 35mm camera - not very different from Kono
Donau. It produces very cinematic looking photos, but it’s quite hard to find. I bought it from
the Photographers’ Gallery in London. It’s rolled into 35mm canisters by the Film Photography
Project (FPP).

33
 FILM - SUMMARY
If you’re new to film photography and you’re worried about wasting film initially while you practise, it might be helpful to start out with relatively cheap
film, highlighted in green below (prices when bought online). You can use even cheaper film than the ones mentioned, such as Kodak ColorPlus
(approx. £0.07 per exposure).

Lomography
Fujifilm Fujichrome LomoChrome
Kodak Portra Kodak Ektar Colour
Superia Velvia Purple
Negative
• Low contrast • High contrast • Natural colour • Very saturated • Old formula • Vibrant colour
• Soft gradation • Saturated reproduction • Often quite had purple/ • Average
in tones • Fine grain • Often green dramatic results cyan cast contrast
• Natural colour • Approx. £0.25 cast in shadows • Smooth • New formula • Approx £0.15
reproduction per exposure • Approx. £0.10 • Approx. £0.40 has more of a per exposure
• Approx. £0.25 per exposure per exposure red/green cast
per exposure • Approx. £0.30
per exposure

Lomography X-
Revolog 460 nm Konica VX 200 Kono Donau Kodak 2254
Pro Chrome
• High in contrast • Blue/purple cast • Discontinued • ISO 6 ultra slow film • ISO 1.6 super low
• Highlights often • Need to overexpose • Expired rolls tend to • Meant for long speed motion
overwhelming • Approx. £0.30 per develop pink cast exposures picture filmstock
• Approx. £0.15 per exposure • Discontinued • Very blue and • Cinematic results
exposure moody • Tends to also come
• Approx. £0.40 per out blue and moody
exposure • Approx. £0.40 per
exposure

34
 MULTIPLE EXPOSURES
What are multiple exposures?

This is when you expose the same strip of film more than once, leading to a final ghostly image consisting of superimposed images. If you expose the
same strip of film twice, it’s called a double exposure. I mostly shoot double exposures, but I also shoot triple exposures sometimes.

How do you do a double/multiple exposure?

A multiple exposure is achieved by preventing

the film from advancing after a shot is taken, such
that the next shot will also be exposed on the
same strip of film. As I mentioned before, there
are cameras with in-built multiple exposure
functionality, and if you’d like to experiment with
this technique, I would encourage you to get one
of those cameras. My Canon A-1 and Canon EOS
3 both have in-built multiple exposure
functionality.

35
 MULTIPLE EXPOSURES
Is there a technique for achieving a good multiple exposure?

The sky is the limit, but…

One thing to remember is that your second photo will appear most prominent in the shadows
(dark parts) of the first photo, whereas a lot of detail will be lost in the highlights (bright parts).
For this reason, a lot of people start out by taking a photo of a silhouette and then exposing the
second scene onto this. All of the dark regions in the silhouette get filled with details from the
second scene. For example, for this photo of the cat, I first took a photo of the cat’s silhouette
sitting on a window sill. I then took the second photo of the flowers. As you can see, the flowers
(second photo) show up most prominently in the silhouette areas of the first photo. If you look
at the bright parts of the window, there’s not much going on there. You don’t always have to
take a silhouette photo to achieve a good multiple exposure, but I think it’s a good place to
start - it’s where I started.

As you’re exposing the film to a

lot of light this way, you might
want to underexpose every shot
you take (by using the exposure
compensation dial if your camera
has that, or by setting the ISO to
something higher than your film’s
ISO number). Most of the time I
don’t bother underexposing
because I choose scenes which
aren’t very bright to start with.

36
 HOW DOES FILM WORK?
Photography had actually come a long way by the time the film we know today was invented. These pages are for you if you’d like to know a bit more
about the science behind 35mm film. It’s pretty complicated, so don’t worry if it’s not very obvious.

The Components of Colour Film

1) At the bottom is a base layer formed of a

polymeric substance such as cellulose
acetate or polyester. These polymers are
long chemical molecules which are very
stable to degradation. This base layer acts
as a solid foundation for the film… it holds
the layers coated on top of it.

2) Above the base layer there’s an anti-

halation layer. This layer plays an
important role in absorbing light after it
passes through the ‘film emulsion’. This
prevents the light from reflecting off of the
base layer back into the film emulsion,
causing halo effects in the final photo.

3) The film emulsion is where all the

chemistry happens. This layer contains
layers sensitive to different wavelengths of light (different colours of light). These layers are composed of 1) silver halide crystals and 2) chemicals
known as dye couplers. I will talk more about these on the next page.

4) The top layer is usually an anti-scratch layer composed of gelatin. As the name suggests, this protects the film from physical damage.

37
 HOW DOES FILM WORK?
What does clicking the shutter do to
film?

So, what happens in the film emulsion

when the film is exposed to light? To
understand this, it helps to know a bit
more about silver. Silver exists in different
chemical forms. It’s not always in the form
we most associate with it, i.e. the metallic
silver in jewellery. As well as existing in the
metallic form, silver can also exist in the
ionic form.

In the ‘silver halide crystals’ that I

mentioned earlier, silver exists in the ionic
form. When it is in this ionic form, it is in a
positively charged state (it lacks one
electron). Counteracting this positive
charge is the negatively charged halide
part. These halides are either bromide or
chloride. In this example, I’ve chosen to
show silver bromide, AgBr. When many AgBr molecules come together, they form crystals. So essentially, the layers in the film emulsion contain
crystals of AgBr. The layers also contain complicated chemical molecules called dye couplers. These are colourless molecules which eventually form
coloured dyes when the film is developed.

So, when light hits an AgBr crystal, it starts converting the ionic silver into metallic silver, which is the silver we are more familiar with. This metallic silver
starts getting deposited on the film. It is this metallic silver which forms the ‘latent image’ on the film. The latent image can be described as a partially
developed image - the full negative image isn’t yet there and needs the help of others chemicals to form. These are the chemicals that we add in the
darkroom when we’re developing the film.

38
 HOW DOES FILM WORK?
What happens to film in the darkroom (C-41 chemistry)?

So, you’ve exposed the film to light. The ionic silver

has started turning into metallic silver where the light
has hit the film. A latent image has been formed on
the film. What are the steps needed to get to the final
negative image?

1) First, a colour developer is added. This amplifies

the latent image, meaning that it finishes
converting the ionic silver to metallic silver in the
regions which were exposed. The colour
developer also allows the dye couplers to form
dyes under the silver image which has formed.
So at the end of this stage, the film will have
deposits of silver forming the full image, it will
have coloured dyes under that silver layer, and it
will have some silver halide crystals leftover in
unexposed regions.

2) The next step is to add a bleach/fix. This bleaches out the silver layer, revealing the ‘negative colours’. It also removes the unexposed silver halide
crystals, preventing further manipulation of the film by light. This negative is then converted to a positive either by the process of printing or by
digital scanning software.

All of the above is known as C-41 chemistry. This is the type of chemistry that most of the film I use needs. Kodak Portra, Kodak Ektar, Fujifilm Superia,
LomoChrome Purple, Revolog 460… all of them are developed using the C-41 process. The only film I use that needs a different process is Fujichrome
Velvia (slide film, or colour reversal film). This film needs a process known as E-6. It’s different in that there are extra steps within the developing process
that turn the negative image into a positive one within the film itself.

39
 HOW DOES FILM WORK?
Film negatives developed with C-41 chemistry consist of yellow, magenta and cyan colours (although this is not directly obvious when you look at a
negative because it also contains an orange mask). Different shades of yellow, magenta and cyan in the negative image correspond to different shades
of blue, green and red in the positive image. The reason the negative has yellow, magenta and cyan is that the light-sensitive layers and the dyes in the
film work according to the principle of subtractive colour mixing. This is a complicated model. It involves mixing a limited set of dyes to obtain a wider
range of colours. This is how all film we use today works. The chemistry (and physics) behind all of this is actually incredibly more complicated than
what I’ve described in these pages, but it’s good to have a general idea.

Colour negative film developed with C-41 chemistry Jordanian street cat, December 2014

40
 HOW DOES FILM WORK?
And just for comparison, here is colour reversal film developed with the E-6 process:

Colour reversal film developed with E-6 chemistry. Notice that the image is a positive image.

41
 DEVELOPING AND SCANNING
I’m often asked to share my developing and scanning process. The short story is that I don’t nowadays develop my own film. I send it to professional
film labs.

There are four reasons for this:

1) I don’t have enough space to develop my own film at home.

2) It is quite expensive to hire a public darkroom, and there are actually no accessible darkrooms where I live anymore.

3) I don’t have enough time to develop my own film.

4) Professional film labs do such a good job with my film and produce scans with resolutions I’d never be able to achieve myself. This is important
when I know I’m going to be making huge prints (size A0 and beyond) of certain photos.

When I have used C-41 chemistry in the past to develop film, I followed the standard C-41 process. I didn’t deviate from it at all. As a chemist, I’m used
to tightly-controlled reaction temperatures and times. The process of developing film wasn’t very different from my everyday work in the science lab.

As for scanning, if you’d like to scan your negatives at home, I’d recommend a film scanner from the Epson Perfection range or the Canon CanoScan
range, for example Epson Perfection V550 or Canon CanoScan 9000F Mark II. You’ll be able to produce prints which look good up to about size A3.

One day, I might have a darkroom, but for now, it is a lot more convenient to get my film developed professionally.

42