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Hot take: I started rating my film rolls before I even get them back
Everyone says you need to see the scans to judge a roll, but I started putting a little number on the canister right after I finish shooting, like a 6 or an 8, based on how I felt about the session. I did this with a roll of Portra 400 I shot at the Portland Saturday Market last month. When the scans came back, my gut rating was almost always right about which frames were keepers. It forces me to be honest in the moment. Has anyone else tried judging their work before seeing the results?
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wyatt_chen861mo ago
My buddy does that "honest in the moment" rating thing too. He nailed a roll he thought was a 3, said the bad rating made him way more critical when he finally saw the scans.
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graytorres14d ago
That's actually a solid point about how being hard on yourself can sharpen your eye. It's like when you mess up a recipe and know exactly why it flops, so next time you catch every tiny detail. I've noticed the same thing with fixing stuff around the house - when I'm sure I messed up something simple, I end up checking every screw and joint twice, which usually catches issues I would've missed. The whole thing feels like one of those weird life patterns where being wrong makes you pay closer attention to the details, which somehow makes the final result better.
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annaw761mo ago
Honestly, that bit about your buddy's "3" rated roll is really interesting. Tbh, I'm the opposite, I'd probably just get bummed out and not even want to look at the scans. Did he say how being more critical actually helped? Like, was he looking for specific mistakes he knew he made, or just judging the overall shots harder?
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