c/film-photo-tales

PSA: A cheap yellow filter saved my foggy morning shots

I was shooting a roll of HP5 at a lake near my town last month, and the morning fog made everything look flat and dull. On a whim, I screwed on a $15 yellow filter I'd bought years ago, and it cut right through the haze, giving the sky some real depth. Has anyone else tried this trick with black and white film in bad weather?

Had to choose between my last roll of Portra 400 or a fresh pack of Tri-X for a rainy day walk

I picked the Tri-X because I figured the high contrast would look cool with the wet pavement and dark clouds over the river. The grain came out perfectly gritty in the prints, and I'm so glad I went with black and white. Do you ever let the weather decide your film stock for you?

Took my old Pentax to the county fair and got a shot of a goat wearing a tiny hat

I was at the Clackamas County Fair last weekend, trying to use up a roll of Portra 400. This one goat in the petting zoo had a perfect little cowboy hat strapped under its chin. I got down low for the shot, and right as I clicked, it turned its head and BIT the brim of the hat. The whole roll came back and that frame is just pure joy, no edits needed. Has anyone else had an animal totally steal the show in a photo?

A common mistake I keep seeing with metering for backlit subjects

I've been developing my own black and white film for about a year now, and I keep noticing people's shots where a person in front of a window is just a silhouette. They meter for the bright background and the subject goes dark. I learned the hard way after ruining a roll from a family visit in Chicago by doing the same thing. You need to take a reading directly off your subject's face, or even overexpose by a stop or two from your camera's suggested setting. Has anyone else found a reliable way to handle this without a dedicated spot meter?

My Pentax K1000 shutter froze solid at the worst time

I was halfway through a roll of Portra 400 at the Portland Japanese Garden last weekend when the advance lever just stopped moving. I had to finish the roll in my point-and-shoot, which felt like a total letdown after lugging the SLR around. Has anyone else had a classic camera just give up mid-shoot, and what did you do to fix it?

Had to choose between my last roll of Portra 400 or pushing some expired Tri-X for a foggy morning shoot in San Francisco.

I gambled on the Tri-X, shot it at 1600, and the grain was wild but the mood was perfect, so do you think pushing old film is worth the risk or should you always play it safe with fresh stock?

I was loading film wrong for months and only noticed at a friend's wedding

I shot three whole rolls at a wedding in Portland last month, feeling pretty good about the shots. When I got the scans back, every single frame had this weird light leak along the top edge. My friend who runs the lab asked if I'd closed the back properly, and it hit me. I'd been pushing the film canister down with my thumb instead of letting it click into place on its own. That tiny gap was letting light in the whole time. I've been doing it that way since I got my Pentax K1000 in January. Has anyone else had a small loading habit mess up a big batch of photos?

I thought expired film was just a gimmick until I shot a roll from 1995 at the state fair.

Tried pushing a roll of Kodak Portra 400 to 1600 for a dim concert, and the grain is so chunky it looks like static.

I figured the extra stop would save me in that dark Philly venue last month, but my lab scans came back looking like a sandstorm, which taught me that some films just can't handle that kind of push without losing everything. Has anyone else had a film stock completely fall apart when you tried to push it too far?

Found a roll of film from a trip to the Oregon coast three years ago and finally got it developed.

The whole roll was fogged except for one perfect shot of my friend laughing, which I think is better than if the whole thing had turned out. Anyone else have a happy accident like that with old film?

Tbh I was loading my old Canon AE-1 wrong for like two months straight.

Honestly it took my friend in Chicago pointing out the film leader wasn't catching on the sprocket after I wasted three rolls to figure it out, so has anyone else had a camera that just fought you on loading?

Got a roll back from the lab with a perfect shot of a deer that I never actually took.

I was hiking in the Smokies with my old Nikon F3, and after I got the film developed, there was this beautiful, sharp photo of a buck looking right at the camera, but I'm 100% sure the shutter was locked when I tried to take that exact picture, so the lab must have mixed up my roll with someone else's, right?

Heads up about that expired film you're hoarding

I just read a study from the Rochester Institute of Technology that showed color film loses about 20% of its speed per decade, even frozen. I found a roll of Portra 400 from 2010 in my freezer and the shots came out two stops underexposed. Anyone else have a good rule for shooting old stock?

My neighbor said film photos are just for old people now

I was at the local hardware store last week and ran into my neighbor, Frank. He saw my camera bag and asked what was in it. When I said my Pentax K1000, he laughed and said, 'Still shooting film? That's for old people and art snobs.' It really stuck with me, not in a bad way, but it made me think about why I still do it. For me, it's the opposite of being stuck in the past. The 36 shots on a roll of Kodak Gold make me slow down and really look at what's in front of me. I took a photo of my kid at the park yesterday, and knowing I couldn't just delete it made the moment feel more real. I guess I'm not trying to be cool, I just like the way it feels. Has anyone else had to explain why they shoot film to someone who just doesn't get it?

I finally shot a roll of film my friend said would be a waste

He told me to never use Kodak Gold 200 for indoor portraits, but I tried it in my living room last month and loved the warm grain it gave my grandma's face. Anyone else get surprisingly good results from 'wrong' film for a situation?