I was shooting a roll of Portra 400 at the county fair and forgot to check the film counter, so I ended up with a double exposure of a Ferris wheel and a prize pig.

Now I always write down the frame number on my hand after each shot, which is a bit messy but works, and does anyone else have a weird trick to keep track of their shots on manual cameras?

3 comments

3 Comments

casey9434mo ago

Oh man, double exposures can be a happy accident but also a real bummer. I read about a photographer who puts a small piece of gaffer tape on their camera back and makes a tiny pencil mark for each frame. Seems less messy than the hand method, but then you gotta remember the pencil.

tyler3681mo ago

Yeah, plus now you got a pencil floating around in your bag stabbing everything else... just tape a little sticky note on the camera back instead, way less risky.

phoenix_burns264mo ago

Wait, they use a pencil on gaffer tape? @casey943, that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen! What if the lead tip pokes right through the tape and leaves a mark on your film? I'd be so scared of scratching the negatives. My hands are clumsy enough without adding a sharp pencil near the film door. That method would definitely backfire for me, I can just picture little graphite lines all over my shots.