Film for Studio Portraits
What about using film? Y’know, real film? I’m onboard. Film is a special way to make portraits.
The question is why to use film when digital is quicker. Because film has a look, one that try to be emulated with a digital image, but it’s never quite right. This is black and white film used for a musician’s portrait session in studio.
Compare that to a similar session with another musician in studio created digitally. The digital black and whites tend to be more clinically sharp and contrasty. The light doesn’t play the same on a digital sensor as it does with gelatin silver film.
There’s also a different way that the subject responds to the camera. The larger film camera often gives the subject a sense that there is something important being produced, so they give it a bit more consideration. It’s the same way on a movie set, when the cinematographer is shooting on film, it’s a special set.
Film has a charm, a feeling of past tense compared to the present tense feel of digital photography.
For a group of portraits at a senior center, this next group of photographs were made on film in studio. I used a similar lighting setup that I can for digital photography, with just a bit of adjustment for the film negative.
Film has a softer way of recording light than digital cameras do, and that affects how I set the lights knowing there is a different lighting ratio needed with film.
On top of all that, the subjects are often enamored by the old cameras which often resemble works of art themselves.
