Small fixes for high-contrast grain
A light meter is a good teacher if you let it disagree with you. It is not glamorous, but it holds up. If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about long exposures. It is effortless to overthink scanning negatives. It is harder to just start.
Why it matters
Little, repeatable steps beat big plans very nearly every time. Film forces a pause between seeing and pressing the shutter. This got going as a quick note and bit by bit turned into something longer.
The trick, if there is one, is to leave sufficient room for slip-ups. There is no single right way to approach scanning negatives, but some ways are kinder than others. The result is not perfect, but it is honest.
There is a version of this that is much more complicated. This is not that version. Between waiting for the light and editing a series, the second one taught me more. Nothing here requires a light meter, though it does make things easier. If something here is unclear, that is on me, not you.
- Do less shooting film, more editing a series
- Budget twice the time you expect
- Compare against last autumn
- Stop before you are tired
- Stop before you are tired
Looking ahead
It is effortless to overthink waiting for the light. It is harder to just start. There is no single right way to approach shooting film, but some ways are kinder than others. I am still not sure I have it right, but it is closer. Most problems with the darkroom turn out to be problems with time. Most of what I know about contact sheets came from getting it wrong first.
- Note the date and the weather
- Start with overcast days and nothing else
- Give shooting film a full spring
- Write down what you change
A note on tools
Most problems with coastlines turn out to be problems with time. It is effortless to overthink shooting film. It is harder to just start. Good the darkroom is for the most part a series of little, unglamorous decisions.
There is no single right way to approach waiting for the light, but some ways are kinder than others. Most of the editing happens weeks later, when the memory has faded.
overcast days