D. Diggler wrote:
My biggest problem so far in implementing film into the days' shoot is to actually SHOOT the film. What happens is I am always shooting the "must have" shots, which I've been doing with digital, that I haven't found the time to work the film camera in. What happens is I end up bringing the film camera but not using it. If anyone has any tips how they've successfully worked the film camera in, I'd be happy to hear.
I originally started bringing a Mamiya Pro 645 setup to every wedding with one roll of film loaded. I chose the film stock beforehand so I knew whether I had color or B&W loaded and what speed it was. I shot my must have shots on digital then shot the film. It gave me the opportunity to experiment with light + metering and how the way I shot worked with film. After a year of doing that at every wedding AND shooting film for personal work to find the film stocks I liked and how I liked to expose them as well as understand the limitations and strengths, I was ready to really incorporate it heavily into my professional work.
It would still be easier and a lot cheaper for me to shoot all digital. I don't have an "artist's complex" as I call it but there is an artistic part of me that prefers film capture for many reasons which I previously mentioned in an earlier reply. For me it wasn't an issue of whether or not I wanted to shoot film but how I was going to make something I loved work within my business. It did mean raising my prices nearly double to offset the costs, and I'm getting ready to raise them again as I've switched labs and incurred more cost associated with that as well all to still make the same bottom line I was making before at much cheaper prices. But I'm okay with that as I'm turning out the kind of work I want to now and am more happy in my work and my business than I've ever been. My clients are also noticing and my business is changing into something it never would have been had I persisted with the direction I was going (in large part due to Todd Reichmann, his wife Jamie and their Sexy Business workshop but the rest I attribute to film capture and the photographer it's made me).
I do still shoot digital but I don't mix the two. I access every situation I encounter on a wedding day and choose the best possible medium for that. Natural light? I'm shooting film. Indoors with very low light? I'll shoot B&W film and digital color. No mixing and matching, no trying to incorporate film and digital in the same situation. The ONLY exception to this rule is for family formals where I'll shoot medium format film and then switch cameras to 35mm film for a few more frames OR perhaps digital depending on the situation just in case I have a group of people with heavy blinkers. Trying to mix the two was difficult for sure. Commit to one medium for any given situation and it makes life a lot easier.
Josh is right on the money. We still do mix digital and film at almost every wedding. Unless the proper planning goes into shooting the film on both our part and the couples part I have no problem saying no to the film.
Like Josh I do not feel I have an artist complex. I feel obligated to provide my couples with the best quality work I can. Sometimes that is film and sometimes it is digital. Josh may not like to mix it but I really do not have trouble going from one to another.
I don't like to mix it in any one given setting for two reasons...
First and not nearly as big a deal for me is getting consistency between the files. Most clients won't notice subtle differences but it bothers me.
But far more importantly I'm a different photographer when I shoot film compared to when I shoot digital, and if I don't commit fully to shooting it in any given situation then I end up half-assing it and getting lackluster results. I have to be all- in or none-in.
Joshua Gull wrote:
I'm a different photographer when I shoot film compared to when I shoot digital, and if I don't commit fully to shooting it in any given situation then I end up half-assing it and getting lackluster results.
Maybe this is part of my problem in incorporating film into my shoot. Mostly what I've been doing is mixing film and digital. Have one film camera and one digital camera and switch back and forth between them in the same scene, trying to decide, "ok, should I shoot this shot digital or film?"
Another big problem shooting both media is when you try to "get it right" on digital and only after that shoot it on film, in an effort to save money on "wasted" film shots. This often leads to stale and unexciting film shots. I have no problem with this (or polaroids) for some times of highly structured shoots, but if you're looking for lighting, it won't strike the same way twice.
