Film Photography Top Tips

You might remember this post I wrote on how much I like Film Photography, and it was great to hear from you guys who also like analogue photography. 


One good thing that has came out of this whole hipster movement that hit 2013 hard has been the re-surfacing of all things vintage-y that have been given a new lease of live with the label of "cool". With that analogue and lomography style photography is back as well!

If you have read my previous post or if you would like to hear my top tips for shooting film then read on.... 

Rule of Thirds

This is a rule for all photography, not just film but this is the most important part of learning how to compose beautiful shots. 

Basically imagine your shot is split into a 3 x 3 grid, this is your thirds. 

As a general rule the nice thirds to compose interesting shots are the outer thirds, although occasionally sometimes it can be really striking to compose something right in the centre of the shot.  But you will have to experiment with what you like.  

In this photo the subject starts in the right most third at the front and draws your eye through the shot to the left third at the top.  Which makes it nice and interesting! 

Bokeh That Bokeh 

Get that aperture down to as low as it goes, compose your subject in a nice third and focus on it to get that nice blurry background (this is known as bokeh).  

The beauty of film photography is you can get really lovely prime lenses, and everyone should have a lovely 50mm lens with a low aperture which will give you lovely, lovely bokeh! 

Film Isn't Perfect 


Part of the beauty of film photography is that you can't control every part of the process and that you won't get perfect photos every time.  Instead film photography creates beautiful imperfections in your photos!  

This isn't an imperfection of film photography but a feature, and you can accentuate and play with the imperfections even more.  Try using expired film or playing with your settings on your camera to get an unusual look!  

Experiment  

Film photography is fun and different so have fun with it!  Play around!  Seriously, go for it! 

Do you have any tips for shooting analogue photography?  Let me know!

Comments