I tend to go to the well of film a lot, but I think it鈥檚 interesting and exciting because it鈥檚 strange and different to use it now. People are genuinely curious in a way they aren鈥檛 if you just have a digital camera. Everyone has a digital camera now, not everyone has a film camera.
But let鈥檚 spend today talking about experimental film.
The company Lomography loves their experimental films, going off in exciting different directions with the films they sell. Want to shoot films meant for cinema? They鈥檒l sell you that. Want to try something where the colors turn out all strange? They鈥檝e got plenty of options. The silliest has to be something they call Redscale XR, a film I鈥檝e been playing with recently.
It is, in effect, a way to sell a mistake. Most 35mm film is semi-transparent, and if you mount it one way you get nice lovely pictures that look pretty much like what you see in front of you. Mount it backwards and you get something entirely different, and in this case a lot more red. It鈥檚 effectively 200 speed film mounted in the cartridge the wrong way, and the result is very different than just shooting normal film.
On the box, they say to shoot it at multiple speeds, see what you get, have fun and experiment. What a fun and novel premise! I鈥檝e shot a roll, and have my own advice - overexpose it, overexpose like you鈥檝e never overexposed before.
While it鈥檚 200 speed film, it鈥檚 actually not, because it鈥檚 essentially shooting through a filter. That filter is mounted to the film itself, and the result you get is inevitably really red. That backing for whatever reason is just very orange on most color film, so it鈥檚 inevitably going to give a red look. That鈥檚 expected, and right in the name of the film. Instead, you have to give it a lot more light to make it look like anything but a whole bunch of red. The more light it gets, the more that filter is overpowered, and you get some really cool shots.
So, for me, doing anything but overexposing it as much as possible is a waste, because the shots I like are all with as much light as the film can handle.
But as I typed the above, I realized something, you鈥檙e not me. I know what I like, and what I like is definitely the look you get when you push through the red. When you attack it and get something else entirely at the other end. That鈥檚 the image that makes me happy and makes me want to pick up another roll.
I think one of the worst things photographers do when giving advice is tell people how to shoot like them. I understand it, because you know how to get results you like, but I also realize that everyone has their own style, their own preferences, their own point of view. Maybe you don鈥檛 want to shoot like me. Maybe you really like the darker, red-focused images that the film can give you. In that case, listening to me would be bad advice, because I like it best when you just push right through the red.
I know that I personally like the film a lot more when overexposing it a great deal, but I understand if you don鈥檛, and if you decide to get some and try it out, you鈥檙e probably going to have to find your own approach. That I do recommend, without reservation, because it鈥檚 a lot more fun to discover what you like and work that way.
If you decide to shoot film, and it鈥檚 a fun hobby, make sure you shoot how you want to, don鈥檛 be held back by what someone else says is the 鈥榗orrect鈥� way.
