Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Film Photography

It is such a sad world that we live in, in which the great art of film photography and the use of darkrooms is going down the drain. Getting exposed (no pun intended) to film photography is an excellent way to expand your skills in photography. With all these new programs such as photoshop, young adults are just taking pictures and throwing around a little editing magic to make a work of art.

6 comments:

  1. very true. i definitely believe that photoshop does not make the photographer.

    i've been shooting film for a month now (long story) and i love it! the cost is much to be desired, however. it's funny when i'm taking pics of the kids, they all want to see their face on the lcd screen, and can't figure out why they can't!

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  2. No, young adults are just taking pictures and throwing around a little editing magic and to make a pile of crap.

    Film rocks, btw.

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  3. I disagree. Film is awesome and I'm sure it lets you improve a lot as a photographer, but Photoshop is just a different thing. Do you know a single famous pro photog who *doesn't* use PS?

    Here's a blog post from one of my favorite Flickrites about this: http://zackahern.blogspot.com/2010/06/photoshopthe-dirty-word.html

    His work is amazing, even sooc, but PS makes it even more striking. :)

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  4. I wasn't saying photoshop is useless.
    It is a fantastically powerful editing tool, it is the digital equivelant of a darkroom. It's pretty essential to get close enough to the vision that you had before you took the photo. Used in the right hands it's an awesome tool.

    The thing is, photoshop doesn't fix composition. You have to get that right in camera, I shot straight out of camera for a year and a half before I realised what I was getting SOOC wasn't exactly what I was hoping for. I naturally started processing as a result of the photo taking, not the other way round.

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  5. I have 2 film cameras I dont use enough. Mostly shoot RAW files and process them with lightroom [curves saturation highlights etc]. I like taking photos I really cant be bothered with all the hassle of photoshop I find processing RAW files a chore. I will use photoshop on the odd occasion for focus stacking and messing with HDRs but not been too successful with the latter.

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  6. @Lewis: Then I completely agree! :)

    I mostly use PS to boost colors a little. Sometimes I'll really mess with it though, to get an effect I just couldn't get SOOC, like pastel tones or something. I've also done a few manipulations, like levitation and clones. :)

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