Do you edit your film photos? If you do, what do you do?!

I have a simple approach to my thoughts on editing film… If it’s a technique that could also be done in a darkroom, then I see no issue doing it with a digitized film scan. It’s the same outcome with different tools to get there.

@film_friends

3 жыл бұрын

I Ike that approach a lot!

A large portion of what made Ansel Adams such an amazing artist was his work in the darkroom. Tasteful dodging and burning to enhance the contrast is what made his work so powerful.

@film_friends

5 ай бұрын

Get it Ansel

I come from the film's days. So, I do as they did, adjust contrast, color balance and I add a little sharpening & crop as necessary . Yes ,I may remove an un-whated object. But that's about it. I was taught to "Get it right in the camera, first" , but as we all know, if we print our own work, 1 & 0's are cheap. KB

@film_friends

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, I feel that! Yeah digital is so much cheaper now

Thanks to you I finally happy with my scans after 7 years of shooting

@film_friends

2 жыл бұрын

Yesssss! I’m so glad I could help!

Great video, Will. Such a hotly debated topic! I've struggled with how much I retouch / edit / change my scans / analogue photos. I personally do some editing- contrast and exposure. I take film cause I love the grain. Theres a risk of losing the character of the film by editing too.. those beautiful imperfections! Cheers for making this great vid mate!

@film_friends

2 жыл бұрын

Yes! The imperfections are where it’s at. It is a struggle at the end of the day. I think I am leaning more towards what I saw. And I’m loving more of the imperfections like dust and stuff

My stance is that film is just a medium. If there's something you want to change about your scan, go for it. At one point I've even created a composite of two film scans. As long as you're not deceiving people (e.g. in a contest where this is not allowed), why not?

@film_friends

Жыл бұрын

I like that thought!

I only change the exposure cus I still can't gauge what's good with the sunny16 rule. I love the look of my film scans and they hit a different spot than what I did with my DSLR.

@film_friends

7 ай бұрын

Totally

We use film because its part of a way to take good photos. There's no rule that states that states we need to leave it at that. Of course we should edit after if it makes our photos better.

@film_friends

2 жыл бұрын

Absolutely!

I need to start doing my own, the last film lab murdered my scans by saturating, adding a ton of detail and contrast it’s gross!!!

@film_friends

Жыл бұрын

I like doing it my own! I get closer to what I wanted

Thanks! This is so informative!

@film_friends

3 жыл бұрын

For sure!!

Short answer: yes, you should edit your images! Longer answer: A negative is just a blueprint from which - in the old days - a printer, working together with the photographer, would develop the image the way the photographer imagined the image to be. One great example is Ansel Adam's famous "Moonrise over Hernandez, New Mexico". On www.anseladams.com/a-halloween-story-moonrise-hernandez/ you can see the actual negative and some prints made by Adams. If you look at the negative closely you see some clouds in the upper third of the image. But if you look at the prints, these clouds are completely transformed into an even dark sky. In this context, I read a statement from him somewhere (source?) that he printed the sky darker the older he got. So, you see that even in the days before computers were used, editing an image was done - even by one the masters. The notion that image should not be altered stems from use of photographs in the news. Here it is important that an image is not altered, so that the statement and story behind the image is not falsified or changed. However, even an unaltered photo can change the facts and the context in which a photo was taken. Examples here are Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother or Steve McCurry’s Afghan Girl. Both were used in a context that did not reflect the context in which the photo was taken, thus altering the information of the image. So, it is alright to edit your images and apply your creativity to them - except maybe you are a document photographer and have to ensure that the image reflects the unaltered reality. But for fine art, portraiture, landscape (Thomas Heaton removed a whole tree because it was distracting), or any other genre do what you want or feel ethically right to convey your message.

@film_friends

3 жыл бұрын

This is such a good long answer! I love it! And I totally agree with you. I get the question a lot about what I do to “edit” my images and have heard tons of talk about people trying to “preserve the original image” and I wanted to make this video to kinda challenge that notion. Saying that the labs are gonna all be different too (for the people who send to labs). Im going to be doing a lab challenge as well and send some negatives to like 5-10 labs to prove this concept. Then I wanted to break down what editing really looks like! You are the best, I value this comment immensely

@AxelEckenberger

3 жыл бұрын

@1willcobb another long answer :-) Processig C41 or E6 is standardized sand the results between labs should be comparable. Same should apply to BW film, although the process is not standardized and depends on the film and developer used. As soon as you order prints or scans this completely changes. Both are adjusted to achieve the "optimal" rendition of the negative, thus correcting errors that may be present in the negative. Furthermore, they are done according to some algorithm or human perception. Therefore, they never reflect _your_ view. Because of the limitations the lab process offers I decided a few years ago - when I returned to shooting film - that I'll process and print the images myself. Especially as some labs scan the film and then print digitally. When you shoot medium or large format to optimize quality and get an image back printed at 300 dpi this is a real let down! Not everybody can have their own wet darkroom, but everybody interested should learn about the drawback of processing film digitally. Scanners are the main reason for quality loss as you need an optical resolution beyond 2500 ppi to scan film without quality loss (see www.filmscanner.info/en for a discussion of true optical resolution and values of common scanners, e.g. V600 ca. 1500 ppi and V850 ca. 2300 ppi). Scanning film using a digital camera works fine for 35mm film, achieving up to 2400-2600 ppi (depending on the film area you can get into the image). However, this does not work for medium or large format film (except for 50 mega pixel cameras maybe) but you can do the maths yourself 😊. But I’ll stop ranting now 😊

@AxelEckenberger

3 жыл бұрын

@@film_friends you can look me up at @axel_eckenberger on IG to see some of my exploits.

@film_friends

3 жыл бұрын

Absolutely love that dude. I super appreciate that knowledge drop!

I edit, dont care about that purist mind set but I do really subtle editing, dont retouch but have done it at some point for particular and unique ocations.

@film_friends

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah I feel that! I think that is a great place to be

This was interesting to break down the topic in this way. When looking at some work I used to wonder what film and lens they shot on but I think a lot comes down to what is their scanning/editing process (in terms of color rendition). Either way a great image is a great image so def not knocking people with amazing color skills in Lightroom

@film_friends

3 жыл бұрын

Deff! A great image will always shine throughout!

Yes you should edit your film photos

@film_friends

3 жыл бұрын

Haha yes! Clear and concise decision

I think It's the individual's choice.. but personally, I love seeing flaws and imperfections. I do make minimal edits. A lil dehazing, a lil warming or cooling of colors, remove some dust and done!

@film_friends

3 жыл бұрын

Oh for sure! I love how creative people can get!

If the Soviet master darkroom wizard Stalin could make people disappear from photos, then I don't think me removing some power lines or small items is that big of a deal. 😉

@film_friends

2 жыл бұрын

Hahaha

I know that the work that the lab does - does affect the look but I can’t bring myself to edit my scans. I want to color correct at times but I can’t do it.

@film_friends

3 жыл бұрын

Hahaha I feel that urge, and lack of wanting to change it. It’s a battle

What about cropping your photo? Is it ok to crop your photos?

@film_friends

9 ай бұрын

Yeah sure haha you can do anything you want