Backlighting can be tricky on film because we don’t have the benefit of immediate feedback. As a result, it can be difficult to know how to meter and expose in backlit scenarios. The good news is that not everything has to be left to chance! Below are a few tips to help you get your […]

Middle gray is one of the most important concepts to understand when metering. Whether you need a quick review of middle gray or you’re starting from scratch, here’s a more in-depth explanation of middle gray and how to adjust exposure settings for both low key and high key scenes: Things to remember… Underexpose for low key […]

One of the things we love about film is the way it renders color. Sometimes, however, the color of our film doesn’t turn out the way we expected it to, bringing to mind the blue dress/gold dress debate of 2015. There are a lot of factors that can influence color: underexposing, color reflections, shooting in different lighting scenarios, and […]

What is ISO? ISO stands for International Standards Organization (sometimes denoted as ASA, which stands for American Standards Organization, on older film cameras). ISO is a measurement of how sensitive your film is to light. High ISOs indicate that your film is more sensitive to light, while low ISOs indicate that your film is less […]

Throughout this post we’ll be talking about metering in daylight balanced light (not studio or flash), so if you’re following along with your own light meter, make sure to set your mode to ambient (the sunny symbol) and not cordless or cord flash (the lightning bolt symbols). If you’re looking into buying a hand held light meter, […]

What is pushing/pulling? Pushing and pulling is something that is done in development and in development only.  It is never something that happens in exposure or scanning and cannot be adjusted after the roll has already been developed. Pushing and pulling are done by changing the temperature of the developer, or by adjusting the time the film is left […]