How to Take Better B&W Film Photos

[@mueslimuncher1950]

Wow! Where do I start? I'm nearly 72, and I've been shooting film since before you were born. You crammed a lifetime of experience and wisdom into a fairly short video. I'm deeply impressed!

[@LearnFilmPhotography]

Thanks so much for that, Bill Ward! I've spent a ton of time researching, learning, and practicing photography, so I'm really happy to hear that these tips are helping!

[@lewiya7439]

I love that "meter for the highlights" tipp!

[@cantinabandstudios8360]

Shooting in B&W has made me be more patient and choose my shots more carefully. I enjoy it. Really pulls me into the moment and allows me to not feel as though I’m wasting shots

[@azatbay6701]

I haven't seen Vancouver through film, especially black and white, the way you captured it! 🙌

[@LearnFilmPhotography]

Thank you!

[@d.cassarino]

I'm glad that YT suggest this channel

[@MarcoRoepers]

I love ilford FP4 it has more contrast and its lower film speed is no problem in every day situations. In fact it has an advantage when you want to use a flash to highlight the subject.

[@LearnFilmPhotography]

Definitely! That contrast looks amazing when you know how to use it.

[@dewantorofathoni7679]

"simplified the composition" great tips & video mate👍🏼

[@LearnFilmPhotography]

Glad to hear it, thanks!

[@huntrrams]

Thanks for this video and channel!

[@LearnFilmPhotography]

No problem! Glad you're enjoying the content! Let me know if there's anything you'd like to see.

[@LINDAOZAG]

GREAT TEACHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@RobertLeeAtYT]

I find the antipathy toward editing in some photography communities really head-shakingly odd. Pressing that shutter button is only a third of the work. The rest of the journey toward print is in the darkroom. With exception of documentary photography, that has always been the case and for very good reasons. I'm glad you brought up Adams. The zone system he pioneered is precisely and ultimately all about _the print_. The same applies classicists like Fan Ho, and even the original run-and-gun street photography god like Winogrand. I used to shoot a lot of B&W on the RB-67. The usual kit would have a couple or four film backs. All TMY2, but marked on the back for "push 2", "pull", etc. The development regime would follow suit. The general goal was to have the scene dynamic range span the full density on the film. This gives the highest resolution tonality data to work with in post.

[@LearnFilmPhotography]

Same here. One day I'd like to really explore where that no editing trend started and why, but I think it has mostly to do with the idea that photography is supposed to be a reflection of reality. And even with edits, I still think it is. But all you have to do is check out Vox Darkroom to see just how long photographers have been editing their images, and what people were able to accomplish even in the 1800s. I have to admit that I haven't yet learned the zone system, but it is something that I do want to learn for landscape photography. As it stands though, I usually use a spot meter to aim at the part of the image that I want to be middle grey with an understanding of how that's going to change the look of the negative.

[@RobertLeeAtYT]

@@LearnFilmPhotography "... idea that photography is supposed to be a reflection of reality" Right, a rather simplistic view I'd say, especially so when the target output is B&W. Anyhow, as for metering, I typically just spot meter the deeper shadows if I'm shooting 135, e.g. the EOS-3. If the scene dynamic range is really high, the highlights compresses but stays differentiated. It takes care of itself (on negative film). It's the shadow details that's more critical. I can't use it in post if it's not on the film. The zone stuff is only practical on cameras with removable backs or sheet film. That's one aspect that attracted me to the RB. Also 6x7 is realistically the largest piece of film real estate available without going up to 4x5.

[@adventurecoalition3690]

Great video, so inspiring. Thx for sharing

[@LearnFilmPhotography]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Chonica]

This is incredibly informative! Thank you so much!

[@Kylejphotographer]

I’ve shot digitally for about 6 years and I’ve done 35mm and 120 film for a little over a year now and I gotta say I shoot 90% black and white just because I like it much better. My years of being a photographer have already made me see the world as a photo opportunity every where I look, but from shooting mostly black and white film I can almost tune my brain to see in black and white to get the best photos 😅

[@LearnFilmPhotography]

That's awesome. Seeing in black and white is definitely not easy - it takes more practice than a lot of people expect to learn what makes a good B&W photo. Do you have any good tips for other photographers?

[@Kylejphotographer]

@@LearnFilmPhotography for me the best tip I could learn when shooting film was to not be so damn picky, when I first started shooting 35mm I was so scared to waste shots and ended up passing on plenty of photo opportunities because I didn’t think they were “worthy” of wasting an expensive film shot on. Only when I was able to let that go and just shoot whatever seemed right to me is when I got my stride with film and never went back

[@TheChicoRios]

Very very very nice content. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

[@animegeek6118]

Just picked up a Nikon F3 with 3 rolls of b&w iso 400 film. I can’t wait to get out and learn to shoot this classic camera.

[@LearnFilmPhotography]

Hell yeah, this camera is a vibe! You're going to have a great time. I'd highly recommend trying out developing your own B&W film, too. That's the best way to understand film.

[@Redfox_UK]

Great information 👌🏻. I’m about to start doing film photography after 3 years of digital. Brilliant content.

[@richardsimms251]

Great video

[@regezas]

nice video, I am a beginner so love this kind of content.

[@LearnFilmPhotography]

Thank you! Glad to hear it's helping!

[@michaelbuckley8986]

Wonderful presentation.😊

[@collincourtois8587]

Great video! Subscribed immediately! Thamks.

[@djhinton570]

Great information for someone getting back into an old Minolta XG-7 I've been learning on for years. Going to explore some B & W film, I noticed an online developer said they could not develop "true" black and white film. What is the difference?

[@LearnFilmPhotography]

Glad to hear it's been helpful! As for "true" black and white film, I'm honestly at a loss for what that could mean without any context. My best guess would be that it might mean that they think they can't get perfectly black blacks on their negatives - which would be a result of how far film technology has come - but it could also be a remark about some of the film stocks that have been lost over the years. If you paste a link, I can find some more information for you.

[@SuperFranzs]

"true black and white" probably means B/W chemistry, which they maybe can't do. Many photo labs here won't do B/W chemistry. There are C-41 B/W films out there which all labs can do.

[@Larpy1933]

@SuperFranzs NAILED it there.

[@alponton]

great ideas thanks

[@seanymilk]

Absolutely fantastic! Thank you so much for this! I'm definitely subscribing for more ^^

[@LearnFilmPhotography]

Thanks for the sub! Hope you enjoy the upcoming content!

[@jocknarn3225]

gr8 tips mate .. grew up with film in 80s & resuming the interest but film's rare & expensive now post Covid-supply & vintage cameras need servicing so, now resorting 2 expired film & B&W.

[@LearnFilmPhotography]

Glad to hear it! That's true, the costs are also pushing me towards shooting mostly b&w as well - luckily there is still a lot of power in b&w images.

[@OfficerSnickerrs]

this is a really good video and it helped me immensely, my question is just about the longer exposure. how did you do a 4min exposure of the sea without overexposing it? did you just wait for it to be darker? thank you :)

[@LearnFilmPhotography]

Glad to hear it! I actually used neutral density filters to get that slow of a shutter speed after accounting for reciprocity failure.

[@OfficerSnickerrs]

@@LearnFilmPhotographyAlright! thank you so much :)

[@Ortopedija1989]

thanks. great.

[@imitdiu]

hi, unrelated to the video but, the shot at 1:05, what is that shot call, is it real? or is it just editing

[@LearnFilmPhotography]

That was some stock footage. It's two videos that were overlayed to create that look. The Milky Way at night is going to be at least a couple of hours of footage to get it moving that quickly.

[@imitdiu]

@@LearnFilmPhotography that was what i was thinking, but thank you so much for the reply.

[@miklosnemeth8566]

Excellent video, but I wouldn't say color is disctracting, no way. Exectly the opposite, since we have no color in BW (film) photos color will not help us to separate the elements on the resulting BW photo, and it is burtally challenging how to take meaningful photos without colors. Your number one tip is the key, I think: simplify your scene, since colors will not be available in the final photo. On a digital camera, it is easy since, you simply disable colors in the screen or EVF, but in a film camera, you really have to learn to "see" without colors.

[@josephheili718]

I wish you had more example photos of all your points rather than unrelated b roll of people holding cameras

[@LearnFilmPhotography]

Thanks for the feedback, I'm working on that for newer videos.

[@PedroLeitao]

interesting video!

[@LearnFilmPhotography]

Glad you liked it!

[@nickdattner8680]

My top tip is stay within five stops and avoid the sky or any area of constant tone.

[@LearnFilmPhotography]

This is a great tip! Nice way to put it.

[@seralegre]

Just a little comment, I think background music is a bit too much, maybe -2 -4 dB helps

[@LearnFilmPhotography]

Thanks for that, I'll make that change for future videos.

[@babenberg]

With respect, but not PC, I want to stress a previous comment about showing example photos instead of unrelated images. But most important is the absolute disconnection with the different elements of your speech. Composition, but get closer… well, maybe not for the composition I want. Vignetting the corners, this is a software thing, not a shooting thing, unless you could use quite expensive lenses for that specific effect that probably won’t be necessary or adding value every time, and work for both color and b/w. Simple compositions, well, that applies to any kind of photography too… Level up your videos if you want to get any benefit from them.

[@RupertWilliam]

Ouch. I respect constructive criticism, but not when given without respect. I don’t think saying “with respect” is enough. You must also show respect through the way you speak. Not by a simple phrase, but by the kindness and empathy shown through the words you choose

[@RubberKid100]

I'm colour blind so I'm already one third of the way there

[@Leicashootr]

👍🏻‼️

[@xcx8646]

If you only use a film camera then set your phone to b&w.

[@LearnFilmPhotography]

What do you mean by this? Setting your screen to only show b&w colors? Or is there a setting in your phone's camera?

[@xcx8646]

@@LearnFilmPhotography Both, but I can only speak with confidence about iOS. Someone else reading this will have to clarify the situation on Android. 1. In the iOS camera app, you can set a mono (or any) filter in advance and have the app remember it every time you go to take a picture, or forget it and return to default. The beauty is that the filter is non-destructive: if you don't like the image in, say, 'mono' you can easily return to the default colour option - or indeed any of the in-built filters. 2. The better option, IMO, and this is what I do. I set my iPhone to be in grayscale globally,. All screens and all apps. I have set up shortcut buttons to allow me to toggle between b&w and colour should I need to, as I do frequently - for using Maps, or editing a photo I want to present in colour. This has a couple of advantages. Firstly, you can just leave the camera app set to the default of colour, even though you will always see everything in b&w while composing - and in my opinion composing in b&w often makes for stronger compositions, even if I know that the image will ultimately be presented in colour. You are more able to judge contrast without the distraction of colour, which is a HUGE help IMO. The second advantage is bigger still, and applies to general phone use. Using a phone in grayscale has been shown to make it less addictive. Less 'eye candy'. The notifications aren't as glaring. The phone is less alluring. It is much easier on the eyes - especially at night. Several studies have found that it is more effective than setting screen time limits for reducing usage, and my experience - having tried limits and grayscale - reflects these findings. After a day or two of grayscale returning to colour seems offensively garish. The colours are too vivid, too bold, too obviously designed to attract your attention. I recommend everyone try grayscale across the whole phone for a few days, irrespective of photography. You might be pleasantly surprised. So to recap, with 2. you are using the whole phone in b&w, but the photos are saved in colour (if you leave the camera app in that setting) so you immediately have access to the colour file without doing anything, but know how the b&w shot looked as you composed it that way, so can edit it easily. And of course, if you have a digital camera with a mono/b&w mode, you can set it to that and shoot. I only mentioned this in relation to phones as this is a film-related channel. Sorry for the lengthy response and I hope it was clear - and helped somewhat. Cheers.

[@xcx8646]

@@LearnFilmPhotography Sorry, very late reply. Short answer: either. You can set a phone camera app to shoot in black and white as a filter (the iPhone has three types of black and white filter) or you can set the entire phone to greyscale. I do the latter because I read it possibly helps reduce screen time as the phone looks less engaging. After two days of it I couldn't go back to having a colour smartphone screen - it is too lurid. Horrible. Clearly sometimes I do need colour though (satnav, for instance) so I have set my phone (iPhone) up so that three quick presses of the home button switches between colour and bll&w. Anyway - tangent. The point was that setting your phone/camera to black and white and shooting it like that allows you to practise shooting b&w without burning through film.

[@henkvrieling9586]

Unnecessary annoying music.

[@kevlarnegative]

Good tips 😊 That stock footage was cringe worthy though 🥲 I'd rather see some of your images instead of people pretending to photography.

[@LearnFilmPhotography]

Thanks for that feedback! And fair enough - I'm typically choosing some of the worst videos to keep it kind of funny. But if they're just distracting and bad, then I'll start to reconsider the kind of stock footage that I choose for the videos.

[@kevlarnegative]

@@LearnFilmPhotography It was sorta funny I guess. You could keep them in but include more of your own stuff or do whatever feels right. I've been told to be a bit harsh and I'm just some random bored at work. Keep up the good work!

[@LearnFilmPhotography]

Thanks so much! I always appreciate some good criticism like this. It makes the end product way better! I just released another one without any stock footage, and I think it feels a little more natural overall.