Understanding a Negative

How I read and interpret my film photography negatives - and the impact that has on scanning and printing.
As I state in the video, I'm not doing this based off scientific research, but rather thousands of hours scanning and in the darkroom.
I'm very happy to be informed about ideas and specifics that I may have overlooked, but please avoid being rude in the manner you choose to convey information.
For more work;
Print store: willysheepskin.com/collection...
Website: willysheepskin.com/
Instagram: / willysheepskin
Big thanks to @capefilmsupply for lending me the light table in this video, you can check them out here; / capefilmsupply

[@leopoldlemon3779]

You are my favorite guru hippie sounding robot

[@willysheepskin]

Beep bop -ommmmmmm- t h a n k y o u L e o p o l d - beep bop , ahahahah

[@clairescheepers]

This feels like watching you show us that a lot of hours of "doing" has gone into instinctively knowing what's going to work or not! :-)

[@willysheepskin]

A lot of hours of doing and repeated failure haha!

[@Havenotats]

Mr sheepskin bringing the good good 🤩✨

[@willysheepskin]

Thank you kindly mr Tats!

[@justinconnaher8868]

Thanks William! Reading negatives when starting out is something difficult to get your head in to. This is a solid explanation. Cheers!

[@willysheepskin]

Thanks Justin! I hope it proves useful for the curious haha! Glad you reckon it’s solid, cheers!

[@justinconnaher8868]

@@willysheepskin Absolutely solid. I’m in no position to judge, but that was good. Thanks again!

[@CalumetVideo]

Thanks William for your videos. You are one of the few that I really enjoy watching. I love your honest explanations.

[@willysheepskin]

Thanks a ton man! Honored to be among the select few haha!

[@oneill.onfilm]

A man who knows his craft. 👏 your technical ability has always impressed me so much man. Thank you for sharing all of this for freeeee!! Also I had no idea that different light leaks had different colours… literally blew my mind! And people calling you them things, fools a plenty on the internet…

[@willysheepskin]

Ahah I'm glad I come across as such! Thank's for watching the free thing haha! Rad that you learnt something about leaks as well And yeah man fools a plenty indeed, had to deal with a whole bunch of em this week, on and off the internet so wasn't in the mood for conflict on this one ahah

[@TheBigNegative-PhotoChannel]

very interesting video. The video I would have wanted when I started! I also did not think that Pro400h has so little dynamic range. 😮

[@willysheepskin]

Glad you found it interesting man! I did rate that Pro400h at iso 250 I think so it was veeery overexposed to be fair haha

[@brntgudn]

Please do more of these videos! I've been working with film negatives for years now and learned new things in this video!

[@willysheepskin]

Glad you got something out of it Brent! I'm sure I'll make another video in this style sometime in the future!

[@yannickwansel6952]

quick tip: you can also set up your iphone to change its screen to negative and then use the camera to get a quick look of the negatives inverted.

[@willysheepskin]

Haha yep I often do that! What I talk about in this video is more about understanding the negative itself than inverting it technologically though, but that’s a great tip! ( if anyone is curious you go; settings -> accessibility -> display and text size -> classic invert)

[@Geoooooooo91]

Such quality content and so much love in the comments too! (I'm also glad you don't spend half the video making and drinking coffee 😆)

[@willysheepskin]

Thanks so much George! It's wonderful how many kind folks stop by here weekly, and I don't drink coffee ahah, lament for the coffee shots that will never be lol!

[@iainlaurence]

Very informative! I usually need the invert filter on my camera phone to figure out what’s going on with a negative

[@willysheepskin]

I really should’ve mentioned that nifty strategy in this video haha!

[@asherhodara389]

Awesome video man. Sheepsquad school is in session!

[@willysheepskin]

Ahaha Sheepsquad school, what a legend! Cheers Asher!

[@aristoioannidis7490]

Great update. I have a much better understanding of negatives and positives by a cursory review. Interesting about printing off a scan you can salvage more versus printing of a negative. You get a better appreciation of metering process. Thanks again.

[@willysheepskin]

Thanks Aristo! Glad to have added something to your understanding! Great metering is indeed very important for getting good negs to work with, and you're welcome! Thank you!

[@olgamarsay8483]

Wonderfully well explained and interesting.

[@willysheepskin]

Thank you! I’m glad you got something out of it!

[@ReimannPembroke]

This is a really nice and informative video Will! I hope tons of beginners see this!

[@willysheepskin]

Cheers Reimann! Might be a bit too much left unexplained for the very beginners still but hopefully useful for folks that have a vague idea about things but want to look into it a bit more!

[@mayasarembock8739]

This makes so much sense! Thanks Willy

[@willysheepskin]

You are most welcome miss Maya

[@simonr1chter]

Ooooh thank you for that hint with the colour of the lightleaks! That makes so much sense to me now :D Again, great video!

[@willysheepskin]

You’re welcome! Useful as a starting point for identifying things haha! Glad you enjoyed things once more Simon!

[@ryanbhangdia]

awesome video!! thanks for breaking this stuff down so nicely

[@willysheepskin]

Cheers Ryan! Glad you got something out of it!

[@giantkingsquid]

Really enjoyed that. Thanks.

[@willysheepskin]

Thank's Mr.Squid! You're welcome!

[@craigmckernan4056]

Super helpful, thanks

[@willysheepskin]

Glad you found it useful Craig! Cheers!

[@isidoros20]

Great vid thanks! I've always wanted to get better at understanding colour theory, especially in conjunction to celluloid film. Maybe part two for nerds?

[@willysheepskin]

Cheers man, might just make a part two somewhere down the line indeed!

[@lilkngstr]

Really helpful!

[@willysheepskin]

Awesome! Glad you got something out of it!

[@karlnovel]

thank you, this was quite interesting!

[@willysheepskin]

You’re welcome Karl! Glad you found it interesting!

[@Felhasz007]

Interesting topic Willy! You never fail to impress with content ❤️

[@willysheepskin]

Thanks Sreeku! I just make videos about stuff I find interesting so it's rad when the interests are shared!

[@Felhasz007]

@@willysheepskin between that light table is rad af 🔥

[@RELAXEDFIT]

Great breakdown! Jealous of your XL Kaiser Light Table!

[@willysheepskin]

Thanks! I'm jealous of that table too haha, I borrowed it from the lab! I have an A4 one, that big one is dreaaaamy

[@normancacho]

Great Video

[@willysheepskin]

Thanks Norman!

[@justinmueller9579]

Hi will Justin here, would be great if you do this for black and white negs too, latitude is the game I think

[@twoone5745]

dope

[@gpcy]

If i get my scans back and its not blank, i am a proud film shooter😂😂😂

[@willysheepskin]

Don’t worry before you know it it’ll all fall into place, I’ve had a fair few blank rolls over the years haha!

[@MalcolmKingswell]

Great video William, how did you video the negatives so that they became a positive please

[@willysheepskin]

Cheers Malcom! I just inverted the video color in premier pro!

[@pain6154]

Willy!

[@caleblebourgeois7290]

But seriously this video is so cool learned a lot

[@willysheepskin]

Thanks Caleb, I’m glad to hear it! Will get more into color theory at some point I reckon

[@juiceboyxd9310]

Wow you know alot of stuff.

[@willysheepskin]

Thanks man! I have much yet to learn!

[@pain6154]

Job interview today🤝

[@willysheepskin]

Well if you're as early for that as you were for this you're a shoe-in! Go gettem!

[@pain6154]

@@willysheepskin update- i got it😎

[@clairescheepers]

Whooooot. ❤️

[@willysheepskin]

@@pain6154 congratulations!!!

[@caleblebourgeois7290]

“Basic color theory” okay ha!

[@willysheepskin]

Ahah I’m so on edge talking about anything at the moment cus it really gets to me when the elitists show up and start telling me how dumb I am, could’ve said that better tbh! But all it really is is colors and their opposites in grading terms - so cyan + red | green + magenta and blue + yellow are the basic opposites to keep in mind

[@leopoldlemon3779]

some negatives have base casts and other negatives just leave shit comments on youtube videos, okay ha! 0:43 you obviously missed this part

[@caleblebourgeois7290]

@@leopoldlemon3779 have a great day thanks!

[@willysheepskin]

I think you’ve misunderstood Caleb’s intentions here matey, I feel like it was more of a “ah but basic color theory might not be basic to some folks” than a jab at anyone. We’re all just here for a good time, let’s bust out the Ektar and hunt down tha toooonez

[@mannymartin_ez]

Just got my first film camera, went straight to medium format. Very excite, very student. t h a n k y o u w i l l i a m

[@willysheepskin]

That’s awesome man congratulations! Have fun and don’t be too hard on yourself if things go wrong starting out, the process of figuring it all out is the fun part!