Black and White Film

For the record, I like black and white film. Both the kind you can get processed at a drug store (type C41) and the traditional kind that must be processed in black and white film chemistry. Some labs still process traditional black and white film, but you are better off doing it yourself. Therein lies its biggest advantage. By developing the film myself, I have total control over the outcome.

Once the film is developed - either my me or by a c41 lab - I scan it into a computer where the film images are merged with the digital camera images I took from the same event. This is called a "digital darkroom" and it allows me to apply the latest digital enhancements to all my images. It doesn't matter whether they originally came from a film or digital camera, they get treated the same once they are on my computer.

But they don't look the same. I'm not sure why. There is a lot of film vs digital debate on the internet, but I don't want to get into that here. I use primarily digital cameras in my business, but I always try to shoot some black and white film at an event too. How much and which kind of film depends on the clients and the event. For black and white, my film images have a different look and feel than my digital images. Could be the way I process the film, could be the "handling" differences between the film and digital cameras, could be a lot of things. I like the results and I like offering it to my clients. It's something that differentiates my company from the others.

What's the downside? Time. Few activities can burn through time faster that scanning film. Ask Jean if you don't believe me. Developing and scanning film are two extra, time-consuming steps that must be done to all the film images before they even get the same point in the production as the images that came from the digital camera. These are costs that I must pass on to my clients, but I believe the results justify the added expense.