FILM IS STILL NOT DEAD...

This is your standard 35mm Panavision Movie Camera

FILM IS STILL NOT DEAD

"Everyone is going to digital! It's so much better than film. You have to go full digital if you want to shoot professional! Everyone's shooting in digital! Did you hear. All movies are shot on digital SLRS these days! FILM IS DEAD!"

WRONG.....

This is the jargon that goes around the wedding community from time-to-time on photography forums. Unfortunately, most wedding professionals don't know what they are talking about as they spent most oftheir entire life in the wedding industry; unlike myself who worked waist deep in the movie production. And I can tell you confidently, for the most part, most films, both studio backed and independent, are still shot on Kodak Film. In fact, most sitcoms, hour long dramas, and commercials are ALL still shot on film. Did you know that The NFL still uses film as their choice of medium when they feel there is a story to tell? Yes, film, is the true storyteller's medium when it comes to recording anything live action.

In my quick conclusions, film will never be dead as long as the movie industry continues to thrive. While Kodak Films may not sell as much consumer film as they used to, they will still sell mass amounts of film to the professional community. In fact, just a month ago, Kodak was completely sold out of their top-of-the-line PORTRA series film. Yes, there is still a large group of professional photographers who still shoot on film. Myself included...(see http://www.choosefilm.com/)

Here are pictures from a recent wedding that I shot with both a digital and film camera.

This is shot on my Canon G10, 14.7 Megapixel Camera at ISO 80. This camera, even though it is a snapshot camera, shoots the same quality as many High quality DLSR in normal daylight. It is the camera of choice for many war photojournalist as it is small and does not look like a missile launcher. In fact, it has grown to be the main camera choice to many professional photographers. To see more amazing G10 IMAGES click here:


This is the same picture retouched in Adobe Lightroom. I'm actually very good in color correcting photos since I understand exposure rather well. I always try to make digital shots look like film, but still, it's not quite the same.

This is shot on 400 ISO PORTRA Film. The exposure and color for this shot is not corrected. Light passes through the negative, creates an image on the paper, and this is what you get. Even when digital photographs are retouched to look like film, the pictures still don't feel the same. Don't you agree? Look at the skin tones, the three dimensional feeling on the faces... the contrast...better isn't it?

It's important to mention that a bad photographer is a bad photographer, no matter what medium they may choose. I recently met a photographer who bragged that she was the only wedding film photographer in Hawaii. My photography lab, the only professional film processor in Hawaii, did not know of her personally. The reason? Well, she doesn't shoot on professional film, and develops her pictures at a local drug store. A local drug store! Are you kidding me! I wish I could tell you the name of her company but I can't on the web because I would probably get sued. But if you call me, or email me personally, I'll spill the beans.

A true professional film photographer who really knows what they're doing, understands the art of photography much better than the photographer who learned the art through digital mediums. Since they can't preview exactly what they shoot, they have to rely on their knowledge of science, math, and former experience to get the perfect shot. And do they perfect shot...more than often, yes!

So when it comes to your wedding, I always ask. Do you want digital or film quality. Almost every bride chooses film and are happy that they did so.

Well....I'm off to work more today. In fact, I'm heading out to drop off some film to the photo lab!


Steve Young
The Wedding Guy