first roll of film, post digital

After spending so much time learning photography over the past few years on my digital camera, I decided that it was time to try film. I took lots of pictures on film growing up, but that was all a long time ago, and in auto. My hubs gave me a Canon Elan 7E for Christmas. It's a 35mm camera that works with all of my lenses. I had a sneaking hope I would get it, so I ordered a roll of film just in case. One roll of Kodak Portra 800. Then I went big and sent them off to the FIND lab for developing and scanning. Then, the wait, oh the wait, oh the wait. They just came in today, with some marvelous feedback. It was just like Christmas morning. I was positively giddy with excitement. I have more keepers than throwaways! I experimented with backlighting, open shade, inside, and a few through a window. I learned how strong backlight really changes the colors in film. The good, bad and a bit out of focus or eyes half open. I was thrilled with the exposures, and the skin. Oh that dreamy skin! Drum roll . . . here is the full set, along with their feedback at the end. EEEK!

catewnek-maine-DDWnek000112-R1-075-36.jpg

Here is the feedback from the geniuses at theFINDlab 

Hi Cate,

Your exposures looked great throughout this roll….very consistent! When the heavy backlighting came into play, there was a lot of color shift and sun flare. We did try to neutralize the color as much as we could in-scanner and also in post processing, but you’ll still notice some strong color in many of the images. The sun-soaked images are actually pretty cool, in my opinion, however, if you are wanting cleaner color, I would highly recommend shooting with the sun positioned at 10 or 2. Film does not handle direct sun very well. 

The tones and colors on image 4 (is that Christina?) are SPOT ON. Love the way that turned out! Also loved 16-18. These were really, really cool shooting through that glass….and fantastic color. 

You’ll notice pretty heavy grain throughout the roll as well — this is just the nature of ISO 800 shot on 35mm. I really do love the feel of it, though. Overall, great work! 

Hope you enjoy your scans. Let me know if you have any questions at all — would love to be of help! You’re always welcome to e-mail me or give us a call here at the lab. Thanks for choosing the FIND lab and have a great day!

Heather (editor)

Donnie (scanner)