Film versus digital: Which does this portrait photographer prefer?

 

 

Portrait and fashion photographer Irene Rudnyk has been shooting a lot more with film recently. This has prompted numerous viewers to ask questions about the process and how film compares with digital. When digital cameras are so good and it's not necessarily difficult to give a digital file a "film" look, why opt for the more expensive, more convoluted process of shooting with film?

For Rudnyk, her process of shooting digital versus shooting film is quite different. Her digital camera is a Canon 5D Mark III and her film camera is a Mamiya 645 Pro. When shooting film, Rudnyk has to be much more selective with what she shoots, she cannot shoot thousands of images easily with film, whereas that's no problem with digital. Likewise, it's easy to correct mistakes when shooting digital as you can view your images right then. With film, that's not possible, so you need to be very precise when metering your shots.

The disadvantages of film can sometimes act as advantages if you use them as motivation. For Rudnyk, she finds herself being much more careful and precise when shooting with film, oftentimes slowing down and thinking more before image capture because there's a much more obvious penalty when you waste a shot of film compared to capturing a bad shot on a digital camera.

(Via Irene Rudnyk)