How to push & pull film: The creative & practical applications of mismatching your film & camera speed

 

 

While most photographers these days shoot with digital cameras exclusively, there are still many who have stuck with film or perhaps are digital photographers who want to give analog photography a try. This weekend, we have a neat video from The Slanted Lens' Jay P. Morgan -- a very accomplished digital photographer who still dabbles in film – wherein he shows how to push and pull film.

Pushing and pulling film comes into play during two different parts of the film photographic process, when you are shooting and when you are developing the film. When shooting, pushing and pulling involves setting your camera to a different ISO speed than the film you are using. For example, if you are using an ISO 800 film and set the camera to 1600, you are basically underexposing the film by one stop. This means that when you go to process the film, you must increase the exposure by a stop. This allows for numerous creative and practical applications, as outlined by Morgan below. There is also an excellent article about the topic at Richard Photo Lab, which coincidentally is where Morgan had his film scanned.

(Via The Slanted Lens)