Shooting film can be daunting at first. When you're confined to a limited number of exposures, you want to make sure every one comes out as you intended. But sometimes things go wrong and you end up with under or overexposed negatives. And sometimes you don't get anything at all!
Today, we're going to talk about how we can read our negatives in order to improve our image-making. What does a good negative look like? What should we aim to avoid - and how?
What does an underexposed negative look like?
What does the 'ideal' negative look like? The first thing we want to check is the range of tones. Is there a full range of lights to darks? A well-exposed negative should show you everything in the image, with no blown out areas.
If your negative looks too light, with portions of the image blending into the rebate of the film (see the examples below), it means it's underexposed.
That means that not enough light was recorded on the film to give you detail in your shadow areas. When printing or scanning underexposed negatives, you might find that the darker parts of the image appear 'milky' or faded.
In colour darkroom printing, underexposed negatives can lead to blue or cyan tones that are really hard to shift.
What do overexposed negatives look like?
The opposite of underexposure is - you guessed it - overexposure. This is when too much light is recorded on the film, giving a very dense and dark appearance.
Although this is generally preferable to underexposure (for example, Kodak Portra 400 generally benefits from 1 stop of overexposure), it does present problems of its own.
An overexposed negative can appear low in contrast and flat. You'll see in the example below that the negatives are generally missing the range of tones from light to dark, and everything appears dark grey.
When you get in the black and white darkroom, this can lead to a frustrating battle when trying to add contrast. While there are tricks you can employ, such as increasing the temperature of your developer, it's always better to get it right in camera than suffer in the darkroom.
The holy grail: a well-exposed negative
While we are all free to make our own artistic choices when it comes to how light or dark we present our images, having a well-exposed negative gives us the freedom to venture down so many different paths later down the line.
In the example below (negative #15), you can see a full range of tones, from light to dark, yet nothing is blown out.
When we come to scan or print with this negative, we'll find that the contrast is good without having to employ any tricks to increase it. It also means that we won't get any faded highlights or milky shadows.
Want to know more about perfecting your exposures?
Achieving a well-exposed negative is a combination of getting it right in-camera and in the development process. We can help you master the art (and science) of exposure here at the lab, through 1-2-1s and group workshops.
If you fancy getting to grips with exposure, get in touch and book a 1-2-1 today!