Why Film?
ONCE UPON at time, long ago, there were only film cameras…they magically created photographs out of light, paper and potions. Negatives were produced and from this a print was made. Then digital cameras arrived. They copied the look of their predecessors and were ‘safe’ (you can see the image immediately), easy to use, produced thousands of images and could cope in dark/inside rooms (for this reason I do still use digital cameras). But, if you want the fairytale….. FILM is where its at!
How does it work for your wedding?
The film photographs are taken on Contax 645 medium format cameras. These cameras are now rare. You cannot buy them anymore in the shops. As many pro’s confirm the Contax 645 ‘is the worlds most advanced medium-format camera system’ (Ken Rockwell). So you have the rolls-royce of cameras taking your wedding photographs!
After a global search to find the best Lab (dark room), the rolls of film are then shipped to California where they are developed. The Lab use a precise colour calibration which is an art form and follows years of discussion between us and in line with our exacting requirements. Your photographs are then scanned using a Frontier scanner (which again to our minds are the best in the world and produces a deeper, richer tone spectrum and one more settled than any other high street or professional scanning machine).
Your film photographs are now in a digital format and after a few more rounds of post production here in the studio are ready to be added to your final edit which you receive as an online gallery and USB.
SUNSHINE on a cloudy day
You feel this is a sunny day right? It wasnt! It had some light cloud and sunny spells but this moment was overcast (a rather common weather type for the UK). But film gives your photograph warmth and your skin tones colour and has a sunny disposition! All great and really flattering.
(Wedding at the Queens House, Greenwich London)
GOING GREEN
You see the shades, folds and detail of your wedding dress as film does not ‘blow-out’ whites - ie make it a blanket white which digital has a tendency to do.
Also the greens stay GREEN. How many wedding photographs have you seen where the green is too blue or grey or barely there at all (often these are digital photos trying to emulate film). Conversely its not too dark and moody brown or black in shade. Here we like your photographs to remain true to life and not age with time as the fashion for these types of post-production passes.
(Wedding at Hill Garden and Pergoda, Hampstead, London)
GRAIN v Noise.
Black and White film is a CLASSIC! It looks entirely different to a digital image which has been processed into black and white. Thats to do with the whole way it is captured (see above). And this is recognised by all photographers as a film photograph has what’s called ‘grain’ which is lovely and gives texture and depth, whereas a digital camera creates what photographers call ‘noise’ with pixels.
(Wedding at Chateau de labro in South France)
51 Degrees NORTH
Did you know UK sunlight is more blue in colour tone? Did you know the reason Hollywood is in Hollywood is because of the light you get in that part of California? Did you know the Renaissance came about because Artists saw the yellow golden clear light in Italy.
We have become experts in UK light and applied our knowledge to your wedding. We use a particular film stock, we have spoken to our Lab so they colour calibrate to deal with our ‘blue’ light and chosen a particular scanner to keep the warmth in our film photographs. (NOTE: We’ve learnt the hard way so if you want us to photograph your wedding in a beautiful light filled place - like Italy, South of France, Australia, California it’ll be a walk in the park!)
(Wedding at Manor House Hotel, Cotswolds)
It was all a BLUR
The blurred background creates a 3D image and makes the photograph come alive. Yes, digital can do this blur too but not as magically as film can (and especially Contax 645 camera which is what is used to capture your wedding).
(Wedding at the Old Royal Naval College, London)
FEELING the FAIRYTALE.
It LOOKS right, right? The colours are all captured perfectly (not too light or too dark). Likewise its not too saturated or too contrasted. This is what film does - the swirl of colours, shades, tones and the crisp detail of the couple against the slight blur of their wedding venue….Magical.
Lets get INSIDE
Photographing on film inside can be tricky and to make sure you get your wedding captured, digital cameras often pick up the slack here. But LOOK what film can do! Keeps colour tones, makes everything beautiful and still works like a packhorse! Sometimes the films are ‘pushed’ a little but a trained steady hand helps capture these types of photographs.