Digital Camera Film

Knowing the sensibility of a digital camera film we are using and knowing if it's black and white or color, is enough to make a good photograph. When we see the results of our first few rolls we will notice that an image effectively appears and a picture has been “made”. While experimenting it will become apparent that there may be a notable difference between what we were seeing in the viewfinder when shooting and the final image: almost all the pictures “come out”, but most of them do so in a way that isn't exactly what we expected.

On the other hand, in many publications as well as expositions, we can admire superb photographs that offer an impressive range of colors. Before incredibly rich and descriptive photographs, and as aspirants to create images of that quality, we ask ourselves how the enormous richness in detail, the color or tones in lack and white have been achieved. An amateur finds it hard to believe that any of the images has been made with the same film available to anybody in stores.

Photographic reproduction depends on the characteristics of the original scene, the operation of the film, and the exposure value we choose when shooting. The correct usage of the film depends above all on a good knowledge of it's operation , since the similarity between vision and photography makes us forget that the film is a very demanding technical element. The registration capacity of film nowadays is huge, but is still much more limited than the eyes.

We can establish a similarity between the three functions of a camera: framing, with which we set the borders of an image; focus, with which we select an interval of distances; and adjust the exposure level, with which we cover a determined brightness interval . While in the viewfinder we can easily see the image and focus, the “frame” of the different brightness on the emulsion can only be made mentally, using what we know about the scene and the operation of the film as reference, as well as our experience with other sensitive material. These calculations allow us to know if what we are trying to do is going to be possible, and if it is, how to achieve it. With experience, at the time of shooting, one can predict exactly the characteristics of the photograph and consider the scene not only as it appears in the viewfinder but as it is on the film.