Why do my first film photos have color casts, grain, and inconsistent exposure?
Asked 12/30/2020
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I'm new to photography and shooting with a Nikon FM10 on color negative film. After getting my first roll developed, many frames came back overexposed or underexposed, and some prints have a strong color tint and noticeable grain. In a couple of examples, the scenes also seem to have very bright backgrounds and much darker foregrounds. What causes this look with film, and how can I avoid it next time?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
5y ago
2 Answers
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I think you exposed negative color film and sent it off to a photofinisher for developing and printing. You should know that color negative film developing and printing is a three-step process. First the film is developed in an automated film developing machine. Next the film is fed into an automated printer. After the film has been exposed to photo paper, it is developed much like film is developed.
A modern film printer is able to custom adjust the light source and exposure time used for each film frame. This is accomplished by analyzing each frame. In other words, the printer measures the negative to be printed and attempts to adjusts the exposure making corrections. The corrections we are talking about is camera exposure errors such as over or under-exposure. Additionally, the color hue of each negative is examined and the exposing light is modified to enhance the exposure so that color balance errors are countered.
These exposure time and lamphouse color has be refined over the last 50 years. However, this system has lots of room for improvement. In other words, the machine’s logic can fail. Mostly it is machine operator error. It takes copious daily tests and adjustments to keep these machines at optimum. Color film volume has now decreased, we are reaching the end of the photofinishing business. Operator training is lax. Don’t fret your off-color pictures. You were born too late to expect optimum results from photofinishers.
Originally by user44949. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user44949
5y ago
0
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What you’re seeing is likely a mix of exposure issues, high-contrast scenes, and the lab’s automatic printing/scanning corrections.
With color negative film, the final print isn’t a “pure” record of the negative. The lab develops the film, then a printer/scanner analyzes each frame and tries to correct brightness and color. If a frame is strongly over/underexposed or has mixed lighting, those automatic corrections can produce odd color casts and emphasize grain.
Your examples also sound like scenes with a very wide brightness range: shaded foreground with sunlit background. Film may not render both areas the way you expect, so either shadows go very dark or highlights dominate. The grain/tinted “old” look can become more obvious when the lab has to push corrections.
A few practical tips:
- Avoid very contrasty scenes while learning.
- Meter carefully, especially when foreground is in shade and background is bright.
- Use film matched to the light source (for example, daylight-balanced film in daylight).
- Don’t expect prints/scans to be unmodified; lab processing affects the result.
- If possible, review the negatives or ask the lab for neutral scans/prints.
Also, from the description, focus/aperture choice may have left the background softer than expected in some shots.
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