3 easy ways to replicate the experience and feel of film with digital cameras

I don't know about you, but coming from the world of film my always gripe is that my photography is as organic as possible.

Film photography is something that I continue to do from time to time and that I recommend to everyone, but it is not possible to do it every day, for a matter of time and cost. Of course the real film experience is not replicable, but we can still approach more organic results.

What do I mean by more organic results? I am referring to the total experience to be applied both in terms of approach and aesthetic result. It follows from this that it is important for me to have adopted a workflow that allows me this. Let me clarify that is not just about the final result and the aesthetics of the images, even if that is the main goal. What I always wanted to achieve is that feeling of when I was a kid, using my film point & shoot. On the street is very important to me to have a particular mindset and the organic workflow that I builded in years is the one that allows me to enjoy the whole photographic experience. Here we go with 5 essential elements:

1 - The choice of gear

There are several tips that I can give you for the choice of gear allowint to experience a film like experience. First of all, whenever possible, privilege cameras that feel good for you to have in your hand and use them. Cameras that have a body built in metal are a real pleasure to work with. In the past I did have fantastic point & shoots like Panasonic Lumix LX3, Olympus Pen E-P1, Canon G12, Ricoh GRD IV. In particular the LX3 by Panasonic counts with a CCD sensor. Do you know in Japan a fever to obtain these cameras broke out? It seems that old digital cameras with a CCD sensor offered a more similar result to film photography. Guys, also ther Leica M9 has a CCD sensor.

For an interchangeable lens system some recommend to use vintage lenses: I tried this too, using adapters. My experience has not been positive and therefore I do not recommend it. The problem is that those lenses were born for the specific cameras of yore and the results of putting them to mirrorless cameras is too high a compromise in quality. If excessive vignetting can also be seen as something creative and distinctive what made me abandon the whole idea is a contour around the objects that invalidates the whole image produced, and even if it happens only at times, in particular light conditions, or with particular lenses and cameras, I don't care to advance along that path.

Instead, what I would like to recommend is rather third-party lenses specifically built for the new cameras but conceived as vintage lenses and therefore all manual. On this blog I was able to share my experience with the 25mm f1.8 lens produced by the guys from 7Artisans. With this lens I was able to transform the experience with the XPro2 into something extremely close to what it is with a film rangefinder. A lot of photos that you see on my visual blog ALL FORGETABLE THINGS were made with this combo.

2 - The light editing approach

This approach heavily affects the entire result of my photography. Something that comes from being a street photographer but which has ended up distinguishing my entire activity as a photographer, even for working with clients. Although there are many photographers who believe the process ends when the image is processed and completed in post production for me the real end of the process is in recognizing a photographic moment and taking the picture.

This way of experiencing photography is clearly derived from my experience as a film photographer: using a point & shoot camera (Fujica MA-1) when I was a kid. Color photography and so I took the rolls to develop in a laboratory. Ever since I photographed I have gone to the snapshot temple: for me that's what photography is all about.

Since 2014 I photograph only in JPG. Something that many photographers won't find a choice to share, but to me it fits both in terms of personal photography and in terms of commissions and client assignments. Photographing exclusively in JPG requires you to take a certainly different approach. My way of photographing then exposes me even more to possible errors and could lead to frustration, even if it doesn't work with me.

In the specific of editing I use Adobe Lightroom Classic and how my readers know I developed my presets. For color photography usually lowering the contrast and using warm tones works to get an effect closer to film. While for black and white I increase the contrast to get closer to the TRI-X film which is the reference one in addition to a lot of Japanese photography, from Araki to Moriyama. Returning to color for the cameras I'm using right now I like a positive film simulation: I created some presets that count with the AUTO settings of LR, integrated. In this way the photos are just like I love to see my photography: realistic and without fear of showing the color of the world around.

3 - The mindset

But the key part in all of this is how our brains process experience. In practice, from that derives the result in which I will get those photos that would seem possible only with a film camera. How many risks are you willing to take? Above all, it resulted from never thinking in terms of the perfection of the image but rather about the feeling that comes from that image.

Coming out of the comfort zone and rather be ready to experiment, calling into question everything about photography, especially what they teach you in the academy. In all these years I have made choices that at times have exposed me also in terms of bad choices also for the actual result of the image I wanted, in search of that most organic and least digital result possible.

I have taken my approach to extremes many times, I have changed it by taking on the responsibility of not being understood. I shot with three megapixel cameras or chose compact rather than expensive cameras. Now I'm back to DSLR photography and you know what? How nice to count with an optical viewfinder!

But by mindet I also mean the way you approach an image. An image that when you look at your computer monitor you do not go to magnify it to 400% if not to see a detail, but without that fixed idea of sharpness. If it is not clear what you have in mind you fix yourself to look for the sharpness in an image! Let's really think back to what's important in photography. I don't want to sound overly romantic but what really matters is the feeling and what you are able to convey through your photography.

I also think back to when I see the books of great masters or go to exhibitions, I think back to the exhibitions of Ferdinando Scianna, Antonio Turok and Garry Winogrand, just to mention 3 exhibitions that are particularly close to my heart and that really moved me a lot. And I think back to my 2020 exhibition: to a photo in particular that was the first printed, as proof: the least clear of all. And that we feared for the result in large format: 192x94cm. Approach a printed photograph. Don't be afraid you won't find that digital precision. Think back to the whole way of metabolizing photography. Fall in love with something that in over a century has not lived in perfection but rather with that vibrant feeling that only a good photo can give you.

Conclusions

Guys, it is not an obligation to approach a filmic approach in digital. There are photographers who love the mathematical perfection of digital and therefore use their cameras to the best of the possibilities that these concentrates of technology offer. And that's why some hate extremely slow autofocus or certain choices some manufacturers make.

With this article I hope to have inspired someone. Because it is also possible digitally to get something more organic and that brings your experience to something that for me has proved to be a winner in all these years of career.