Is Film Right For Your Family Photo Session?

As a Tampa family photographer who also offers film photos, or hybrid film and digital photo sessions, I often get asked “why film?”

For me, it is a no brainer, it is nostalgic, timeless and just lets me document families in a way not many other people in the area still can. Film may cost more, the film is expensive, harder to find the right film stock some days, and then I have to pay to mail it and develop and scan it, so it takes a bit more time, too. But, even with the cost and time there is just nothing like it. Film makes me slow down while we are together, really press that shutter with a purpose and vision. So the snap really means something to me. There is a relaxed way of film sessions; we get to chat between shutter presses, and that little bit of breath and talking makes it less like you are “on” the entire time, too.

Plus, there is just something so timeless and nostaltic about how the images turn out, am I right? Here is a recent newborn petite session where they added on a roll of film to their session instead of selecting the full two hour in-home newborn session. They still came away with about the same amount of images as a longer session, but as I was documenting their newborn and family on both digital and film, we got two petite galleries in one session.

I don’t always try to make my digital images look like film, but a few of the images I do try to give a more film-like feel to them, so if a family adds a roll of film on, there are often times they can’t tell which is the authentic film and which is the look alike. If you like crisp images of perfection, then film may not be a right fit with you. And that is okay. I still offer fully digital family photo sessions but if you are looking to add a bit of something new to your next session, you can always add a roll of film. Or, you can look for my fall hybrid session dates for mini-sessions, too. Those are 45 minute mini-sessions, so a little extra time, and additional edited images in your gallery to choose from with half of the gallery being digital negatives and half being scanned film photos, too. Those are kind of the best of both worlds to get a taste of film and see if it is a good fit for your family.

I am so thrilled this family added on film and trusted me with baby girl number two. Here is a look back at their first baby’s newborn session just a few years ago. We did the first sister’s session a few weeks after she was born, but this little sweet bub, we did the photo session when she was just days old. Doesn’t this mama look incredible? They all do! What a sweet and lovely family and their style is on point if you are looking for what to wear for newborn photos, too!

The next several pictures are all on 35mm film, Kodak Portra400, rated at 200 and devloped by my amazing scan tech at The Find Lab in Utah. I use the same film devloper each time I get my film scanned and developed to make sure my images stay true to my style and portfolio.

I love that this is one of the prints they got a little larger. The layering of a new family of four is so beautiful in all this grainy goodness of film.

Now to move on to the digital portion of the newborn photo session from Tampa family photographer, Hamilton Creek Photography

This particular photo just looked better with a film grain on it, so that is why this particular image looks like a film photo but it isn’t

This is another photo that was slighly imperfect and the addition of grain just makes it feel film perfect, right?

Click the “learn more” button below to learn more about film add-ons and see more examples of film work by Hamilton Creek Photography.