Should You Edit Your Film?

In this issue, Jakob Lilja-Ruiz, aka @Portra_Papi, delves into the age-old question of whether or not to edit your film scans. He touches on the history of photography and how analog methods have transitioned into digital manipulation, ultimately arguing that it is important to understand how scanners process color differently and how to correct your film accordingly. Jakob shares his personal experience using Gelatin labs and how we have helped him maximize the potential of his images.

The age-old question within the film community: Is it acceptable to edit your film?

This inquiry didn’t seem to concern legendary photographers like Ansel Adams, who would spend hours in the darkroom meticulously dodging and burning images to achieve his envisioned result. Throughout the history of this medium, photographers have breathed life into their images in the darkroom. As analog methods transitioned into digital manipulation, the new question became how to accurately represent the true colors in processed images.

Exposure stands as one of the most impactful elements within photography. However, digitizing images introduces challenges, if you aren’t careful to make adjustments while scanning, and in post with your edits.

It’s important to note that not all scanners are created equal.

The process of scanning film from home remains a most complex task to master, due to the diverse range of equipment available today. Opting to not edit your film relinquishes control over to the choices of a lab technician. Having the ability to choose Contrast and Temperature preferences via your lab lessens the amount of subjective choices a technician needs to make.

Contrast is key.

If you are opting to utilize Gelatin’s Flat Contrast option during scanning, discerning the exact exposure captured in the images becomes the challenge.

Fine-tuning contrast stands as one of the impactful creative decisions for analog photographers. With preset color stocks, the choice in contrast becomes a defining style within our archives.

Details

In Lightroom, Jakob can fine-tune his scan to recover highlight detail in a sky, bring his shadows to a desired value, and play with perceived color density using Vibrance and Saturation tools.

Jakob’s Lightroom Tone Curve Adjustments are subtle, bringing his shadows to a true black point on the histogram, and highlights to a true white point. With the flexibility of a Flat Contrast scan, within each color channel, he can make minor tweaks to get the scan to a point of visual balance, in his own style.

Understanding that scanners process color differently is crucial for correcting your film.

While home scanning methods like flatbeds and DSLR scanning offer alternatives, larger commercial scanners, like the Noritsu HS-1800 at Gelatin, unlock a level of quality that’s challenging to replicate with home-based solutions.

As a full-time travel photographer, the bulkiness and time consumption of home scanners nearly halted progress. Being able to ship out my film allows me to remain on the road while obtaining massive TIFF files to work with.

Utilizing Gelatin Labs has maximized the potential of my film after trying countless labs over the years. The substantial data and color profiles stand out as the best I’ve come across, and it’s heartwarming to watch a family-owned Father and Son lab evolve into one of the finest labs in the US.

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