There are so many benefits to developing your own film. Not only can it be cost saver over sending film out to a lab, it also gives you more control over your images and frees you up to experiment with your film photography.
But venturing into the world of film developing can also be really overwhelming!
You might have a lot of questions, a bit of uncertainty about the process, or no idea where to start. So we gathered up 15 of our favorite film developing resources to help you out!
These tutorials include step-by-step tutorials for developing your film (b&w and color!), FAQs to answer all of your questions, and more. We even have some resources for scanning your negatives and alternative developing processes.
So dive in and you’ll be developing your own film in no time!
How to Develop Your Own Film: The Basics
These articles cover the basics of how to get started developing your own film at home.
They include supply lists, walkthroughs of the process, and the answers to common questions you might have when you start developing.
- How To Develop Black and White Film at Home
- Develop Color Film At Home
- Your Self-Developing Questions Answered!
- FAQs: Developing Your Own Film!
A Few Advanced Developing Topics
Ready to take your developing to the next level?
These resources cover some of the more advanced topics you may want to tackle after you have the basics down, like how to push your film and if you should branch out and try a new developer.
- Pushing Film: Film Photography Guide
- An Introduction to Cross-Processing Film
- Kodak HC-110 vs Ilford Ilfosol-3: Which B&W Film Developer Should You Use?
Scanning Your Film Negatives
Once you start developing your own film, you’ll also need to find a process for scanning your film.
Here are a few helpful articles about different ways to scan your negatives and tips for getting the scans you want.
- Intro to Scanning Your Own Film Negatives
- Scanning Film Negatives with a DSLR
- How to Sharpen Your Film Scans
- How To Edit Film Scans In Adobe Lightroom
- Quick Tips for Organizing and Archiving Film Negatives
Alternative Developing Process
If you love experimenting with film, this section is for you! Learn to develop in unconventional chemicals and more!
- Develop B&W Film with Coffee! A Caffenol Developing Tutorial
- Developing Color Film in Black and White Chemicals
- Beginner’s Guide to Wet Plate Photography
We hoped this collection of resources has encouraged you to start developing your own film!
Leave any questions you have below in the comments, and you can check out all of our film photography tutorials here.
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Blog Comments
Courtney Bell
June 2, 2021 at 11:06 am
Thank you for providing so many great resources! After reading Amy’s article about developing color film at home, I immediately purchased everything she recommended, and I cannot wait to develop and scan my first roll of C-41!
shootitwithfilm
June 2, 2021 at 8:55 pm
That is so excited! Cannot wait to see your first roll of C-41!!!