30 Film Photography Resources for Beginners!

If you love the idea of going analog, but aren’t sure where to start, we have got you covered!

We put together over 30 of our favorite film photography resources for beginners and organized them into one easy-to-follow reference.

These tutorials and resources will help you learn how to shoot film, covering everything from buying a film camera and shooting different film stocks to how to rate and meter your film.

Even if you’ve been shooting film for a while, you’ll find plenty of takeaways and tips to up your film photography game.

Film Photography Courses for Beginners

For an online classroom setting to learn how to shoot film, we love the film photography classes from Skillshare. And they have a free trial!

Here are a few of our favorite Skillshare courses perfect for beginners:

• Film Photography: Shoot Your First Roll Of 35mm Film
• Film Photography: The Ins and Outs of Going Analogue
• Aperture, Shutter Speed & ISO: The Basics of (Analog) Photography
• Analog Photography: Beginners Class
• You can find their full list of film photography courses here.

Film Cameras for Beginners

Every new film photographer starts in the same place: What camera should I get??? Here are a few articles to help you choose your first (or your next!) film camera:

• 5 Film Cameras Under $50!
• 5 Great 35mm Film Cameras for Beginners!
• 12 Best Point and Shoot Film Cameras
• 5 Awesome Medium Format Film Cameras for Beginners

Choosing the Right Film

Now that you have your film camera ready to go, you’ll need some film!

These articles will give you an overview of color and b&w film stocks. They also have plenty of example images so you can see which one(s) you might want to try.

• Guide To Choosing A Color Film
• Ilford Black and White Film Guide – Which One is Right for You?

And here are some more in-depth film stock reviews and comparisons for a few of the more popular film stocks:

• How to Shoot Kodak Portra 400
• How to Shoot Fuji Pro 400H
• How To Shoot Kodak Gold 200
• How To Shoot Kodak Ultramax 400
• Fuji Superia X-TRA 400 vs Kodak Ultramax 400 Film Stock Comparison
• B&W Film Stock Comparisons: Kodak Tri-X vs Ilford HP5 vs Kodak TMax

You can find all of our film stock reviews here.

Helpful Tips for Beginners

These articles will help you answer a ton of those film photography questions you might have as a beginner. They are filled with helpful tips to ease the learning curve and minimize some common film photography frustrations.

• 5 Reasons to Try Shooting Film
• 6 Film Photography Tips for Beginners
• 10 Tips to Improve Your Film Photography
• Shooting Film on a Budget: Money-Saving Tips for Film Photographers
• 35mm vs 120: Choosing a Film Format
• Your Guide to Medium Format Film Photography
• How To Edit Film Scans In Adobe Lightroom
• 5 Film Photography Mistakes to Avoid
• Awesome Tips for Traveling with Film
• 10 Common Film Issues and How to Fix Them
• 5 Film Photography Concepts You Need to Know

Conquering the Trickier Film Photography Skills

There are a few areas of film photography that tend to trip up beginners. Skills like metering, rating, and pushing your film (and how that all works together!) are quite a bit different than digital photography and can be hard to wrap your brain around.

Once you get these down, you have officially graduated out of beginner status!

• How Metering and Rating Film Go Hand in Hand
• Pushing Film: Film Photography Guide

Getting a Certain Film Photography Look

If you’re after a specific style of film photography, such as that light and airy film look, check out these articles. They have lots of tips to help you nail down a specific look or genre.

• Tips for Creating Light and Airy Photos on Film
• 3 Tips for Shooting Moodier Images with Film
• 4 Tips For Creating Interesting Portraits
• 4 Quick Tips for Shooting Better Landscapes on Film
• 5 Tips for Shooting Double Exposures on Film

We hope this collection of film photography resources for beginners has been helpful in your film journey! Leave any questions about how to shoot film below in the comments!

Related Posts:

Kathleen Ellis

Kathleen Ellis (Kathleen Frank) is a fine art and travel film photographer and the founder of Shoot It With Film. Find her other articles here, such as 5 35mm Film Cameras for Beginners and 5 Best Point and Shoot Film Cameras.

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