7 Film Photography Terms You Need to Know by Drew Evans

Written by Drew Evans

My first roll of film was a disaster.

I bought an old Nikon FE that was included in a box of other Nikon lenses and accessories (that I planned to use on my digital Nikon D610). I screwed on a 35mm lens and loaded up a roll of Kodak Portra 400 with absolutely no clue what I was doing.

When I had the roll developed, I wasn’t sure whether to feel more embarrassed that the lab saw the images or deflated that I had so much to learn. So I got a few tips from the lab tech (mostly about what I screwed up) and went on my way. Those fundamentals completely changed my relationship with film, and photography in general.

Here’s what I learned—hopefully it’s as helpful for you as it was for me.

1. Aperture

Photography is fundamentally about capturing light, so understanding the dance between aperture and shutter speed is probably the single most important thing to learn. Luckily, they’re universal, so what you learn for analog will persist for digital (though your application might change between the two).

Aperture, measured in f-stops like f/2.8 or f/16, does two things: It controls both how much light enters your camera and your depth of field. Every lens has aperture blades that you can open or close depending on what you need. An open, wide aperture lets more light in and makes your depth of field shallow, keeping only a sliver of your frame in focus to give you that dreamy background blur (also called “bokeh”). A closed, narrow aperture lets less light in and extends your depth of field to keep more in focus.

Now, how we talk about aperture will probably sound a bit counter intuitive. A narrow or small aperture is actually a larger f-stop number (i.e., f/16) and keeps more of your scene in focus, while a wide or large aperture is a smaller f-stop (like f/1.8) and makes your depth of field very small.

2. Shutter Speed

Working in tandem with aperture is shutter speed, which determines how long your film is exposed to light. The shutter speed number, measured in seconds or fractions of a second, indicates how long your camera’s shutter curtain stays open.

Like aperture, shutter speed has two effects: It determines how much light gets in, and also controls the exposure time. Fast shutter speeds like 1/1000 (or 1/1000th of a second) let in very little light and allow a very short exposure, freezing motion like water droplets in mid-air. Slower shutter speeds (like 1/8 or 1s) keep your film exposed to light for longer, leading to motion blur and light trails.

Aperture and shutter speed have a consequential relationship—how you change one has an effect on the other. If you’re shooting daytime portraits and you want a shallow depth of field for maximum bokeh, you’ll widen your aperture. But that lets a lot of light into your camera—probably too much—so you’ll need to compensate by increasing your shutter speed so you don’t overexpose your image.

Knowing how these two work together takes practice. Luckily, you can use a light meter, whether in-camera or a handheld, to indicate when your exposure is over, under, or right on. Or you can use the classic “Sunny 16” rule if you want to practice trial-by-error.

You can read more aperture, shutter speeds, and the exposure triangle here.

Tip: If you can, take a roll of film and shoot some test shots (or save money and use a digital camera if you have one!). See what happens when you widen your aperture or lower your shutter speed. Shoot the same scene with different settings to see how your results change!

3. Film Speed (ISO)

Film speed (measured in ISO) indicates how sensitive your film is to light. Lower ISO films (50-200) produce finer grain and richer colors but require more light, making them perfect for bright conditions. Higher ISO films (800-3200) can handle dimmer environments but introduce more visible grain texture.

Along with the colors that each film stock produces, ISO plays a big role in the film you choose to shoot with and your resulting style. A roll of Kodak Portra 160 produces smooth skin tones with minimal grain in controlled lighting, while Ilford HP5+ 400 gives street photography that classic gritty character.

It’s important to note that there’s one big difference between film vs. digital when it comes to ISO. With film, you can’t change ISO between shots like you can with digital cameras—you’re committed once you load your roll. Because film is developed based its sensitivity, if you were to shoot a roll where each shot had a different ISO, they simply wouldn’t develop properly.

That said, you don’t *have* to stick to box speed (i.e., the ISO the film says it should be shot at). You can “lie” to your camera and purposefully tell it the wrong ISO—This is called rating your film. I like to shoot Kodak Portra 400 at ISO 200 to overexpose each shot and allow more light in. We’ll cover why this works a bit later.

Learn more about rating and metering film here.

4. Push/Pull Processing

Push/pull processing is a technique that lets you adjust your film’s sensitivity after it’s already loaded in your camera. 

Pushing means rating your film at a higher ISO than its box speed (underexposing) and extending development time to compensate—this creates higher contrast and more pronounced grain. Pushing Tri-X from 400 to 1600 has been a staple technique for photojournalists working in low light for decades.

Pulling does the opposite. You rate your film at a lower ISO (overexposing) and reduce development time, resulting in softer contrast and more subdued grain—perfect for taming harsh lighting conditions or creating ethereal portraits with gentler transitions between tones.

The beauty of push/pull processing is how it transforms what are otherwise technical limitations into creative choices. Just be sure to communicate clearly with your lab about what you need (do this by noting “Push 2 stops” or “Pull 1 stop” on your film or order form).

You can learn more about pushing film here and pulling film here.

5. Dynamic Range

Dynamic range refers to film’s ability to capture detail in both shadows and highlights within a single frame. While digital sensors often struggle with high-contrast scenes, many film stocks—especially color negative films—do well with retaining information across a wide brightness range.

Take a contrasty scene like a sunset landscape or a portrait with backlighting. Films with high dynamic range allow you to expose for midtones while still preserving detail in bright sky and shadowed foreground.

6. Film Latitude

Latitude might be film’s most forgiving quality—its ability to produce decent-to-good results even if your exposure isn’t perfect.

Each film is different: Color negative films might give you 3-4 stops of overexposure latitude (meaning you can overexpose your images a bunch) but minimal underexposure tolerance, while slide films demand precision within half a stop.

Because of this, there’s a big difference between digital and film in how you might plan to expose your image. Since digital sensors have a harder time retaining detail in strong highlights, digital shooters often look to control highlights first and recover shadow detail in post-production. But film shooters often “expose for the shadows,” meaning they intentionally overexpose an image to make sure shadow detail is preserved while trusting the film’s latitude to keep highlights in check.

It’s a big reason why high-latitude films like Kodak Gold or Portra 400 are loved—they provide room to make exposure mistakes while still delivering beautiful images.

7. Color Temperature

Unlike digital cameras that adjust white balance with a button press, film is manufactured for specific lighting conditions.

Daylight-balanced films (the most common type) are calibrated for approximately 5500K light, producing natural colors in outdoor settings. Tungsten-balanced films compensate for the warmer light of traditional indoor lighting (around 3200K).

But don’t think you can only use a daylight film in daylight. Shooting tungsten film in daylight creates a cool blue cast—you might notice that films like CineStill 800T have a very particular look when shot in different conditions outside of tungsten light. Using this to your advantage can give you tons of creative freedom to take risks and explore new types of photography.

Final Thoughts

Photography isn’t just about memorization and perfection. Understanding these fundamentals will help you learn the basics and set you up for a more creative future with film.

Think of all of these as guidelines, too, as you find your style and artistic form—maybe you prefer a more underexpose image, or a different white balance, or always to push two stops.

No matter, learn, experiment, and explore. Hope your adventure starts off a little less rocky than mine did. And if not, it’s okay—it’s all part of the natural journey.

Thank you so much, Drew! Drew is a regular contributor here at Shoot It With Film, and you can check out his other articles here, such as How to Photograph Unfamiliar Cities While Traveling and Mastering Film for Landscape Photographers.

You can also check out more of Drew’s work on his Instagram.

Leave your questions about shooting film below in the comments!

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Drew Evans

Drew Evans is a cityscape and landscape film photographer and a regular contributor for Shoot It With Film. Find his other articles here, such as Lecia M6 35mm Camera Review and 6 Tips for Buying and Shooting the Leica M6.

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