Dumb question about exposure

Hi there,
Firstly, I'm brand spanking new here, and I'm only here because I've been challenged/invited to shoot a roll of film. It's a cool concept in this day and age, and one that has really opened my imagination. An online buddy is collecting a bunch of Fly-fishing photographers together, and we're each going to shoot a roll of film, and he's going to collate them and take it from there. Should be fun.
I've just made a purchase, which hasn't arrived in the mail as yet, but I'm now the proud owner of a Canon A-1, and I'm thrilled to bits about that. When I was a lad, that was like their flagship body, and well out of reach of pre-pubescent me. But now, for around US$50, total reality.

Anyway, I waffle.

My question is (celebrating the differences between film and digital) can the film be exposed from both sides? Specifically, could you open the camera back in a darkened room, hold some sort of texture or semi translucent material over the film, and then slightly expose with say a flash of light from a cigarette lighter, to provide a bit of texture to the film, or a slight overlay to shoot over the top of?
Also, I quite like the idea of multiple exposures, so could you go through a film, expose it to real low key texture or whatever in "studio", then once you're done, roll the film (35mm) back into the canister and keep an eye on the counter, but only roll enough back to catch the start tab, re-load the film and then go re-expose the film out in the field?

I've been driving around all day with my head in the clouds. Quite excited

Stu, welcome to the board and welcome to classic photography.

This is a very creative idea of yours, and there are some ways of achieving the effect you want. To give you a clear answer, we would need to know the following:

What kind of film are you using: negatives or Sildes?
What is your process, are you going fully analogue or planning to scan the film and print digitally?

If you are going to scan and print from the computer the easiest way to place textures in the picture is by editing in the Computer or printing on textured material.

If you are going fully analogue, you have the following two options:

1.) If you are using negative film, it is very easy to add texture effects by placing a texture slide under the negative in the enlarger when making the print. These texture slides used to be widely available and show up every now and then on the market. Usually they are sold very cheap.

2.) If you are using slides (also possible for negatives, but the first option is a lot easier), you can try multiple exposure. For instance, you can take a underexposed picture of a textured wall / Cloth / ..., but you will have to adjust the second exposure time, too. This is possible, but will take quite some practicing before you get reproduceable results. If you expose an entire roll with textures and do not completly rewind the film (i.e. the beginning of the film does not disappear in the container) you can load it to the camera again and try with an entire roll. But probably the frames will not be in the same position for the second exposure, so you will get some funny results.

Please don't try to open the camera in order to expose the back of the film with a firelighter. Film is extremely sensitive to light and you will most probably not be able to produce and desirable results.

Hi, thanks for your reply!

I'll be shooting negative film, and as I don't have any darkroom setup I guess I really want to steer away from any post production. I want to embrace the analogue, apply a bit of organic alchemy and throw some light around. I was hoping to just make some funky exposures in camera. I've been googling a bit, as you do, both online and on Instagram, and the technique of light leaking piqued my interest, but rather than opening the back of the camera up for a quick burst and completely blowing a couple of frames, I wanted to do it in a more controlled way.

To add to what RauschenOderKorn said, another thing you can do is photograph textured surfaces separately and sandwich those negs with your main negative when making prints. I learned that in a high school photo class 25 yrs ago, and it works well.

Stu Hastie said:

Hi, thanks for your reply!

I'll be shooting negative film, and as I don't have any darkroom setup I guess I really want to steer away from any post production. I want to embrace the analogue, apply a bit of organic alchemy and throw some light around. I was hoping to just make some funky exposures in camera. I've been googling a bit, as you do, both online and on Instagram, and the technique of light leaking piqued my interest, but rather than opening the back of the camera up for a quick burst and completely blowing a couple of frames, I wanted to do it in a more controlled way.

Click to expand...

There's really no getting around the need for a darkroom. Or a film scanner and photoshop, but if you want to stay 100% analogue, that won't work (and its a lot more expensive then just buying the stuff to set up a darkroom). Either way, its a lot of post production work. If you want to shoot film, labs can do straightforward prints from your film, but any kind of manipulation is something you'll need to do yourself.

Hehe, Thanks Chris. The whole darkroom thing sounds interesting, and another avenue for creativity. I'll have to see how these first couple of rolls of film turn out before I commit to the Darkroom. It doesn't quite fit into my struggling artist budget right now

Probably, the simpliest way to do it will be by doing a double exposure when the film is in the camera.

For instance, if you want to add a simple patern "texture" like a brick wall or leave background, just take a picture of whaterver texture you want, but underexposing two stops (for instance). Recock the shutter without advancing the film (you have to check your camera manual to see how it is done, as it could be different from one model to another) and then take a second picture of your main subject slightly underexposed, but getting in total a bit of overexposing.

Cheers

hey stu

one thing i like to do when i double expose
is expose the whole roll, rewind it and feed the film through the camera a 2nd time.
if you underexpose the texture exposure by a stop or 2 you will get a nice blend
one reason i like to feed it through a 2nd time rather than fumble with the rewind button
while taking the photo is sometimes the frames don't line up completely and you get a nice
bar that might add to composition ( or not ) or you like the image with a different aspect ratio
(because of the blackbar ) and it might add a little more "mystery" to what you end up with.
i've re-exposed film 3 times even, it can be a nice effect. just remember the more you expose it,
the denser (blacker) the negative becomes and the harder it is to project light through it
(or electrify it ).
if you open your camera &c it might just fog your film, which i've done too, the results weren't nearly as interesting.

have fun !
john

Alfonso in post #7 gives the simplest and most reliable technique for double exposing on film. I've also photographed an entire roll of something like a texture screen, rewound the film, and started it again in registration with the original loading. If one is careful, this works with most cameras. Sandwiching films in the enlarger works well if the emulsion side of both films are held in tight contact.

Thanks for all the replies! Jnanian, that's sort of what I was thinking. Obviously keeping notes, I was thinking maybe laying down some light on a couple of frames, then shoot the cap for another couple before shooting some more overlays. It's going to be a bunch of fun.

I'll keep you posted. Still waiting for my A-1 to arrive