Film is normally clear. When exposed to light, it turns darker, hence the term “negative”. Those familiar with film know that it’s fairly tolerant of overexposure, and that the very darkest areas still contain useable detail which can often be revealed by burning in when printing.
Sensors work just the opposite; as they are exposed to more light, the image gets lighter, and there is an absolute threshold to how much information they can record. Beyond that, the photons “overflow” the photosites on the sensor, and bleed into adjacent photosites. The result is a solid white, blown-out area void of any detail whatsoever. Digital is therefore very intolerant of overexposure.
So, it’s important to understand these principals in migrating from film to digital, and especially important to keep them in mind if you plan on alternating between film and digital:
- Overexpose film
- Underexpose digital
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