A lot of people ask me regularly what are the actual benefits of shooting film over digital, and my number one response is always about loss of detail in shadows and highlights, plus a certain “flatness” to the image. As proof of this, have a look at this shot from the Louvre courtyard at dusk (extreme low light conditions) I took the other day:

This was shot with a Fuji Natura Classica with Fuji Superia 1600, and literally no changes have been made. I scanned and posted. No change to color, light, contrast. NOTHING. This is how it looks by itself. Now notice the soft details in the sky and how it’s never blown out. Notice the shadows and all of the tones they have. A digital photo would never look like this…. it’s too small to see in the web version but there are actually details in the faces of the couple walking. You can also see details in the windows in the background. And these are just some of the reasons I will always prefer film.