How does photographic film capture an image

How does a camera work? What is film made of? How do you develop film into a finished photograph? Tags: See All Tags darkroom , develop , gelatin , lightproof , negative , photosensitive , positive , shutter , snapshot. Wonder What's Next? Try It Out Ready to make a first impression? Did you get it? Test your knowledge. Wonder Words shutterbug snapshot eternity lightproof pentaprism eyepiece instantaneously gelatin darkroom development negative positive photosensitive Take the Wonder Word Challenge.

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When light hits the film, the silver halide crystals absorb the light and are converted to metallic silver. These exposed crystals turn to black, representing the areas with the most light.

The areas of the film that are not exposed to as much light do not convert to metallic silver, and remain light. Therefore, this latent image of light and dark areas on the film is an inverse reflection of the real thing — the highlights are dark and the shadows are light. Film rolled in canisters, as it is most commonly used, is more efficient than sheet film single sheets best associated with Polaroid cameras because it allows a photographer to shoot multiple frames.

The roll of film is next developed with the developer , one or multiple chemicals that complete the process to convert the silver halide crystals to metallic silver. To achieve the final product, a selected frame of film is put in an enlarger and light is shined through the negative onto a sheet of light-sensitive paper.

This enlarging and printing process reverses the inverse picture on the negative, returning the image to the correct representation of light and dark areas. You have created a photograph.

We take for granted how accessible cameras are and how easy it is to take a photo. But film photography was a necessary step of evolution to the instant gratification of photography today. By Marika Yang Feb 17, When exposed to light, images become visible on the photographic film.