What I do with a roll of film after I’ve finished taking pictures.

Keeping Notes

Firstly, I use a notebook (like this, but any notebook/app will do) to help me remember things as I’m shooting.

I keep track of these:

  • What film is in my camera
  • A quick description and the date of any photos

Developing

I post my film off to a lab for them to develop and scan my film. I always ask for the highest quality JPEG files, and for the developed film to be posted back to me.

Gulabi is my favourite lab at the moment.

Editing

I use Lightroom to edit the JPEG files I get back from the lab.

  1. Import all the photos from each roll of film into a Lightroom album
  2. Edits:
    • Adjust the White Balance
    • Increase the Sharpness
    • Straighten
    • Any other edits e.g. Exposure, Tone Curve, Colour Grading

    An example (where the film wasn’t designed for artificial light):

    Lab Scan Lightroom Export
    Lab scan Lightroom export
  3. I set the date for when I took each photo (my notebook helps)
  4. Export all the images in the album for long term storage

Digital Storage

I keep my digital images in Apple Photos in an album structure like this:

Film
├── 2024
│   ├── 1 - Portra 400 - Leica M6
│   ├── 2 - Ilford HP5+ - Leica M6
│   ├── ...
│   
└── 2025
    ├── 43 - Ultramax - Contax T3
    ├── 44 - Cinestill 400D - Leica M6
    ├── ...

The album names have the format number - film - camera, so 43 - Ultramax - Contax T3 is the forty-third roll, it’s Ultramax film, and shot on a Contax T3.

Physical Storage

When the lab posts my negatives back to me, I transfer them into a folder for negatives with negative archive sleeves.

Note: Some labs send you 10 strips of 4, others 7 strips of 6. Make sure to buy the right negative archive sleeves.

Each sleeve is labeled in the same way as the digital album (number - film - camera).

Getting Prints

If I want good old-fashioned 6x4 prints, I use FreePrints or SnapFish.

For a big print to go on my wall, I use Whitewall.