extremely new to photography

[JoeMass]

Hey everyone, JoeMass here. As you can see by the title I am very new to photography. I've been interested in it for some time and I finally decided to try my hand at it. I have a small digital camera but I don't like the way that looks on my tripod and it doesnt feel real.

So I dug out my parents film camera. It is an Olympus IS-50. I know it's not really a great camera, and I can't buy one because I am a poor 18 year old

So I was wondering what's the deal here? My friend is a photographer so I've picked up some lingo like aperture and things like that. I was wondering what I can do with this.

Like I said, I can't afford a real nice film camera (Or digital) but I have no doubt in my mind that I'd have a good eye for photography as I am experienced in other areas of art.

Also, in terms of developing pictures, I am a senior in high school and never have or can take a photos class so developing my own are out of the question. Can I take them to a local supermarket to get them developed? Can They develop them larger then the small standard size? Can they be black and white?

Obviously, I really am extremely new and would love if someone could help me out

 

[Foxwolfe]

I don't know where you live but I would look around online for local film processing places, they usually have plenty of options for whatever you might want to do with the film (negatives, prints, different sizes, etc etc).

As far as black and white goes theres specific film for that, as opposed to color film.

 

[NateWagner]

Umm, you can take pictures of flowers, children, friends, and landscapes, but that's it.

Honestly, just mess with it, and once you start to get frustrated cause there is something you want to do, but aren't able to cause of the equipment then you'll be at the point of worrying about improving your equipment. For now just keep learning.

What do you mean can they develop them to larger than the standard size? what is the standard size?

It depends on the place you take them to, but most of those places will go at least 8x10 and many will do larger. You can also send them out as well, and have them done at pretty much any size.

 

[JoeMass]

My family always got their photos developed at the local Jewel Osco. So I can check out there.

As for the size, by standard, I meant like the photo album size. 3 by 5ish?

And why do you say I can only take pictures of flowers, children, friends, and landscapes?
(I was planning on that anyways)

 

[NateWagner]

sorry, sarcasm doesn't translate well via the interwebs.

 

[KenC]

If you're interested in shooting black and white film, you can buy a developing tank for not much money and develop film yourself. I'm sure there are plenty of instructional videos/books that explain it, and it's really pretty simple. You need to have a completely dark area to load the film into the tank. When I first started developing film, I used to load it in a closet in my apartment with all the lights out and a towel along the bottom of the door to keep out any stray street light. You need a thermometer and a couple of jars for the chemicals. Just looking at the negatives will tell you a lot, and you could get set up to make contact sheets without that much more trouble, or find a lab to print the good ones, or find someone with a film scanner who could turn them into digital files.