THE HOLGA GUIDE turning a $50 camera setup into a magic-maker! The Holga120N Discovering this cheap, plastic medium format camera has helped me create some of my favorite full-of-life wedding portraits yet! Here are 5 must-know tips you should be aware of before shooting your first Holga roll. 1. “B” vs. “N” This little hidden setting (at the bottom of your Holga120N camera) will greatly affect the outcome of your images. This is the only control you have over your shutter speed. “B” stands for “Bulb” and means that as long as you are holding down the shutter button, your shutter will stay open. I almost never keep this setting on unless shooting on a tripod, or occassionally if shot with a bright flash that will help you freeze the motion in the frame. *Below is an example of what it looks like to accidentally keep the “B” setting on. The “N” just stands for “Normal”, and is equal to about 1/100th of a second shutter speed. I keep my camera on this setting 99% of the time, and I recommend you do the same unless you’re prepared to get some extra motion blur or have a sturdy tripod handy. all images shot on Holga120 on B (Bulb) setting. Image on far right with flash in dark interior space. 2. using flash With almost every indoor Holga image (and even some outdoor ones), I shoot with flash, which creates that classic, imperfect look that can be so difficult to achieve digitally. Using flash will help freeze motion in your image, allowing you to get slightly more crisp images. I recommend shooting primarily outdoors if you decide to forego the flash. I recommend getting a very cheap flash to use only with your camera. You can find cheap manual flashses on Ebay or B&H Photo. There’s (almost always) just an “on” and “off” button wtih these flashes, making your life a lot simpler! Just make sure that your flash has fully reloaded before you shoot again (usually takes about 2-6 seconds + will show a red light when ready). If you accidentally shoot in the dark without the flash, you can always shoot over that image with the added flash since there was most likely not much light that exposed the film the first time. all images with Holga120N with cheap $10 manual flash. Image on left taken during daytime in car with flash. 3. which film to use These is no ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ when it comes to deciding which film stocks to use in your Holga, but using a professional-grade film stock, such as Portra800, Portra400, or Fuji400H, will ensure that your images are higher quality than a non-professional grade film stock. For most of my Holga film images, I tend to shoot Black & White film, especially for the nighttime shots. My go-to B&W film stock for the Holga is the Tri-X 400 film. It’s more forgiving with under or overexposure than other B&W film stocks, allowing a beginner to get good images even if they are not perfectly exposed for. I have also used Portra400 color (C-41) film in the Holga & gotten great results. I have found that the Portra400 film needs a bit more light than the Tri-X400 when shot in the Holga.Whichever film stock you use, I would recommend doing a test roll first to ensure you like the colors and the way the film behaves. 4. getting in focus If you’re looking for perfectly in-focus, crisp images, this is NOT the camera for you. But if you’re anything like me, and just love those slightly out-of-focus images with blurred edges, the Holga is one of the best ways to get that look. There are four very basic focusing options on your lens (1 person, 3 people, large group, and landscape/mountain). 1 person setting = 3 ft away 3 people setting = 6 ft away group setting = 18 ft away landscape/mountain setting = 30 ft to infinity I recommend starting with the landscape/mountain focus length & get a few shots of landscapes to help build up your confidence. If you’re shooting just one or two people, I recommend sticking with the 1 or 3 people setting to get mostly in-focus images. There is no perfect science to make sure you get every image perfectly in focus with this toy camera, but once you’ve shot a few rolls, you’ll get a sense for what setting(s) you prefer to shoot in. 5. sunny vs. cloudy setting I’m sure you’ve noticed the small setting on top of your lens that has a ‘cloudy’ and a ‘sunny’ option. These options will allow you to slightly change your f-stop, letting in slightly more or slightly less light. The cloudy function is approximately f/8, while the sunny function is approximately f/11. This is a very limited function, but I recommend shooting f/11 if you’re in a very bright, sunny area, and cloudy for most other scenarios. When using flash, I have experimented with both cloudy and sunny function. Both work well, but if you’re shooting something that’s slightly further away, I would recommend using the cloudy function to let in a little extra light. The sunny function with flash works well if you’re shooting up close portraits. bonus tip! Double Exposures are incredibly easy to achieve with Holgas. All you have to do is shoot twice (or as many exposures as you want) without winding to the next image. Often times, I will expose the film once, wind just a bit, then expose again. This allows you to double expose just part of the image, creating some dynamic photographs I can’t wait to see what you create! Tag me in your posts or stories & let me know what techniques you prefer. XO, Abi Lewis Copyright Abigail Lewis Photography. 2019..