In this video I’m breaking down a recent fashion shoot I did at my studio, Sage Studios, where I shot Kodak Ultramax 400 and Kodak Portra 400 side-by-side and compared them to my Canon R6 digital shots. I worked with Chevelle (she’s been on the channel a couple times) and we ran through a few different looks, and I walk you through my lighting setups, my thought process, and why certain film stocks made more sense for specific vibes. For the first look I went super clean and minimal with a hard “slash” light: Nanlite Forza 500 with the spotlight mount punching a beam behind her, plus an Aputure 120d bounced into foam core for soft fill. That’s where Ultramax felt a little more grainy and grungy compared to Portra’s cleaner, more consistent color. On the lingerie/bookshelf setup I kept it simple with a soft book-light style bounce and window light, and Portra 400 really showed why it’s such a high-end stock—sharp, clean, and consistent. I also show my reflective “wavy” mylar setup (one of my favorites) and a high-fashion black/red moment with a vintage Panasonic VHS camcorder prop. At the end I keep it real: film is beautiful—organic, warm, vintage—but it’s inconvenient for client work and expensive to buy and develop, so for me film is the bonus on top of my digital workflow.