1. KNOWING EXPOSURE/FILM LATITUDE (HIGHLIGHTS & SHADOWS)
an equivalent term to film latitude for DSLR users would be dynamic range. it is used to define the ability or extent of which your film or light sensitive paper with regards to how much highlight and shadow detail range it is able to gather/collect (without overexposing and underexposing). Experiment with the limits of your film. Most film is extremely flexible and has a wide latitude and can be shot 2 stops higher or 1 stop lower than the specified ISO; however, proper adjustments must be made during the chemical processing stage to compensate for these changes.
2. LIGHTING
understand the ways to characterize your lighting. i keep four things in mind distance (of light source), direction (angle of light source), intensity (brightness of light source) and color (temperature of light source). judge the available lighting and compensate to achieve your desired effect and when in doubt with only ambient is available using the "Sunny 16" rule.
3. IF YOU DON'T DEVELOP YOUR OWN FILM, FIND A CONSISTENT LAB AND BUILD RAPPORT/RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM.
i don't believe anything else needs to be said...once you find a lab that gives you great results don't switch it up. CVS and Walgreen's do a terrible job unless your in a bind and its not for professional projects (trust me!!!).
4. LEARN TO BE SELECTIVE WITH YOUR SHOTS
with a limited number of exposures can you really choose to be frivolous with your shots...well yes and no.... yes, you can take however many shots you wish to take granted your pockets are filled with extra unused 35mm film rolls... and no, if use use a developing lab or even if you develop it yourself it will cost you more in the long (either time, money and/or resources) to develop rolls with useless or bad images. even worse you may have to develop all rolls and find that some don't have one good image. don't let any of this deter you though; it comes with practice and learning how your film responds.
Want to learn more on a specific subject of photography or videography? Shoot me a email and I may cover it in another Journal post.