If you have been shooting film for a little while, you probably already know the golden rule of outdoor lighting: sunrise and sunset are your best friends. The warm, angled light of the golden hour wraps around everything, making almost any subject look incredible. But what happens when you want to shoot at high noon? Or what if you are traveling, and the only time you have to explore a cool city is when the sun is blazing directly overhead?

For the longest time, I would just put my camera back in my bag between 11 AM and 3 PM. Harsh midday sunlight casts deep, pitch-black shadows and blows out highlights, creating a level of contrast that film can sometimes struggle to handle gracefully. It was frustrating missing out on hours of shooting just because the light was literally too intense.

Then a photographer friend taught me about "pulling" film. It completely changed how I shoot in the middle of the day. If you have ever been terrified of high-contrast summer sunlight, pulling your film is the secret trick you need in your back pocket.

What Does Pulling Film Actually Mean?

You have probably heard of "pushing" film. That is when you shoot a low-light situation, underexpose the film, and tell the lab to overdevelop it to compensate. Pushing adds grain and cranks up the contrast. Pulling is the exact opposite.

When you pull film, you are doing two specific things. First, you are intentionally overexposing the film in your camera. Second, you are underdeveloping the film in the darkroom (or having your lab do it). So, if you load a roll of 400 ISO film, you might rate it at 200 ISO in your camera and then tell your lab to "pull it one stop."

It sounds a little counterintuitive at first. Why would you overexpose film when it is already so bright outside? The answer lies in an old, legendary photography mantra: expose for the shadows, develop for the highlights.

The Magic of Contrast Control

Let us break down why pulling works so beautifully in harsh sunlight.

When you are shooting in direct, harsh light, the difference between the brightest parts of your scene (the highlights) and the darkest parts (the shadows) is massive. If you expose normally, you often have to choose between losing your shadows to complete darkness or blowing out the sky into a severe, featureless white.

By overexposing the film (rating a 400 speed film at 200 or 100), you are giving the film more light, which actively rescues the details in your dark shadows. You are making sure those shadows actually register on the negative. But if you just processed the film normally after overexposing it, your highlights would be ruined because they got too much light.

That is where the underdevelopment comes in. Film development time heavily affects the brightest parts of the image, but it does very little to the shadows. By leaving the film in the developer chemical for less time than normal, you stop the highlights from getting too dense.

The result? You keep the nice, rich details in your shadows because you overexposed them, and you tame the blinding highlights because you underdeveloped them. The overall contrast of the image is squeezed closer together, or flattened, giving you a much softer, highly detailed, and beautifully balanced image despite the awful lighting conditions.

How to Pull Your Film: Step-by-Step

Trying this for the first time might feel nerve-wracking, but I promise it is super straightforward. Here is exactly how to do it.

• Pick your film and choose your pull: Black and white film usually handles pulling much better than color, but professional color negatives like Kodak Portra can handle it too. Decide how much you want to pull. A one-stop pull is a great starting point for harsh daylight.
• Change your camera settings: If you are using a roll of 400 speed film, set the ISO dial on your camera or external light meter to 200 (for a one-stop pull) or 100 (for a two-stop pull).
• Shoot the whole roll: Just shoot normally! Trust your camera's light meter or your handheld meter. It will automatically calculate the overexposure for you because you tricked it with the ISO dial. Ensure you shoot the entire roll at this same rating. You cannot pull half a roll.
• Communicate with your lab: When you drop off or mail in your film, write "PULL ONE STOP" very clearly on the canister. If you are developing at home, you will need to look up the shortened development times for your specific developer and film combination.

Which Films Work Best for Pulling?

While you can theoretically pull any negative film, some shine brighter than others. Classic black and white cubic emulsions are legendary for this. Kodak Tri-X 400 and Ilford HP5 Plus are arguably the best films in the world to pull. When you shoot Tri-X at 200 and pull it one stop in development, you get practically zero grain, gorgeous midtones, and shadows that seem to hold infinite detail.

For color, you generally want to stick to professional negative films. Kodak Portra 400 pulled to 200 gives a very pastel, low-contrast, dreamy look that is incredibly popular for outdoor portraits. I would avoid pulling consumer films like Kodak Gold or Fuji Superia, as color shifts can get a little weird, and I definitely recommend against pulling slide film unless you are highly experienced, as its exposure latitude is extremely unforgiving.

A Quick Warning: When Not to Pull

Because pulling flattens the contrast of your image, you only want to use this technique when the lighting contrast is naturally very high. If you pull film on a cloudy, overcast day, or in soft, flat indoor light, your photos will come out looking muddy, gray, and lifeless. High-contrast situations need low-contrast processing, and low-contrast situations need high-contrast processing. It is all about balance.

The Right Gear to Nail Your Exposure

To successfully pull film, you need to be confident in your exposure. Point-and-shoot cameras that read DX codes automatically will not let you manually override the ISO, making pulling practically impossible unless you use special DX-code stickers. You will want a setup that gives you manual control. I highly recommend picking up a solid, fully manual camera if you want to experiment with pushing and pulling. You can browse some excellent, reliable SLR cameras in the shop that are perfect for this.

Additionally, because you are dealing with tricky midday light, guessing your exposure is a risky game. Even if your camera has a built-in meter, using an external meter allows you to take precise incident light readings (measuring the light falling on your subject, not the light reflecting off it). This guarantees your shadows are getting exactly the light they need for that one-stop overexposure. Check out our selection of vintage and modern light meters to take the guesswork out of the process.

Next time the sun is beating down and everyone else is packing up their gear, load a roll of HP5, dial your ISO down to 200, and keep shooting. Once you see the incredibly smooth, low-contrast results you can get from the middle of the day, you will never fear harsh sunlight again.