Why Teapots Make Good Teachers

During my years teaching photography, I learned students absorbed technical lessons far more easily when humor and visual curiosity entered the room. A few teapots under studio lights can sometimes teach more than pages of charts and graphs.

This article originally began as a comparison between Kodak TMAX 100 and Kodak Ektapan 100. I am always interested in trying new black and white films, so when B&H Photo announced Ektapan’s availability, I ordered a few rolls like a kid in a candy store.

My goal was simple: photograph the same still life setup using both films and see how each interpreted the scene after development, digitizing, and post processing.

The teapots, thankfully, were cooperative subjects.

One Scene, Two Films

My expectations were shaped by an earlier Ektapan flower shoot where I used an Orange 21 filter. The results appeared noticeably more contrasty than what I typically enjoy for everyday work.

There is nothing wrong with contrasty film if that is the look you are after, but I generally prefer beginning with smoother tonal transitions and adding contrast later if needed. Once contrast becomes excessive, pulling it back without damaging other parts of the image can become difficult.

At the same time, I had a roll of TMAX 100 nearby, a film already known for a fairly modern and contrasty rendering.

So I finally said to myself:
“Alright… let the teapots settle this.”

The Teapots Insisted on Fairness

No film stock received special privileges during development. The teapots insisted on fairness.

Both films photographed the same setup under identical studio lighting using the same lens and exposure workflow only minutes apart. Afterward, both rolls entered the same developing tank sharing chemistry, temperature, agitation, and development time.

The negatives were then digitized together using a Sony A7R IVA with white balance fixed to daylight as the film traveled across a Negative Supply carrier illuminated by a 99 CRI light source. Polyester tape splicing kept the process moving smoothly from one strip to the next.

At this point, the films had very few places left to hide their personalities.

Or so I thought.

The Setup

Still life photography reveals tonal behavior beautifully. White ceramics, reflective surfaces, dark objects, highlights, and shadow transitions all become part of the conversation.

The setup included white and pale-colored ceramics against darker objects, allowing both films to interpret highlight separation and midtone transitions in their own way.

And if I am going to spend the time building a set, processing film, digitizing, and post processing, I am certainly not reaching for random objects from my library shelves. I want a composition that is visually pleasing as well as educational.

Thankfully, the teapots never complained about holding the pose.

The Surprise Discovery

Once the negatives dried, I became convinced I was seeing meaningful differences between the films.

Ektapan appeared more contrasty to my eye while TMAX felt smoother and more restrained through the midtones and highlights.

The negatives themselves seemed to support that impression.

Because both films were processed together under identical conditions, the tonal differences became difficult to dismiss as workflow inconsistencies.

Honestly, I thought the teapots had settled the matter.

Then Houston called.

Wait, They’re the Same Film?

Kodak representatives and multiple sources online suggest that TMAX 100 and Ektapan 100 may actually be the same film packaged differently.

Well… that certainly complicated my neat little teapot experiment.

At first, I laughed.

Then I became fascinated.

Because suddenly the article was no longer just about film stocks. It became about perception, workflow, expectation, and how photographers emotionally interpret tonal structure.

Somewhere during this process, the teapots stopped revealing differences between films and started revealing differences in how I was reading the images.

And perhaps that is the more interesting lesson.

When the Experiment Turns Back on the Photographer

Even under controlled conditions, modern hybrid workflows complicate film discussions in ways that are easy to underestimate.

Scanning, white balance interpretation, digitizing equipment, post processing choices, viewing environments, emotional expectations, and even the sequence in which we look at images can influence how we perceive tonal behavior.

I tried my best during post processing to bring the final images into a similar tonal space because I wanted the films themselves to speak as clearly as possible. Yet I still found myself emotionally reading the Ektapan images differently.

Maybe that perception came from subtle batch variations. Maybe from scanning interpretation. Maybe from my earlier flower shoot influencing my expectations. Or perhaps the differences were never as large as I believed in the first place.

What I do know is this: photography has never been as objective as photographers sometimes want it to be.

Film Stocks Have Personalities, But So Do Photographers

There is no perfect black and white film other than the one that aligns with your own workflow, creative preferences, and emotional response to the final image.

Workflow consistency matters. Scanning matters. Editing matters. These have all become part of the modern analog process whether we like it or not.

Some photographers search endlessly for absolutes in film discussions, but photography has always left room for interpretation, experimentation, and personal bias.

Thankfully, it still does.