Ruined film?

Hi guys,

I am taking a photography class at my school and it's blacka nd white film. With my first roll, I had many problems. The edges were bent down when I went to roll it I noticed and when I developed it today, I saw taht only about four photos turned out well and the rest were blank. My teacher supposed it was either something wrong with the camera or with my exposure. What do you think it could have been? I didn't flash the film because the ones that turned out were in random spots all around.

Could I have loaded the film improperly?
Could I have under or over exposed?

Can you please tell me about the light meter? I saw taht when I partially press the shutter, the meter goes up or down and I have fiddled aorund with it and mostly understand it, but I am wondering this- if I get the light meter in the middle, then it's optial settings, right? Is that how you decide the aperture and ss settings?

Thanks!

i might have been under exposed. black and white film goes black with light and white is caused by the shadow of whatever you picture is (i think). the film is like looking at invert color. but for the rest of your question... i'm not sure man.

Awright... I just don't get how it could have been underexposed, since I was reading the light meter and using it. And if anything, I think it was overexposed because my film is just clear right now except for the four pictures...

i'm sorry man! i'm really not a big help. i took a photography class once.... but it was like 3 years ago. and we used digital camera's. i'd go with your thought process and not mine, just because i'm really unsure of myself. sorry.

alright thanks for trying to help, at least :)

Anyone else?

i doubt it man. theres like nobody in the art portion of this fourm. it's to bad too. art is an awsome thing, an exellent way for people to express themselves.

I wish I could help, but I'm even more of a beginner than you are. I just got my camera and have yet to find a battery for the meter, so I haven't been able to take any pictures, much less develop them. Still, I do understand a little about film-if the film is clear, as you said, could it be that the shutter is just not actuating properly? You might not be exposing the film at all. That is, of course, if it's negative film (which I think just about everybody starts out on). A blank white picture would translate to a pure black subject, whereas a black picture would mean overexposure. Hopefully that helps a little?

I knew that, but thanks! I tried pressing the shutter without film in it to check if it works and it does work and I think properly, so I don't think that's the problem