Digital Photography Is Here To Stay
the ‘purist’ is one who clings to the traditional methods as being tried and true. No matter the topic, you will have those that cling to this belief and reject the idea of new innovations and technologies. This is especially true in the field of digital photography. Although the processes within film itself and the darkroom have been refined throughout the years to reach higher quality, the advent of digital photography has once again redefined the picture. With the recent advances in digital technology having an impact on photography, ‘purists’are finding the fault to be in the manipulation of the image.
There are several compelling arguements for incorporating the digital revolution into traditional photography. Most of the professional level studios in both the portrait and film worlds have gone the digital route in favor of these arguements. The amount of equipment needed in digital photography is minimal in comparison to the older methods, creating less complication. And in a world where the average cell phone has made possible a digital camera in every pocket, digital is simplistic enough that anyone can create a photograph. Both the professional photographer and the common person can use digital technologies to capture images.
Digital photography has brought about many changes in both time, efforts and costs. The proofs of a photo shoot are available practically instantly. Should the photographer or customer not be fully satisfied with a picture, adjustments are made and reshot immediatly involving a lower price and saving a huge amout of time. The customer gets the picture they were seeking as the photographer gets the shot needed the first time in the studio.
The impression we get when a technology delivers so much value to the public is that quality will go down. But, amazingly, this is not the case with digital photography. If anything, the quality of the photographs is as good or better than any we could do with prior technologies. And the cost both to you as the photographer and to your customer drops off so dramatically that the age old complaint the customer has had about professional photographs costing too much can be eliminated making the customer want to use your services more often.
Not only in photograpy, the digital revolution has brought about radical changes in our home computers. Computers combined with the communication power of the internet, have brought pictures and photography into daily life. We can now send birthday portriats to grandma via e-mail or save 50th anniversary pictures for years to come by burning them to CD or DVD. The customer has a myrid of options in shots for practically no difference in cost and can deliver them to friend and relatives in a way that is easy to view and store.
Editing has similarly moved from the realm of the back room wizards to something any of us can do due to the sophisticated computer programs, such as Photoshop, that we can use to improve the pictures we take. It is really amazing the effects that can be imposed on a picture with this software. But more importantly we can so much more easily correct minor problems with a photograph so what might have been a lost session can be improved to become acceptable with some clever use of digital editing.
Although the ‘purist’ might not always agree, their are undeniable benefits to the use of digital photography that would win out even over the old ways. By working smarter, not harder, the digital revolution benefits the photographer in its simplicity, profitability and time involved. For the customer, it too creates a lower cost and provides an instant gratification in that the pictures are available almost instantly in a variety of forms such as e-mail. We can still respect and utilize the ‘purist’ view in photography, but the fact is undeniable that digital photography is here to stay due with overwhelming support.