In Praise of Digital Photography | Hobbies

By DanFeildman
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Word Count: 706

In any discipline, you will have what many think of as "the purists". Purists are those who revere the way things have always been done and view new innovations in the field as upstarts and obviously of poorer quality than the tried and true methods. This is nowhere more true than photography. For decades the film and chemical processing method has undergone continual refinement to achieve higher and higher levels of sophistication and to find higher levels of quality. Small wonder that when the digital revolution came along, "the purists" were, to say the least, a bit snobby about the idea of professional photography moving in this direction.

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.

Regardless of the old methods or the new technology, editing has always had some part in photography. The croping and filtering that has taken place in the darkroom in the past is now only a simple click away on the computer along with a dazzling choice of other options. Sophisticated software programs such as Photoshop are available in stores that can create an endless variety of effects. But the most important function of this software is that it can easily correct the most simple of mistakes to the more complicated. This saves the integrity of the photograph making it acceptable through digital editing and touchup.

From the snap of the shutter to editing and delivery, digital photography has become a mainstream medium in photography. Although the 'purist' might argue, the benefits of digital technologies are undeniable. Customers are accepting of this method in the professional realm as they are familiar with digital in their own personal cameras. They get the enjoyment of their photos quicker, and at a much more reasonable cost. They have the instant gratification of being able to forward pictures to family through the internet with a simple click. Customer satisfaction combined with the fact that digital is easier, faster and much more profitable for the photographer provides a strong platform for digital photography to be here to stay.

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