Sunday, November 13, 2011

Has My Photography Improved After Ten Years of Digital?


  1. Digital has raised the bar - I'm no longer as good as I thought I was.  Most of my pre-digital images would be mediocre today.  I expect more from myself and my equipment. 
  2.  Digital has changed my peer group.  I have world wide access to the best photographers and their ideas.  I can share knowledge, research locations  and learn new techniques without leaving my house. 
  3. Digital has redistributed my costs.  They used to claim that film was the cheapest photography purchase.   It  wasn't true than, but it is now.  I spend much more on equipment and much less on individual sessions.
  4.  Digital has redistributed my time.  Post Processing now takes a significant amount of time. I spend more time processing than I do shooting.  The results are better than anything I was able to accomplish in the darkroom. 
  5.  Digital has improved my exposures.  Under and over exposure was a challenge in the pre-digital world.  It was possible to ruin an entire days work with a simple exposure problem and not find out about it until it was processed.  Today I can use the histogram, blinkies, and the on camera screen to verify exposures in real time.
  6.   Digital has opened up the night.  I can change ISO to take shots that were impossible before.  In addition,  auto focus, image stabilization  and fast lenses are now available.
  7.  Digital has built-in documentation that allows me to remember ISO, shutter speed, aperture, time of day and even location.
  8.  Digital has expanded my photographic horizons with multiple image techniques.  I can make panoramas.  I can increase the dynamic range.  I can create time lapse video.
  9.  Digital has decimated the percentage of shots I actually use.  I may take  240 images today on a job that I could have put on a 24 exposure roll in the film days.  But, the spectacular shot that I would have had on film may  now be surrounded by several shots with subtle but improved differences.   
  10.  Digital has allowed me to share my memories with my family and friends.  I have over 30,000 images online.  I have created slide shows set to music and published dozens of photo  books.

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