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The Digital Photography Advantage
A TOP TEN LIST
listed from 10 to 1 in the style of David Letterman.
NOTE: The basis of this list came from my book Experimental Digital Photography. It emphasized the advantages of digital for experimental photographers who needed to get instant feedback when trying new techniques and who also needed to take a large number of shots at a low cost. The basic points, however, apply to many other types of photography.
Also: I shot film for 30 years before I made the switch to digital. I have spent the equivalent of 5 solid years in darkrooms processing prints and negatives. I love film. But digital solves so many problems with my work that I have no desire to go back to film -- although I have fond memories of my film days.
Digital photography is superior to film photography because:
#10. Image Stabilization
DIGITAL: The stabilizer control on many cameras provides sharper photos and allows shooting at very slow shutter speeds. Image stabilization (IS) has become available for a wide variety of digital cameras.
FILM: For technical reasons film cameras do not have stabilizers in the body, which is relatively inexpensive, although expensive lenses with stabilizers are available.
#9. EXIF Data
DIGITAL: The EXIF data recorded with each photograph can provide invaluable information about how each photo was shot. Since this info is imbedded in the photograph, it can remain with the image and not be lost.
FILM: Film requires time consuming and cumbersome note taking, if you want to document camera settings. Plus the notes have to be kept in sync with the negatives or the note taking is pointless.
#8. Sharing/Sending On The Internet
DIGITAL: With the Internet, photographers can upload digital imagery in a matter of minutes to reach and share with a like minded audience anywhere in the world. Also sending large files to editors, book publishers worldwide is easy due to the Internet.
FILM: The picture must be printed, then scanned in before posting on the Internet. With editors and publishers full sized hard copy needs to be mailed which is slow, expensive and time consuming -- or scanned in thus losing most of the benefits of a film photograph.
#7. Archival Storage And Protection
DIGITAL: Protecting photographs and making perfect archival copies that will not fade is now easy and cheap with backup hard drives and online backup services. Theoretically a perfect copy of a photograph could be preserved indefinitely by regular copying onto new hard drives.
FILM: Processing and then saving backup archival copies of black and white photographs is expensive and time consuming. And these will fade eventually over time. Color is even more problematic. "Color photographic materials are impermanent and are by nature unstable." (Wikipedia). In addition, for maximum archival life all, photographic prints and negatives must be stored at the correct temperature and humidity.
#6. Cataloguing
DIGITAL: Cataloguing, archiving and retrieving photos can be accomplished easily with software. Sorting through tens of thousands of photos is now fairly simple as is the creation of a sophisticated cross referencing system.
FILM: Cataloging, and sorting through thousands of negatives and contact sheets is time consuming, difficult and requires storage space and viewing space along with careful organization.
#5. Darkroom Processing
DIGITAL: Hours formerly spent in the darkroom can now be done quickly and cheaply using software.
FILM: A film darkroom requires space, equipment and fresh chemicals. In addition processing is expensive and time consuming. Also these chemicals are not good for the environment.
#4. Color Photography
DIGITAL: The subtleties of color -- and of the color peculiarities of a particular situation -- can be quickly viewed, evaluated and adjusted in real time. Very different exposures, for example, can change a color composition dramatically.
FILM: While color film can be adjusted in the printing, unless you do your own processing, you will be at the mercy of the lab -- in addition it may be hard for you to previsualize the range of possibilities, such as making a darker or lighter print or changing the color balance to match one of several light sources.
#3. Cost Of Taking Photos
DIGITAL: Low expense means that dozens or hundreds of different shots, angles, exposures, techniques etc. can be attempted during a shoot at virtually no cost.
FILM: Film is expensive; prints are expensive. In addition they take up space which can be expensive and difficult to manage. Because of this a film photographer is generally more conservative, trying fewer possibilities and experimenting less when taking photographs.
#2. Learning New Techniques
DIGITAL: Learning and evaluating new photographic concepts and skills, such as handholding at slow shutter speeds, is much easier due to the instant feedback of the LCD monitor -- as difficult photographic techniques can be mastered rapidly.
FILM: With no instant feedback, a film photographer is flying blind. She or he will not know, often until days later, what the effect of a particular new technique was.
#1. Visualizing The Results Of Your Picture Taking
DIGITAL: The instant review and feedback of the LCD monitor allows quick corrections and adjustments almost in real time along with a real time preview before the shot is taken. Exposure, for example, is simple with digital. Take a test shot -- look at it -- adjust, shoot again, then adjust again. No more time consuming light metering.
FILM: While film photographers learned to previsualize after years of experience, it was easy to make mistakes. There were often times that instant feedback was needed. For example, when taking a flash photograph of a group, did one of the people blink when the flash went off, thus ruining the photo? This is something that is easy to judge with digital and impossible with film.
More About the LCD Monitor
Netplaces.com, a part of The New York Times Company, reprinted the following from my book The Everything Digital Photography book that I wrote four years ago: "Photography.com commissioned a detailed survey about the advantages of digital photography. The response showed that photographers overwhelmingly valued the increased control over the picture-taking process more than any other aspect. This control included the immediate feedback of the LCD monitor and the ability to manipulate and correct images at the time of shooting. And because of this control, the survey respondents said that photographers could now work with a precision that was previously not available." See the full article for a more detailed explanation of the LCD monitor advantage.
In 1998 after I bought my first digital camera, I wrote an essay about the new potential of digital photography vs. film which included the following, "The digital camera allows flexibility, instant images and picture possibilities that did not exist earlier...Immediate feedback makes the digital camera a different kind of beast."
EXAMPLE OF THE DIGITAL ADVANTAGE: FERRIS WHEEL PHOTOS
Taken over ten years ago, this Ferris Wheel series of photos would have been impossible with film. This progression of shots showed me the potential of digital photography and the power of instant feedback on the LCD monitor. In about an hour I went from a realistic shot of the Ferris Wheel (the next shot in this article) to the abstractions and patterns created by the movement of the Ferris Wheel and my own camera movement (see below). Each shot showed me unexpected effects on the LCD monitor which led to the next shot and allowed me to explore the possibilities in real time. Except for the very first shot at the top of this article (which I cropped slightly and nothing more), these photos are straight shots and undoctored with no post processing. These photos are from my book Experimental Digital Photography.
For more about my approach to photography see my book: Experimental Digital Photography.
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