In Praise of Digital Photography
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.
But there are some genuine reasons to at least incorporate digital technology into your professional photography game plan. These reasons are compelling enough that more and more we are seeing the big studios going all digital. So if you are running an independent photography business or if you are “just” a photography hobbyist (and thank God for the hobbyists), you may have to think through the value of moving to digital processing yourself. The amount of fuss and sheer “stuff” of doing a shoot digitally is dramatically less involved than using the older technologies. Witness how the digital revolution in photography has revolutionized the personal camera world. Now people can take as many pictures as they want and have them to review virtually instantaneously.
The strongest points in favor of digital photography are usually time and cost. Re-shoots can be done quickly and there is the advantage of taking a multitude of shots at practically no expense in order to capture the right one. In a portrait session for example, the customer has the ability to view the images almost immediately, then knowing what to go back to correct. With traditional film, results are not discovered until after processing necessitating a return to the studio. Digital photography can provide the customer with instantaneous results and satisfaction while saving both time and money for the photographer.
If it is the quality that you are worried about, digital photography can deliver. The end results are a photo that is many cases is better than if having used the prior technologies. With the cost saving benefiting both the customer and the photographer, professional photos are more readily sought after now than ever before. This convenience and saving will bring the consumer back more often as they are being provided a quality service at an obtainable price for any budget.
Digital photography, being a child of the internet and the digital revolution that has swept our lives via personal computers, can be delivered in a myriad of ways and at a speed that was unheard of prior to the arrival of this technology. We can deliver the photos via email, by posting them to an online gallery or by burning them to a DVD or CD so the customer can order lots more shots for the same cost and have them delivered in a way that 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.
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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