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.
Probably the biggest leap forward in the use of digital photography is that you can do re-shoots quickly, easily and for virtually no cost. If you conduct a portrait session with a customer, you can have the "stills" of the session available almost as soon as the session is done. If a shot was good but not perfect, you can correct it and re-shoot immediately saving huge amounts of time and improving the chances you will get the portfolio you want and that the customer wants on the first session.
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.
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.
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.
Probably the biggest leap forward in the use of digital photography is that you can do re-shoots quickly, easily and for virtually no cost. If you conduct a portrait session with a customer, you can have the "stills" of the session available almost as soon as the session is done. If a shot was good but not perfect, you can correct it and re-shoot immediately saving huge amounts of time and improving the chances you will get the portfolio you want and that the customer wants on the first session.
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.
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.
About the Author:
Looking into digital photography, ever want to start Learning Digital Photography? Get Great Tips on how to take Digital Photographs with This Free Report
