Digital Vs Film

Honestly? I might as well be comparing a quill and a Biro. There is no competition. I love the surprise, the craft of processing and the exclusivity of film. Sadly, not even my passion for film could keep me far enough away from digital photography. My story of betrayal began with the imminent birth of my (now two year old) son. I knew that with a young baby in tow, ‘darkroom time’ would be a luxury that i was too impatient to wait for. Digital photography opened my eyes to a world where I could spend all day shooting and processing imagery whilst completing those everyday chores of breast-pumping, nappy-changing delight. Two years later my photography business is picking up pace, something I could have only dreamed of with a baby and a darkroom.

Did the advent of digital photography level the playing field make it easy for anyone to take great pictures and shun the need for a photographer? Definately not. When digital photography first appeared the quality did not match that of film photography. This created a ‘tutorial period’ where film photographers were able to grasp the digital basics in their spare time. Although Joe public was able to learn the skill of digital from scratch, it didn’t take long before the quality was sufficient for professional photographers to take the reins and raise the bar in terms of photographic, technical and creative ability.

Take wedding photography for example: In 1995, your average wedding photographer would shoot between 50 and 80 frames at any given wedding, of which 40 may be offered as proofs to the client. Compare this with your average 2009 wedding photographer shooting between 200 and 800 frames at any given wedding . The ease of processing meant that to compete with the big boys [pardon the expression] in wedding photography, it was essential for photographers to up the work load in order to satisfy the client.

Photoshop and it’s contemporaries really are very similar to darkrooms. Those unfamiliar with a darkroom may see such software as a lazy way for a photographer to manipulate an image to suit the intended criteria, whereas those familiar with a darkroom will tell you that the only real differences between the two is the speed at which Photoshop performs – and that said, shooting up to 800 frames at a wedding, is up to ten times that of a film photographer, so put simply, it is essential that Photoshop performs at speed.