Around 2005, digital cameras began to achieve parity with film cameras for the serious amateur and professional photographer. At that time, most photographers agreed that the resolution and other features of the new digital cameras were equal to or even better than film cameras. Thus began the digital revolution in photography that continues unabated nearly 15 years later.
There’s no doubt that the digital camera has brought whole new set of tools to the photographer. Cameras offering resolution that is close, if not equal to, medium format quality. The processes of working with images in the camera and on the computer during post-processing allow artists to create beautiful images in color and black & white. In addition, the ability to set high ISO and noise reduction has given new meaning to the concept of low-light photography.
So, it’s all good, right? Well, yes and no. The advent of the technology is certainly good, and I’ve heard some folks say that it has drawn them back into photography. On the flip side, though, at what point does the technology become more intriguing than making images? Are we all becoming “gear heads?”
The past fifteen years have seen new digital cameras released, on average, about every two years. That’s a lot of new releases, and the primary driver has been the ability of manufacturers to increase the number of pixels in a given space to increase resolution. This has created a difficult situation for photographers.
Unless one is a pro shooting, say, sporting events, and goes through the life cycle of a shutter in two years, it becomes increasingly difficult for serious amateurs, and even some pros, to acquire the latest technology every two years. Yet, if you don’t have the latest, you feel as though you’re behind the curve in some way, and your camera is obsolete.
While those feelings are not based on fact, they tug at the emotions, particularly when there’s so much hype and mystery around when the “new” camera will be released. Indeed, there are several websites devoted to speculation and “what people are hearing” regarding when the next camera will be released, and what features it will have, especially how many megapixels.
The key message of this discussion is that, I believe, serious amateur and professional photographers may be better served by stopping the chase for the latest cameras and the most megapixels, and work on elements of their photography that improve lighting, composition, exposure, and many other elements of basic photography.
Consider the work of well-known photographers before digital came on the scene. John Shaw, Art Wolfe, Tom Mangelsen, Frans Lanting, Galen Rowell, and others became famous for their excellent work using film cameras, where color (usually slide) film could only be developed by commercial labs, and black & white processing had to be done in the darkroom. Thumb through one of the many books by any of these individuals, and you’ll see what I mean. Wonderful composition, excellent color saturation, creative use of depth-of-field, good lighting in difficult situations all come together to produce images as good as, or even better than professionals working today.
Even though there are hundreds of books on how to improve your photography that have been published during the digital age, you can learn as much about the basics by consulting a book published during the film age. One of my favorites is John Shaw’s Nature Photography Field Guide, published in 2000, which is chock full of good advice and beautiful photographs. Although he recently published an updated version of this book that offers plenty of advice on the digital workflow, I often enjoy reading and learning from the first edition.
We live during a great time for photography, and the digital workflow from capture to print offers much greater control over the final version of our images than film did. No doubt about that. We simply have to guard against a preoccupation with technical advances and specifications to the detriment of the basics of photography and our focus on excellent images.
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