Got Digital?

Do you use film or digital?

The fact is, the medium does not really matter. A camera is simply a device that captures a visual record of a moment in time. That said, some people feel that digital photography is easier, more interactive, and more fun than film. And it’s certainly a faster way to learn about what you are doing right or wrong with your camera. Because you can see the picture immediately on the camera’s LCD screen.
What’s more, even with a 4-megapixel camera, you can make an 11×14-inch Inkjet print that rivals the same size print from a negative or slide. That’s if you know what you are doing in the digital darkroom.

Here’s my take on digital photography. I would agree that images created in the digital darkroom of a two-headed bison and the like are not straight or traditional photographs. But straight photographs taken with a digital camera are photographs. What’s more, film photographers distort, enhance, change, and manipulate reality. They’ve been doing so since the early days of photography.

Can you pick the digital image?

One of these pictures of the Palace of the Winds in Rajasthan, India was taken with a film camera, the other was shot with a digital camera. Which is which? I’m not telling, because I’d like to illustrate a point. These days, it’s almost impossible to tell the difference between a film and a digital image. Especially when the picture is seen on the web, or printed in books, newspapers, or magazines. Some Inkjet prints also rival prints from film. If you think can tell the difference, please send me an e-mail at rick@ricksammon.com.

If you disagree, please consider the following. Before you read on, however, please note that I make the following suggestions seriously, but with tongue in cheek.

We see the world in color

So, I guess one could argue that film photographer Ansel Adams, perhaps the most famous landscape photographer of all time, used black-and-white darkroom tricks to get the viewer’s attention. He was the first to admit, by the way, that making and remaking a print in the wet darkroom was an important step in creating a photograph.

Some color films do not show the world as we see it. These days, super-saturated color slide films and color print films are the rage. The vividly colorful pictures they produce are often more appealing to picture-takers than photos taken with films that produce accurate colors.

What about filters? We use filters on a film camera to eliminate reflections or to add color to a scene or part of a scene (as we do with graduated filters). That’s a neat trick!

Lenses and all its glory

Now let’s talk about lenses. Telephoto lenses compress elements in a scene. Our eyes cannot see what those lenses “see,” unless we peer through high-power binoculars or a telescope.

Wide-angle lenses have the opposite effect. They tend to expand space, making small rooms and car interiors, for example, appear larger than they really are. At the wide-angle range, the effect is that of lines that bow out increasingly as you approach the edges of the frame or rounded, distorted pictures, as with a fisheye lens. Do you have fish eyes?

Photographers have long-manipulated film grain and soft focus as well. Several photographers, including Robert Farber, have built their reputations on the effect created when using a grainy film and a soft-focus filter. Presto changeo – reality is turned into an impressionist scene!

Is this a real photograph?

Technically, the Photoshopped picture of a two-headed bison created from a straight picture of a bison taken at the San Diego Zoo, is a photographic collage. But I don’t think it should be considered a photograph in the traditional sense. It’s kinda wacky, and I include it here just for fun.

So let’s face it, photography is photography, no matter what the medium. In fact, I think most people looking at a straight traditional picture in a newspaper, magazine, book, or website could not tell if it had been taken with a film or a high-quality digital camera. The same is true for pictures printed on Inkjet printers.

So in thinking about film and digital, please keep in mind that you can have all the digital or film cameras, lenses, and accessories in the world. But photography is ultimately based on individual perceptions that are shaped by the tools and techniques used to create them. In short, the basic process of photography has not changed, no matter what capture medium you happen to use.

Hey, send me your thoughts on film vs. digital. I’d love to hear from you. Write rick@ricksammon.com.

Rick Sammon’s latest book, The Complete Guide to Digital Photography, is mainly devoted to digital photography, but film and film scanners are covered, too.