DIGITAL vs. FILM
Author: Jelaine Macaraeg
As anyone might expect, the birth of digital photography,
moreover, all the hype about it brought forth controversy. Does
its birth mean the end for film? Are digital cameras better as
they are "technologically more advanced"? Is digital photography
simply film photography gone hi-tech? As I found out, digital is
not better than film - and film, is not better than digital.
Instead, it's like comparing apples with oranges - they're two
entirely different fruits with different properties, having
their own advantages and disadvantages.
One perfect article to read is the one by Darwin Wiggett, an
advertising stock photographer who had his share of working with
both film and digital cameras.
As he have learned, and I'm sure a lot of people will agree,
digital images are smoother and has a lot less noise, while film
images are usually grainy. However, colors seem sharper with
film, while digital photos tend to be flat and pale. You might
say, "That's what Photoshop is for! To enhance color and fix
everything there is to be fixed!" Well, this brings Wiggett, as
well as other professional photographers to another observation.
Digital has made people a lot lazier.
When you use film, you always seem to aim for that perfect shot.
With digital, you get instant feedback from the LCD screen. This
may have an advantage as it also gives you instant opportunity
to improve your next shot by adjusting your technique, Of
course, you don't have that luxury with film and that's exactly
what drives you to be focused - so you would get the best shot.
With digital, people tend to be "trigger happy," you're always
thinking, "That's good enough. I can always fix it with image
editor."
However, what they fail to realize is that they spend way too
much time, checking on their LCD, dealing with their batteries,
which gets drained oh-so fast, downloading or transferring files
and of course, manipulating the images.
In the end, it all boils down to personal preference. And just
like in anything, people shouldn't allow commercialism and
marketing make them judgmental or discriminating - especially
the newbies. As I always say, you need to pick the right tools
for the kind of project you're working on, depending on your
vision of that project. If you have the time as well as the
resources, it is recommended that you try both on various
projects so that you can make a sound judgment of what works
best for you. Therefore, people shouldn't be thinking Digital
vs. Film. Instead, it should be Digital and Film.
With that, let me end this article with Mr. Wiggett's words,
which I find very wise: "A great shot is a great shot no matter
how, when, or where it is captured."
Note: Link for Mr. Wiggett's article:
http://www.naturephotographers.net/articles0105/dw0105-1.html
About the author:
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