Think Digital
Right Image:
Digital SLR , Tokina 20-35mm lens,
1/45 sec at f-5.6. Bogen tripod and ball head. Multipattern metering.
Digital photography has changed the way we take pictures. Even if you currently use film, you should start thinking about all your images in digital format and how they will appear on your computer screen. Even if you don't own a scanner, think digital as you will most likely purchase a scanner to turn your slides and negative into digital files. Film is not dead and it won't be. At least not for a long time to come. Digital cameras have a long way to go before they can match the quality of film cameras and prices. Even low priced film scanners produce high quality digital images from 35mm slides and negatives with better results than high priced pro digital cameras. One thing is for sure that sooner or later we all need to enter into digital photography. Some have already done so by switching to digital cameras while others continue to shoot film and scan their favorites in their digital darkroom. Those of you who have not entered digital photography, need not worry. You can keep shooting film and purchase a film or flatbed scanner in the future or have a lab scan your images for you when you need to. One thing we all should do is to "re-think" how we take each and every shot. We used to take pictures and have a lab do the processing and printing for us. Many of us still do. Images we liked, we would keep and throw away the bad ones. Many photographers had and still have their chemical darkrooms. I still have my darkroom and continue using it regularly. In our darkrooms, we didn't just make prints or process our films, but do much more. I fixed so many of my errors in the darkroom. Bad exposures, off colors, and even composition could be fixed in the darkroom. All of these and more can now be done in digital darkrooms.
Digital darkroom is your computer, scanner, printer, and image editor software. I now try to imagine how each image I take will look on my computer monitor and what more I can or can't do with each image in my digital darkroom. As of this writing (5/2001) I do not own a digital camera and don't plan on purchasing one yet. My digital camera is my film scanner. I feel I get better results with slides and negatives scanned than using a digital camera. I'm after highest possible quality not convenience of seeing my pictures after I click the shutter, although that would be very nice. I now think about what my software editors can do to improve my shots. I use PhotoShop and PaintShop Pro, but almost all image editors can perform tasks that make you dizzy with so many possibilities. Before you release the shutter, think what you want to do with the shot you are about to take. Do you want to print it for yourself, or perhaps you want to use the image on the web or sell it to clients? Look a bit closer to see other possibilities that can be used later in your digital darkroom. For example, I now photograph subjects that would normally require a longer lens. I shoot with whatever long lens I happen to have with me. I then scan and enlarge the area I want. I can also fix many exposure problems. If I forget to take my graduated ND filter or just happen to be careless with my exposure, I can fix my errors later. Another possibility is taking pictures of things we would not have even considered before. I recently photographed a landscape with soda cans and plastic grocery bags left behind by careless campers. Normally, I would have cursed the people for leaving their mess behind and leave. I now curse them while photographing the landscape and think how my image editors can remove the junk from the scene. I can cut the unwanted areas and use the cloning tool to remove objects that do not belong in a landscape.
Digital SLR, Tamron 70-210mm f-2.8, 1/500 at f-5.6
The question is if I'm cheating? You better believe it, but then again, so is the guy who uses a polarizing filter to enhance colors. Nothing about photography is real. Digital is another tool to make the task easier and better. Don't get me wrong. I don't alter all my images. Actually, I try not to do more than I have to. Most images I scan need only some touch-up. Usually, contrast, color, or exposure correction. This is always the case when copying an image. Even in traditional darkrooms prints require some adjustments. I do however, alter those images I shot with digital manipulation in mind at the time I released the shutter. This is just another tool photography has to offer me for improving my pictures and allowing me to do more with each and every subject I see. Re-learn to see the world around you. Computers have changed our lives for better and worse. One of its plus sides is digital photography. I for one can use the tool to improve my pictures.
Recommended reading:
Digital Photography Expert Techniques (O'Reilly Digital Studio)
This absorbing book, by professional photographer and author Ken Milburn, offers a ton of expert advice to those who are ready to move to the next level with digital photography. Rather than a general discussion of photography principles, Digital Photography: Expert Techniques focuses on workflow: time-tested, step-by-step procedures based on hard-nosed experience by and for genuine practitioners of the art. The book's conversational tone presents detailed information about what to look for in today's affordable high-end digicams, how to use simple techniques and equipment to shoot breathtaking shots, instructions on shooting great panoramas, dos-and-don'ts for creating better Photoshop masks, and professional digital darkroom techniques for everything from knockouts to restoration to transforming your photos into watercolors. It even shows you how to get your most prized photographs printed and ready for exhibition.
Contents include:
- Understanding your digital camera from the inside out.
- Creating effects with the camera: making panoramas, high-resolution matrixes, infrared photos, and more.
- General composition and managing your workflow.
- Using the digital darkroom and Photoshop CS to make your images professional caliber.
- Understanding the power of Photoshop CS selections and masks.
- Using special effects to save what's good, and get rid of the bad and the ugly.
- Creating fictitious photos: bend and wrap images to fit an object, insert a more interesting skyscraper, and more.
- Professional color and tonal management
- Creating portfolios and presenting your images on the Web.