If digital technology did not exist.....

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Archive 2009 · If digital technology did not exist.....

canonet
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p.3 #1 · If digital technology did not exist.....

jophoto said:
The rise in wedding shooters is solely attributed to DSLR's, my demographics is much the same.
10-20 shooters per available wedding, pricepoint becomes a major factor. Blown dresses are now fine art weddings and actually perceived as better photography because it was supposedly done deliberately, My A.S , the mind boggles when i see it and my stomach churns, WTH am I doing wrong, all you do is educate the client and hope they have the good sense to value the difference. Whether it be digital or film.

I have noticed the immediate ride in wedding photogs ( also happening in shooting sports too..........set sports mode and get to work!) When you say blown dresses, are you referring to blown highllights that is popular these days? I do not do it and basically shoot everything straight for exposure and will adjust for backlighting, etc. so its all in-camera. one thing I will educate future clients on it NOt having the Bobs with their super Samsungs with a pic of them in action. My assistant shot apic at a recent wedding of the massive number of bobs with cameras who wanted to get closer during the ceremony!

J
Unfortunately today's client couldn't care less about this.
( I've tried with digital to get a decent B&W print and no luck. i can run some Ilford XP2 Super in my hasselblad or RB, even a Nikon F, and the result is unmatched by any fancy post-process digiphoto ( in my opinion)

This is unfortunate today's client does not understand this.

Nov 03, 2009 at 04:50 PM

Marcel VanEerd
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p.3 #2 · If digital technology did not exist.....

I shot more years in film than digital, and I'd go back to using my Hasselblad's if need be.

Side note - I was ogling an old friend of mine at a local store.... the FTb QL for $45 with a lens... Man - I loved that camera! I think I'll go back and pick it up to shoot some b&w...

Nov 03, 2009 at 05:59 PM

Mr. Malik
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p.3 #3 · If digital technology did not exist.....

I would ACTUALLY devote all my efforts to climbing the ranks within the government... lol

Nov 03, 2009 at 06:38 PM

dmacmillan
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p.3 #4 · If digital technology did not exist.....

When I shot weddings professionally, I never shot smaller than medium format: Mamiya 645's for candids, RB67's for formals, plus Mamiya C330's and Hasselblads.

I think the technology of the time affected wedding photo style. Color film and electronic flash created the candid wedding photo market. Before then is was one or two formal photos. I actually have an 8x10 wedding formal negative!

I found out a few days before we attended my wife's step-niece that she did not hire a professional photographer and was inviting all interested to take photos. The small amount of shooting made me wish I had digital back in the day! I always wanted to shoot reportage style (I'm trying to avoid the connotations of "PJ"). I would have loved to shoot available light, with just a little augmentation from flash or video lights.

I think the average competent pro wedding photographer is providing a much better product than the average competent film pro of 20 years ago. The very talented, including some who post here on a regular basis are providing wonderful images and albums that were just unavailable "back in the day".

Those who long for the "quality" of film shooting are just being silly.

Nov 03, 2009 at 06:45 PM

Quan
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p.3 #5 · If digital technology did not exist.....

nay i would be a pharmacist.

Nov 03, 2009 at 07:00 PM

ckhagen
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p.3 #6 · If digital technology did not exist.....

I started back in the film days (and I'm only 26!) shooting a hassleblad and a rebel slr. So yes I would still be doing it, but I love the freedom I have with digital.

Nov 03, 2009 at 08:50 PM

canonet
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p.3 #7 · If digital technology did not exist.....

dmacmillian, I think folks were still creative with film for decades and digital took it another step. There could have been a thinking of some things we should not do with film but I think digital will make folks take a second look at that and try anyway.

Nov 04, 2009 at 12:04 PM

Scott Clark
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p.3 #8 · If digital technology did not exist.....

dmacmillan wrote:

I think the average competent pro wedding photographer is providing a much better product than the average competent film pro of 20 years ago. The very talented, including some who post here on a regular basis are providing wonderful images and albums that were just unavailable "back in the day".

Those who long for the "quality" of film shooting are just being silly.

I've been saying the same thing for a while...I think because digital shortens the learning curve of photography on such a huge scale, it's really improved the quality of photography as a whole over what people were shooting 20 or 30 years ago. Yes, it also means everyone and their dog is a photographer, but that just means being "good" isn't good enough any more...you have to step up.

I still like shooting a little film here and there in my old OM bodies (and my Leica

) and I have many fond memories of developing Tri-X with my dad in our basement darkroom...but if I had to go back to strictly shooting film (particularly for weddings) I wouldn't. It would just take too much of the fun out of it for me.

That said, getting good digital B&W prints is a struggle (at least for me) and I still haven't seen a digital formula that can really replicate Velvia 50

Nov 04, 2009 at 02:28 PM

bert reed
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p.3 #9 · If digital technology did not exist.....

I have noticed in my area that photographers who never shot film spend loads more time editing than pre-digital photographers. I have friends who spend 40+ hours editing a wedding, where I spend an average of 4. Seems like people are more interested in the latest photoshop action they can buy than solid photographic principles.

Nov 04, 2009 at 03:07 PM

canonet
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p.3 #10 · If digital technology did not exist.....

bert reed wrote:
I have noticed in my area that photographers who never shot film spend loads more time editing than pre-digital photographers. I have friends who spend 40+ hours editing a wedding, where I spend an average of 4. Seems like people are more interested in the latest photoshop action they can buy than solid photographic principles.

I think this is the case for Digital shooters in my area too; photoshop actions. It makes me wonder if its done for the photographer, or the client.

I've spent six hours max editing/post processing a wedding and felt it was too much! Many of the fundamentals which was taught long ago has fallen by the wayside.
The local cam shop mentioned a few pros who shoot nothing but program at weddings and make a reasonable living by it. If something happened to program, they would be lost!

Nov 04, 2009 at 04:24 PM


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