gdanmitchell
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 Re: Could you go back to film? | |
melcat wrote:
freetime101 wrote:No chimping
Oh, I dunno, it seemed sometimes there were chimps working at one of the labs I used to use.
In my mid-teens a friend took me into the darkroom and I watched as the print was developed. It was fascinating to watch - once - but seemed insanely tedious for the level of control I would have wanted.
I think that too many modern photographers forget this part — the part about how much creative control we now have over the post-processing and printing process. Much of what digital photography, post-processing, and printing allows us to do is not completely new. Rather most of it is, in one way or another, an extension, expansion, or perfection of things we were already able to do with film. In terms of improving the tools of our trade, it is hard to argue that digital technologies have been anything but a tremendous advance.
The time element is another important one. While there is a value in working slowly, carefully, and with intention a) we can still do that if we choose to with digital, and b) there are times where it is also an advantage to be able to work more efficiently.
One critical area is the shortened feedback loop between conception of the idea of the image and its fixing in the form of a print (or electronic representation). This is not so much about efficiency as it is about how much more possible and effective it is for us to work towards a perfected version of our ideas.
While some of us can understand the nostalgia for a time when we really did not know what we had until long after making the exposure — sometimes a very long time later – and for the skills that were then required to work effectively with less useful feedback, digital processes can make us better photographers by allowing us to learn more quickly, to apply what we learn sooner, to test our ideas, and to refine our vision.
Back in the day, we made a photograph. Later, once we finished the roll of film, we usually put it aside for eventual development. Perhaps we made a proof sheet of very small contact images. We selected one or a few and perhaps went into the darkroom at some point and made a few prints. Days, weeks, months later we finally saw what the photograph actually looked like, and only then could we apply what we learned to subsequent photographs.
Today, we can learn a lot from the photograph immediately, by looking at the rear camera display. We can learn more very quickly by viewing it on a screen. It isn't hard at all to work up a quick test print the same day. Frankly, this, combined with a lot of practice, potentially makes us better photographers.
I was infatuated with film photography as a kid and as a young man, and I continued to use it for decades. I am completely convinced that beautiful photographs have been made with film and that it is possible to continue to make them that way. But I'm equally convinced that work that is as good or better can be made using digital photography techniques, and I have no personal interest in returning to the old ways.
YMMV,
Dan
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