Is Digital Photography Better?

 

 Breakfast at Susie's, for many years the premier morning hangout in LaFayette, Georgia.

Depends on what you mean by "better." If quicker and easier add up to better in your mind, then digital photography is better. But photography is not about speed and ease -- it's about pictures. So are the pictures any better? I don't think so.

The varied but compatible crowd that frequented Susie's Sunset (I always thought it should have been Sunrise) Cafe in LaFayette, Georgia was photographed with a simple, quiet, Olympus SPn rangefinder camera with a fixed, 42mm lens. Would the picture have been better if I had fired off a dozen exposures with the latest digital camera? What makes the photo work is the composition of the group, and especially, the timing. This is what photographers call "the decisive moment," when everything comes together.

The late, great Robert Riger was one of America's premier sports photographers from the late 1950s through the mid-90s. He filled many books with his work, some of which are still available new on amazon.com and other sites. He did not have a camera such as the Sony A9, which, when you press the shutter release, fires off a string of shots from which the photographer can select the best when he edits the files. Yet, Riger turned out one great shot after another, working with slow film, even Kodachrome, which had an ASA (now called ISO) of 25, slow lenses by today's standards, and cameras with no autofocus. How did he do it? Composition and timing. Tools that are available to every photographer willing to put in the time and practice to learn them.

I'm not suggesting you go back to film. But I am saying that a digital camera will not make your photography better. That's something only you can do.

(Photo made with an Olympus 35mm SPn camera, Fuji color negative film.) 

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.50 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail me a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     film photography     film cameras     Kodachrome     Robert Riger