how has digital changed you?

M

mtw

Guest
I'm looking for people to talk with about how digital technology has changed their photography - the technologies that have to be brought together, the new knowledge and skills needed, but most of all how photography and the meaning and purpose of photographs is being challenged and changed.

I'm a university researcher employed on a publicly funded project, which work on digital photography is part of. So, if you'd be interested in talking, it'd be great to hear from you, and I'll be happy to tell you more. Ideally I'd arrange to meet up if I can get to you - most likely if you're in either NE England or London area. Otherwise I could give you a call or we can just chat by email. The research is run to professional ethical standards including anonymity.

Hope to hear from you.

Matt
 
Hi Matt - I'll start the ball riolling by saying that digital hasn't changed my photography as I've never used film. If digital hadn't come along I may well have not got into photography at all. However, whichever way you look at it, it's a long steep learning curve. If you need more info just post.

By the way - welcome to The Photography Forums, there is a Welcome Forum where you might like to introduce yourself and you may get a wider audience for your project.

regards
 
i'd say that it's simply let me take more photos. the costs of processing and the time waiting for it to be some were a pain in the ass really. i still use film, but much less often.

it's also let me be more in control of the processing which is good and bad as i miss the excitement of getting photos back from the lab and i can spend an age deciding on silly little minutiae (sp?). but on the whole i enjoy the control and the ability to experiment.
 
Digital bought me into photography, its not something i ever considered before digital, that made it far more accesable to me and many others im sure!


Why not post the questions properly? We could then each answer them and mail you the answers, that would be far more efficient for you, yes?

Im sure it goes without saying, but the members gallery contains copyrighted works of the members, if you wish to use any of the images for your project you should ask the members in question by email if you can use any of the images.

welcome along, are you a photographer yourself?
 
EosD said:
Digital bought me into photography, its not something i ever considered before digital, that made it far more accesable to me and many others im sure!
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Same here - never had as much interest before digital, but now I find photography more accessible, I could even say convenient because the whole process can in effect be done in house, in my house even ;)
 
You asked your question on an open forum and personally i would rather keep my replies limited to here.

mtw said:
I'm looking for people to talk with about how digital technology has changed their photography
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I started out with a film SLR in the 70's - not an expensive one as money was tight. I had a 50mm lens a 2x teleconvertor and later a 28mm wide angle lens. There was no 'what camera', clubs or other resources - just the camera shop and library books. No thought of good lens /bad lens...you just got on with it.
Downside was the cost of finding out how your efforts were progressing. A lot of consideration went into each shot as cost was involved. Learning was slow as you waited for results and struggled to remember what settings you used.
Digital gives instant gratification and fast learning of what does or does not work. I might have taken 200 pictures in a year once - now i think nothing of 600 in a day.


mtw said:
- the technologies that have to be brought together, the new knowledge and skills needed,
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I have been 'in' computers since I bought a Amstrad 8086 for work in the 80's so using one is no big deal to me. I think the technology is just a tool - and it only needs be a simple one so no huge skill level is needed.

If you are the type of creative person where manipulating (developing) is an artistic process then software knowledge is essential. Personally I find editing a chore and seek to do the best I can with the camera.

mtw said:
but most of all how photography and the meaning and purpose of photographs is being challenged and changed.
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A good image stands in its own right. Always has always will.

Altering photos has always been possible. Now altering photos is easy. Seeing is believing is not the case with modern images. See something interesting and first thought is it must be fake.


mtw said:
Hope to hear from you.

Matt
Click to expand...

:snowball:
 
Hi,

I have been into photography since the early 80's -doing my own processing & developing etc.
After circumstances left me without a dark room, I switched to colour slides. By the mid to late ninties this intrest waned, since I am most intrested in the artistic/creative side of photography and with slides this can be some what limited.
Last year I got into digital for the first time, and the technology has fully reawakened my intrest in b&w photography.
Digital technology has not really effect work in the "field", but rather more the dark room side of things.
I find that processing digitally is little different from dark room work -I tend to sick to image adjustment/correction rather than image manipulation. (excluding conversion to B&W)
So certainly digital technology has made a big difference to my photography.
Whilst digital is in many ways easier, it is by no means any less skillfull.

Regards
 
I started out with film SLR about 18 years ago & dabbled with darkroom in house for B&W. Found the latter to be way too time consuming & messy. After a couple of years I found I just didn't have the time.

Fast forward 15 years & I bought a reasonable Digital compact & I was hooked. Immediate results on your PC. Since then I have advanced to Digital SLR's & Adobe Photoshop CS. PS CS has allowed me to enhance shots no end & is the area I spend most of my time now :whistling
 
Wow folks, thanks for all the responses, just that first prod has given me half a project's worth..

So, I will post more specific questions as there's such a generous bunch here. But, well, the interviews I do - well, more conversations - take about an hour so as you can imagine the questions can get a bit detailed... So it'd be great if anyone out there's prepared to be visited - poking about gear and photo collections helps too. But still, if you lot are ready to talk some more, I will post some more specific qs, maybe a few at a time, over next few days or so.

I will do the right thing and post a message to the welcome forum to introduce myself.

So, to take the next step - some have said this sort of thing already, but it's be good to know how you've learnt to do digital photography - whether moving from film or starting in digital anew. When did you first get a digital? What stumped you? What software have you used etc...? Any replies gratefully received!

Thanks again

Matt
 
I never really experienced film or the darkroom.
I bought my first digital, a 3.1 megapixel Kodak out of neccesity as I was working as a web designer and wanted to take original shots instead of using cliched stock images.

I was using Photoshop a long time before I got into photography for the sake of it and Photoshop was a hobby to me in its own right.
I was also trained as a commercial artist from school and did a lot of waterclour work as a hobby which helped to train my eye in terms of lighting and composition etc.

I find that photography blends my technical and artistic skills perfectly.
I also 'retired' as a musician 3 years ago after 25 years on the road and photography fills the creative gap nicely (although I don't make anywhere near as much money at it!).

I would say from the research I have done that the digital darkroom is every bit as skillful as the wet darkroom but much more accessible to your average Joe.
 
i started with a cheap crap-o-cam and moved on to a calculato-cam™(made by casio, geddit??) because i couldnt do what i wanted with the first, i originally got it just to take snaps of stuff, but quickly got into the who photography 'thing'.

I got my DSLR cos i really wanted to try and better myself with a camera, i dont intend to do weddings or that sort of thing, but i want to enter competitions(already won a camera and getting a print of another winner)and generally learn more about it, it is, for me, a hobby that i find useful

I use Photoshop software, thats what others were using and i got version 7 at work, so away i went, my interest in that side of it has grown from there.
 
I don't think digital has changed my photography massively, apart from the fact I'm a bit more trigger happy with the digi-cam as I don't have to worry about the cost of film and processing now. Having said that, I still try and compose my photographs properly etc. I'm just more willing to try experimental stuff now as I know if doesn't come out then I haven't lost much. So I guess in that respect it's probably made me a bit more creative.

I started taking photographs about 18 years ago as my dad was quite keen, mostly Black and white and processed and printed at home. Moving to digital has happened gradually for me and I'm still not wholly there as I still shoot some film and then scan the negs. My first Camera was some sort of Praktica with a f1.4 50mm and an external light meter. fun. progressed through other 35mm cams and now use my contax tvs and a kodak p&s which is ok. Next purchase undecided but I don't want a Dslr!!! Only problem I had with digital ws learning photoshop as it has quite a steep learning curve and can be quite intimidating to the uninitiated. Ok with it now though. Also use a variety of plugins/actions. notably noise reduction via noise ninja as my camera has a crap sensor. and a resizing program for prints, Genuine fractals print-pro.

hope that potted history helps?
 
gandhi said:
notably noise reduction via noise ninja as my camera has a crap sensor.
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Anyone know where theres a easy walk through guide of how best to use Noise Ninja ?? Or any tip from you fella's who have had it a while.......... I'm just downloading the trial.

Cheers

Chris
 
IIRC there should be a rough tutorial on how to use it either on the website, or in the zip file you're currently downloading. Failing that, just have a play. there aren't many options. Start by profiling the image, then go to the next tab and adjust the levels for luminance and smoothness til you get an acceptable result. You can paint over any areas of fine detail to create a mask so they don't get NR'd. Just be careful not to overdo the process as you will lose any fine detail and end up with a very smudgy looking photo. Try turning everything up to max and see what I mean.

HTH?
 
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