More or less

[pierovitch]

I am interested to hear about other users shooting habits when changing from film to digital.
Personally I have noticed I take less photos as I can look at the preview and know if the shot worked. I come from a biomedical background where reshoots are usually not possible. My digital camera has a five frame per second mode and I have hardly ever used it. With film I was always taking more frames for insurance in case of film or exposure errors but with digital I seem to concentrate more on the moment.

Cheers Pierre

[peterb]

Pierre,

Actually, it's been quite the opposite for me. With the cost of film no longer a reason for holding myself back I now find myself taking MORE pictures in the digital age. Images that I can stare at for hours on either the computer or a monitor.

But, however, I find myself printing LESS than I used to! : )))

However, a corollary to that is that I find myself being more deliberate in what I print. The good news is there's a greater selection of useable shots to from which to choose for printing. And, for me, it's better to have more than less.

That's why, despite the excessiveness in shooting, I'm finding, I love so much the digital age.

Regards,

P

[spylaw4]

I'm the same as peterb!

[andybarton]

I too have been taking many more shots since I bought the DMR, especially rubbish ones.

[guy_mancuso]

That's because it is fun to shoot Andy. LOL

Honestly it has been many years since i shot film but i don' think I shoot more now. Although i do use digital as my polaroid when I do work with setup situations like tethered to a laptop . i will shoot with many lights and no meter and adjust the lighting according to the last image viewed until I get exactly what i want than shoot my finals. Now this is really awesome becuase the costs are none and that final is the final and no surprises coming from the lab. There is a lot to said for working like this. You simply pack your bags knowing it is truly in the can

[smokysun]

i'm with peterb too. it's the immediate satisfaction, i suppose. but it's also the ability and freedom to play (huizinga: all culture and discovery comes from playing).

and as every artist knows, it's the accidents, often unconscious moves, that helps their art along. zen: in the moment of creation, don't think.

also it's so much fun to look at the pics and play with them in the computer! and a terrible photo can suddenly be developed into an interesting work. that's why i don't throw things out or judge myself too harshly on the spot. you may discover just what you need later.

wayne

[guy_mancuso]

I agree on one point alone the mental side of shooting vs the costs side . Shooting digital your really not worried about costs at all when your shooting, it's a small point but it does linger that you have to process film. Digital gives you the freedom to play and i agree accidents sometimes are the best images. I know there are many that are so against digital and taking the silver away is like ripping your gut out. After the years doing it it really gives you creative freedom in other ways and you just need to learn the process to achieve the looks you want. Once that LCD review pops up the first time, you start saying things to yourself , Hmmm maybe if i tried this and moved this way and turned the camera like this than move in and you are getting my point , it actually helps your work. Besides everything else it is fun to learn new things.

[stunsworth]

I shoot more or less like I did with film, and probaby take a similar number of shots - I used to rather arogantly say that the cheapest thing involved about owning Leicas was the cost of the film you put inside them :-)

After saying that, I do sometines look at the LCD after taking a shot, but usually only if the lighting conditions are rather difficult, and then I'm far more interested in the histogram than the tiny little image.

[peterb]

The in-camera LCD has created one of the most amusing human behavioral changes of the digital age.

Before the LCD, for most of us the routine was as simple as aim, focus (meter if necessary), compose, snap, repeat. And that repetition was really really fast.

Today the process is one of aim, focus, compose, snap, hold-the-camera-six-inches-from-your-face-and-grimace, and repeat.

With the Digilux 2 and the Ricoh GR-Digital (which I no longer have) I turned the LCD off while shooting. With the LX1 which I now use a lot, I've purchased a Voigtlander accessory holder which I attached to the top deck and inserted a 28mm finder and try to ignore the LCD (which I cannot shut off while shooting as you could with the Ricoh GR DIgital). The finder attached, by the way, makes it easy to aim the camera off eye in the general direction of a subject and silently capture it without their being aware that you've taken their picture, sort of triangulation I suppose.

Don't get me wrong, I love that you can check shots immediately after taking them. And that may be the best thing in the digital age. In those critical situations where a specific composition is desired I do do that. Very re-assuring.

It's just that, for the most part, I prefer to not use it as much when shooting. So as to avoid breaking up a rhythm I've started. And maybe later on a bench go over what was taken throughout my day deleting those totally non-shots (like the occaisional shot of my foot, for example...unless, of course, it's a really really cool shot of my foot, of course).

P

[guy_mancuso]

Peter that is the beauty is you can turn it off. Like having some of these things but the biggest feature sometimes is the off button. I do this sometimes when shooting tethered get everything they way i want and the client but pull the darn firewire cable off the camera and just shoot, this way the client is not constantly over your shoulder and you can just create. Yes the OFF button is a nice feature

[albertwang]

I take more risks with digital than film. Otherwise ditto the rest.

[jrc]

Originally Posted by pierovitch

Personally I have noticed I take less photos as I can look at the preview and know if the shot worked. I come from a biomedical background where reshoots are usually not possible. My digital camera has a five frame per second mode and I have hardly ever used it. With film I was always taking more frames for insurance in case of film or exposure errors but with digital I seem to concentrate more on the moment.

Cheers Pierre

I have worked as a photographer on archaeological digs, and also shoot for my personal use. On the digs (like your medical shooting), reshoots are usually not possible, because after the shot, the subject, like a mudbrick wall, may be destroyed or, in the case of objects, removed from context. With film I not only bracketed everything, I shot with two cameras in case there was a problem in film development, or simply with losing a roll, or any of the other problems you can think of. With digital, I shot with two cameras, but often only one or two shots -- I'd chimp, see that the shot looked good, and quit. Then I'd back them up on a computer and burn them onto CDs as quickly as I could.

When I'm shooting a landscape for personal use, I'll shoot, chimp, reshoot, chimp, and so on -- maybe take five or ten shots from one position, adjusting skyline, picking up one cloud and not another, and so on. I've filled four 2G cards like that, wandering around shooting autumn color with a D2x. So I shoot more for some things, less for others.

JC

[pierovitch]

Thanks all for the feed back. I think its about time I try and explore more techniques rather than the self imposed ones from my work habits.
My previous film use has worn out the internals of a few Leica SLR's despite the caution.

Cheers Pierre

[Lucklik]

With digital (D2) I shoot more but I have less results compared to film (M6-M7).

When I shoot film I'm 100% concentrated on the subject and I'm confident the results will be technicaly OK.

With digital I'm less concentrated on the subject because the camera asks more attention.
I always have to check if the highlights are not blown and if I wasn't too late due to the shutterlag and if the picture is sharp.

I suppose the M8 will solve the issues about highlights, shutterlag and sharpness but I still will be less concentrated on the subject because I will keep on looking at the screen to check the results. ;-)

rgs

Luc

[KevinA]

I shoot Aerials and run an Aerial image library, since converting to digital I shoot lots more. I add nearly every single one to the library, if flying over London when using film I shot 10 rolls of 10 on 120, it was a busy day, I easily shoot three times that now. The only thing that stops me shooting a load more is knowing I will have to keyword them all by road name when I get home.
Having said that I have been shooting some Provia for the fun of it, I was trying out a 6x7 Corfield the other day in the Helicopter. I bet shooting that one roll will of stopped me from getting 50 usfull digital images. Wind the film take a reading set the aperture, cock the shutter, compose then shoot, repeat nine more times.

Kevin.