Like it or not
- and some people obviously don`t! - computers have caught up with
photography and digital imaging is here to stay. Those of you who
attended the recent RPS Creative Day in Milton Keynes will have seen
what DI can do - and pretty impressive it is too. And we, as camera
clubs, cannot afford to ignore it...
First of all,
let`s look at one of the main arguments put forward against Digital
Imaging. !It`s not
photography." huff the Old Guard. "It`s cheating!"
cry others. But then, haven`t we always cheated a bit in
photography? After all, darkroom workers have long been manipulating
their creations, turning sunlight into moonlight, burning in and
dodging parts of their pictures, or using an airbrush perhaps to
disguise unwanted details or blemishes. In some cases several
negatives are combined at the printing stage to produce an entirely
new image. And by using lith film we can create surreal posterised
effects far removed from what many people would consider to be
photography. The list is endless and many an exhibition print bears
little resemblance to the original negative...
The reason I
give the above examples is that all of these - and much more - can
now be done by electronic means, using a Personal Computer. Just think, no more messy chemicals slopping around in the
darkroom! No more impossible contortions with your hands or using
bits of card on wire to shade your prints. No more using endless
sheets of expensive paper trying to get things right!
No more stewing over dev and fix trays, getting high on the
fumes! No more stumbling around in a darkroom cubby-hole, banging
knees and elbows against unseen protrusions!
Does all this sound familiar? If you`ve ever worked in a
darkroom you will know what I mean.
You would think
that most people would welcome the new technology with open arms -
and I`m sure that many do. But inevitably you get the die-hard
traditionalists who mutter "Well, it`s not photography, is
it?" That, of course, we could argue until the cows come home,
but personally, I feel if the photographer starts off with a slide
or negative he or she has taken in a camera then it doesn`t matter
HOW the final image is arrived at. What I certainly do NOT agree
with is copying fractals or simply scanning other people`s work -
this is obviously a cause for much concern and debate. It`s a
subject that both the RPS and PAGB are currently looking into and
hopefully they will soon come up with some guidelines.... preferably
sooner rather than later.
So like it or
not, DI is here with us NOW - and it`s not going to go away, as some
people may wish. And
from what Barrie Thomas showed us at the Creative Day it would seem
that quality has caught up with conventional processes, certainly in
the case of 35mm. Not only that, costs are starting to come down and
the whole idea of DI is becoming more attractive. The biggest
expense, of course, is converting your digital information in the
form of a disc, into something more tangible, like a print or a
tranny. This has really got to be done by a professional lab, but
before the purist starts bleating, consider this: the final
appearance of your print is in YOUR hands. Colour, contrast, burning
in and dodging, creative manipulation - in other words all the
INTERESTING bits
you would normally do in the darkroom - can now be done more
quickly and accurately on a computer. In effect, you have just as
much control over your work
as you would using traditional methods, but without some of the tedious bits...
cleaning print drums between prints immediately springs to mind!
So what are the
implications for camera Club`s?
Obviously, as the necessary hardware and software becomes
more affordable we are going to see more and more amateur
photographers producing computer images. This being the case, I feel
camera clubs cannot afford to ignore this new technology - we HAVE
to take it on board if we are to survive and attract new, younger
members. Don`t get me wrong, I`m not saying that the traditional
methods are dead. I
think there will always be those who prefer to do things `the old
way` - or should that be `the hard way`?! - but I suspect such
people will eventually find themselves in a very small minority. The
next generation of photographers is going to be more `computer
literate` than the present one, so it`s really vital for us as
camera clubs to adapt ourselves accordingly. To draw an analogy, I
remember some Hi-Fi buffs saying compact discs would never replace
vinyl LPs! In fact some STILL insist that vinyl records sound
better... but vinyl, of course, has all but disappeared.
One of the
biggest problems, I fear, surrounds the thorny subject of copyright.
Really, we are relying on photographers to be honest, by
using only their own work and not scanning bits and pieces from
elsewhere. Let`s face it, photographers have always been able to
cheat and unfortunately a small minority will always feel inclined
to do so. Thequestion is, will Digital Imaging make things that much
easier for them? Possibly it will, but at the end of the day a Judge
can only take a picture at face value and mark accordingly - as they
do now, of course.
Some
people will say, why not ban all computer images?
This, I feel, would be unworkable in practice and very short
sighted - as I say, such work will eventually become commonplace.
Another suggestion is that computer images should be placed
in a category of their own, but here again I can see problems. Most
people who saw Barrie Thomas`s slide of the polar bears would have
accepted this as a straight shot. All he had done, in fact, was to
enhance the colours and boost the contrast, resulting in a much
better, SHARPER looking picture than the original.
Now I can just imagine a judge viewing this in the `Computer
Section` and scratching his head, wondering what exactly the author
had done."Er, excuse me, Mr. Competition Secretary, are you
SURE this is in the right category?"
It could happen.
The
pitfalls, as I see them, are numerous - and I haven`t even mentioned
fractals! (Are fractals valid in photography? You tell me!) Anyway, those are some of My thoughts on Digital Imaging and
I daresay some of you will disagree with me. Fair enough, but it`s
certainly a subject we can`t ignore. I know that the PAGB is
currently seeking feedback from the regions, so NOW is the time to
make your views known. Sooner or later we are going to need some
definite guidelines - and I don`t envy those who have to sort it
out!