Hi Peter,
thank you for your reply. It's a great point, that it isn't necessarily the quality, but rather the process by which one arrives at the final image that is the draw with LF.
I tend to look at digital vs analog in a similar way -
1. one can spend a lot of time pre-exposure planning the shot, setting up a tripod, framing the composition, checking/adjusting the lighting, etc, and finally making the exposure at the critical moment. One or two shots are usually all that's needed.
or...
2. one can fire off rapid fire at something that looks interesting, or one feels inspired, and then spend the same amount of time sorting through hundreds or thousands of images, fixing things like composition, lighting, exposure in post, to arrive at the final image.
I wonder if the total time spent is pretty close in practice.
Obviously, and especially for professionals, there's nothing precluding using approach 1 while working with a digital camera. It's just that the different technologies tend to encourage different approaches, and people end up working quite differently.
I know that in the days of film, many pro's would also fire off rolls and rolls of film to get the one perfect shot. I still feel personally that I'd rather prep the shot as much as possible ahead of time, and capture one or two exposures of exactly what I've envisioned, rather than taking hundreds "just in case" or to find the "perfect" one. Maybe that's why I don't work for Magnum or National Geographic, lol.
An example I'm always reminded of is taking pictures of my son at an amusement park years ago with my FM3a (a rare instance of me not shooting MF), standing beside another proud dad waiting for his daughter to come out of the same ride at the same point, shooting digital. Both our kids came out of a tunnel on the ride at about the same time. I fired off one, two, possibly three frames at most, waiting for the critical point where the composition was perfect and my son was looking forward. I had already pre-focused and calculated exposure. At the same time I heard a machine-gun like barrage from my neighbor, he must have taken about 30-40 pictures as she rolled out of the tunnel. Most of my work was done ahead of time, and I allowed myself a few options to make sure I captured a good expression. Most of his work lay ahead in sorting, choosing, and photoshopping whichever he ended up with as his keeper(s).
Personally, I prefer the first approach. Photographically, I'm lazy, like a lot of people, and don't tend to plan my shoots to well, instead wandering around aimlessly waiting for inspiration to hit or something interesting to happen to photograph. Probably not the best way to approach LF, although once that part is determined, the rest of the process does appeal to me. Maybe I should work more on defining my vision and what I'd like to convey....
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