Digital has made us lazy

digital paradise wrote in post #19265470
Does anyone remember the thrill taking their first shot with a new digital camera and getting instant feedback? I do. I said screw the darkroom. That is when I got lazy.

I took a long while to think about this before responding. I can certainly see your point but in the real world things are not as simplistic. Even back in the day, those who used the Brownie camera, the first readily available point & shoot, with the development of film rolls in the local drugstore, may have given the same impression to "real" photographers of that period. I admit that when I started shooting digital around 13 years ago I quickly realized that I could be lazy and careless and still get some good keepers out of a hundred images. But that was then, and this is now. These days I put as much or more effort into each digital shot compared to when I was shooting film exclusively. This is mostly a result of my increased experience and more clearly defined expectations. Where once I would go out for a day of shooting and capture two or three hundred images and cull them down to 30 or 40 keepers , now I will more likely capture only 50 or so images and still have the same 30 to 40 keepers.

mwsilver wrote in post #19271585
I took a long while to think about this before responding. I can certainly see your point but in the real world things are not as simplistic. Even back in the day, those who used the Brownie camera, the first readily available point & shoot, with the development of film rolls in the local drugstore, may have given the same impression to "real" photographers of that period. I admit that when I started shooting digital around 13 years ago I quickly realized that I could be lazy and careless and still get some good keepers out of a hundred images. But that was then, and this is now. These days I put as much or more effort into each digital shot compared to when I was shooting film exclusively. This is mostly a result of my increased experience and more clearly defined expectations. Where once I would go out for a day of shooting and capture two or three hundred images and cull them down to 30 or 40 keepers , now I will more likely capture only 50 or so images and still have the same 30 to 40 keepers.

I basically shoot the same number of images with digital in a portrait session as I did with film. However, because I have the option of easy composites, a lot of those images may be specifically for compositing.

For instance, if I'm shooting a family group with children (particularly little boys), I'll put the camera on a tripod and tell the parents to look good in each shot and don't worry about the children. Then I'll shoot a number of frames concentrating on each child in turn until I get what I want from each child. In the end, I'll composite everyone's best image. That's the image that will go on the wall.

A lot of shots, but each one with purpose.

I remember when I got my first P&S digital camera. Instead of spending hours in the darkroom souping negatives and making prints, all I had to do was plug one end of a cord into the camera and the other into a computer.

And I remember thinking, what a pain in the ass. They should make this wireless.

There was another thread about bags where we talked about how we used to carry 4 or 5 primes, but now we carry 2 giant zooms.

With a selection of primes, you need to move your feet to match the perspective you want from the particular lens you pull out of the bag.

With zooms, I tend to stand in one place and frame it up however it looks from there. I don't think much about moving my feet to match my focal length. So I do get lazy that way.

drsilver wrote in post #19271787
There was another thread about bags where we talked about how we used to carry 4 or 5 primes, but now we carry 2 giant zooms.

With a selection of primes, you need to move your feet to match the perspective you want from the particular lens you pull out of the bag.

With zooms, I tend to stand in one place and frame it up however it looks from there. I don't think much about moving my feet to match my focal length. So I do get lazy that way.

If given freedom to move, I set my distance according to the perspective I want, then set my focal length according to the framing I want.

Having zoom lenses relieves me of carrying so many lenses, but doesn't change how I use distance and focal length.