Is Digital Photography Really Better for the Photographer?

This is an excerpt from article I wrote at the "dawn" of the digital revolution.

Published in the October 2002 ASMP Bulletin
© 2002 Stanley Rowin

. . . this issue of the Bulletin deals with many of the business issues surrounding digital technology. While there has been much written in the trade press extolling the virtues of the new digital workflow, little has been written about the impact on the individual freelance photographer. Let me put an end to that trend by reporting some of my pet peeves and experiences.

I’m repeatedly asked by clients if shooting digitally has made it easier for me. I point out to them that before digital, I walked into the assignment with an $ 800 camera and $ 300 worth of film. I would drop the film off at the lab, get it back 3 hours later, edit it, label it, sleeve it and FedEx it, possibly all the same day. Now I walk into the assignment with a $ 5,500 camera with a $ 500 hard drive inside it, an extra $ 100 battery or $ 125 AC adapter. Often I'd bring a $ 2,500 laptop along. Then I'd take the files off the camera or the laptop and put them into $ 800 worth of capture and image editing software on another $ 3,000 computer with a $ 500 monitor. Unlike my film cameras which will last at least a decade, my digital equipment probably will have to be replaced every three to five years.

Each of the, let's say, 100 native resolution files shot on the digital camera takes about 3 minutes to open and re-save, before rotation, color correction or retouching. That’s over 5 hours, which is occasionally longer than the “shoot.” Then we have to burn a CD or upload the files to my website. More on that later.

Don’t get me wrong. I love my digital camera. I can color correct almost perfectly after the fact. I get instant feedback on lighting and whether the subject’s eyes are open. I have tremendous exposure latitude. I can e-mail the client the photo instantly. But I’ve just demonstrated that it costs me about ten times more in a cash investment to do a digital assignment than conventional film, and five times longer to deliver the finished work. Knowing this, how can you reconcile the countless photographers out there who charge less for shooting digital assignments because they don’t have to pay for film and processing? Why are photographers afraid to bill the client for the extra time and money involved for filmless assignments?

After the “shoot” issues relating to the use of new technology continue. Recently one very large company sent my CDs with the requested CMYK TIF files to their international branches. My local contact called me complaining that all the files on all the disks were corrupt. They wanted all the CDs replaced. I told them that I tested each disk before releasing them and they were fine. After days of panicked trans-oceanic calls and E-mails it turns out out that the people assigned to use the disks didn’t have any programs on their computers that could open a CMYK TIF file, so they appeared corrupt to the inexperienced users. Replacement disks wouldn’t have solved the problem, education might have.

Finally there’s the press check, where the client watches the printed material come off the offset presses. If the image comes off the press muddy or color shifted and the client complains, the printer just replies: “Hey, I didn’t make these CMYK separations, your photographer did.” Where does the photographer’s responsibility end? How many of your clients take RGB scans and convert them to CMYK using Photoshop’s default settings using an uncalibrated monitor? How many photographers are unjustly (or justly) blamed for poor files when they look good on their monitors.

Next month at PhotoEast, the ASMP is sponsoring a seminar where we will begin to discuss some of these issues. We are trying to be responsive to your needs but we need your help and feedback. If you feel we need to direct our resources somewhere, use the ASMP forums or E-mail to tell us what you need. We are here for you, our members.

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