CAN YOU SPOT THE DIFFERENCE ?

DIGITAL and FILM

Today I am not going to write much, but I am going to show you pictures from two weddings. They have been shot at different times of the year, one in Summer and the other in Winter. I will display similar visuals by sequence of two shots. The first picture is always digital and refers to Kate and Tom's wedding. The second one is shot with film and presents Daniel and Segalit.


I have tried to keep the retouching as minimal as possible, meaning, I personally never, never change the mood and aim of the picture. I never add new elements or hide existing ones. My approach whether it's digital or film is to enhance the quality of the raw materials. This is retouching with a computer, like it was done manually before. You will never see me manipulating the picture in trying to make something decent from bad materials. Good materials have to be shot while on duty otherwise you are not a professional photographer. That being said, the aim of this new chapter is to make you "feel' the difference between digital and film. One is not better than the other, they are different in the result and are good mix in the process. I will not talk about the approach you take as a photographer, that is an other debate. So, look closely and try to put words and feeling on what each picture expresses.





















I hope you can tell the difference between the two. Technologies do not interfere with the act of doing Reportage. That is the photographer's responsibility to make sure he/she will keep his/her integrity in the act of capturing the actions correctly while they happen and not at a later stage with post-production and manipulations, transformation of the original information. If you wish to capture the emotion with a real dedication to the "moment" and manage to capture it properly, you are then definitely in the right direction. The camera or technology chosen has nothing to do with that. That is the author who decides the appropriate medium, not the other way around.
Now, I would personally describe the digital has being too perfect unfortunately. Why ? Because it does show an accuracy and surface which we don't actually understand as human beings. It's more than real and the technology goes further than our perceptions. It's a technological performance which aims to achieve a perfection that doesn't exist. I am not personally interested in that. Film remains the medium I feel like communicating more closely, more truly.