The word “photography,” translated literally, means “writing with light.” Photography occurs when the light from what is in front of the camera refracts through the lens and projects an image on the back of the camera. With film photography, the image (shadow) is fixed by a photosensitive material usually made with silver that reacts to the light, capturing the image on various sized grains of silver. With digital photography, an electronic sensor reacts to the light, capturing the images on identically sized pixels.
Twenty years ago, almost all photography was film. At that point, you could capture much higher quality on a piece of film than you could on a sensor. Most photographers shot on film and scanned the negatives.
Then, as the prices of digital cameras went down and the quality went up, people realized they could take a lot more pictures with a lot less difficulty, and most commercial and industrial applications went digital. Soon everyone had a digital camera on their phone and those cameras, with complicated algorithms and programs based on film photography, began to do a lot of what film could do, only more easily and cost effectively. Due to a lack of demand from the industry, film became a niche product and the prices of film continued to increase. Similarly, film processing, once available on almost every street corner, became much more difficult to come by. Meanwhile, digital quality continued to improve.
What is digital photography?
Instead of a piece of film, a digital camera has a sensor. Unlike the piece of film, which is purchased, processed and printed separately from the camera, the sensor and the rest of the camera can be used over and over to transform the image projected onto it into a picture that can be instantly and infinitely reproduced.
Digital photography, which is the vast majority of photography we use today, was developed on the basis of film photography. From the invention of photography in the early 1800’s up until the mid 2000’s, film photography was the way almost all photographic images were created. However, over the past decade, the situation reversed and today digital photography is considered the default, while film photography is considered the exception.
What are the advantages of digital photography?
With digital technology, it's very easy to create a quality picture. What used to take years of experience in the darkroom and the studio can now be done by a beginner with a smartphone. Even a mediocre camera or an iPhone can take pictures that in many ways rival the quality of professional film photography from 20 years ago. Once you’ve purchased a camera, you can take thousands of pictures without having to buy anything other than a reusable memory card.
Digital cameras are also capable of shooting at extremely high ISO/ASA and can record images that are impossible to get with film. Digital cameras often have embedded software that can give the images certain effects, softening and distributing light in more pleasing ways. Additionally, digital cameras often have settings that help you focus, stop objects in motion, compose and switch between black and white and color.
Generally speaking, digital photos are much easier, faster and less expensive to create than their film predecessors. They are also much easier to disseminate. Over the past 20 years, digital images have profoundly changed the way we use photography and how photographs function in society.
