Digital vs. Print

It has been a topic of debate that whether digital or film photography provides better resolution. To be honest, it’s not that clear cut. Both can offer astounding results, it depends how skilled the artist is, not necessarily which medium he or she is using. You can get fuzzy pictures with even the best film or digital camera. If the artist is able to obtain every last bit of quality through developing, large format film could be considered better in every way but few people are able to develop a perfect picture, hence the question.

Although artists print their own work, this is a laborious and difficult task that most people do not attempt to do. The results you get with digital are exceptional these days due to the technological innovations but if a lab is used to develop prints, the results can surpass expectations as you will have increased control.

The history of how photography developed to cater to comfort and ease is remarkable. Large home-made wet glass plates led to store-bought dry plates, which turned into 8 x 10" sheet film, which then became 4 x 5" sheet film, which following that turned into 2-1/4" roll film, which ultimately became 35mm and then digital. Throughout the years, the average quality attained soared.

Back in 1860, which saw the infantile start of photography, this practice was only practiced by exceptionally skilled individuals as it was almost impossible to conjure an image from a plate camera. In the early 1900s, most people were able to get at least some hazy images, while artists were creating beautiful images. Now, professional photographers are still attempting to push the boundaries further away while the public is getting crystal clear images of concentrated colors on their digital cameras.

The initial question still lingers: which is better. Another possibility for discrepancies to continue is the fact that the terminology used is often incorrect or far too vague. Professional photographers speak in terms of film format while an amateur says "film", referring to 35mm, which is predominantly the format used by the general public if they decide to deviate from digital. Obviously, if no one defines what they are talking about, discussions commence.

Digital photography is far more convenient while offering superb quality for non-artistic photography such as photojournalism and portraits. If you want to produce something large or need artistic detail to be prevalent such as texture and light, film could be a better choice. Therefore you could say it is what kind of photos you want that define your medium. The fact that now there are two choices, it gives you the best of both worlds and the photographer can control the desired effects. Neither will disappear as they are indispensable. While digital will be favored in the media, film mainly be used for artistic photography, in particular exhibitions were large scale pictures need to display crystal clear details. Digital has not been able to measure up to that yet.

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