So it's not quite Monday any more,
but "Monday Musings" just sounds better, and it's what I was thinking about yesterday on the drive back up
the Turnpike from holiday festivities in central New Jersey. I was recapping some of the latest news, and one thing
that really stuck out is the constant stream of software updates: Capture One and Aperture this week, Bibble the week
before, to name a few, all dedicated to making professional and pro-am photographers' workflows cleaner, neater,
easier, and faster. And that got me thinking: Is all of this going to pay for itself?Let me explain that a little bit. Digital equipment is expensive, but equipment costs are fixed costs, and the price is coming down all the time. The same is true of software, but here's the catch: you have to use the software. One of the basic rules of any personal business--once you get established, anyway--is to not forget to bill for your own time. Time you spend doing one thing is time you can't spend doing something else, possibly making more money. The two hours you spend going over your portfolio with a prospective client may be a good investment, but it's still time you're not out on a shoot or finishing up the last job so you can get it in the mail and get paid for it.
The same is true of the hours or tens of hours you spend in front of the computer. Doubly so, because it's new time. We talk a lot about the "digital darkroom" as if it's a natural evolution, but the truth is, of the professional photographers I've known, only two ever did their own darkroom work on regular basis. One is a studio artist who wants complete control; the other is a photojournalist who, before he picked up an S3, occasionally went into the basement to develop negatives if he needed to meet a deadline if there was no convenient, open 1-hour photo (I know, I know, but it's tough to ruin a roll of XP2 so badly it won't print on newsprint).
Beyond that, the professional photographers I know all use professional labs. None of the pros I know shooting digital, though, send out their shots for post-processing, except maybe final printing. They all sit down and start tinkering with Camera RAW, Aperture, and Photoshop, moving their pics through the workflow themselves. It's exciting: you get complete control, which is something many pros who rely on labs have never really had before. Certainly there's value in that alone. But I can't help but wonder: if professional photographers sat down and figured the real cost of digital photography, including the labor and opportunity costs of digital darkroom work, would digital photography pay for itself? Does it, ultimately, increase your output enough to be worth it, or would everyone be ahead to spend more time shooting, and let the lab worry about the rest? Other than perceived efficiency and ease of use, what are the concrete benefits of digital photography for the professional photographer? Can you turn around jobs quickly enough that you can actually handle more work than before? Does your profit margin increase enough when the lab is cut out of the equation that the time in front of the computer pays for itself?
The answers of course are different for everyone, but it's an interesting question.
1. "Other than perceived efficiency and ease of use, what are the concrete benefits of digital photography for the professional photographer?"
How about a higher standard of quality. When shooting film you may decide that some minor imperfection in the image is something you can live with but not when you can fix that imperfection in a couple of seconds thanks to the digital workflow. In the end how much time you spend in the "digital darkroom" will depend on your skill with the camera. I know some photographers have gotten lazy and are spending more and more time in Photoshop to fix things these days but if you strive to get the best image that you possibly can through the lens then your post shooting work should be kept to a minimal. Having to spend a few minutes per image in Photoshop is a good trade-off for the flexibility and control that digital photography gives us.
Posted at 3:10PM on Apr 18th 2006 by Twist