No matter the craft, you will have that group of people who hold dear what they see as the fundamental rules and methods that have been in place since the beginning. The 'Purists' shun new technologies as being inferrior and nothing more than a fad that should be replaced with traditional ways. These ideas have become quite the debate in the field of photography. Certainly there have been a number of advances in cameras and film over the years and the improvements in darkroom processing have been overwhelming, but the arrival of digital photograpy onto the scene has created a firestorm of arguement over what is and is not the essense of a photograph. In photography, the purists believe in presenting a slice of life that exists through the photograph itself, while digital photography manipulates the photo into an idea prefabricated in the mind. Still in the future of photography, digital technologies are paving the way to endless potentials.

Still, no matter where your fundamental belief lies in what is and is not cheating in photography, there are valid reasons to at least blend the digital revolution into your picture taking. Both the portrait studio and the movie makers are turning toward digital technologies to create their film. Both the professional and the amature have a whole new world of possibility opened to their art. The mere reduction in equipment required to capture a digital image is unbeleivable in comparison. Shoots are much less involved in a number of ways then the older methods and the results can be dramatically different.

Digital photography has brought about many changes in both time, efforts and costs. The proofs of a photo shoot are available practically instantly. Should the photographer or customer not be fully satisfied with a picture, adjustments are made and reshot immediatly involving a lower price and saving a huge amout of time. The customer gets the picture they were seeking as the photographer gets the shot needed the first time in the studio.

The impression we get when a technology delivers so much value to the public is that quality will go down. But, amazingly, this is not the case with digital photography. If anything, the quality of the photographs is as good or better than any we could do with prior technologies. And the cost both to you as the photographer and to your customer drops off so dramatically that the age old complaint the customer has had about professional photographs costing too much can be eliminated making the customer want to use your services more often.

Not only in photograpy, the digital revolution has brought about radical changes in our home computers. Computers combined with the communication power of the internet, have brought pictures and photography into daily life. We can now send birthday portriats to grandma via e-mail or save 50th anniversary pictures for years to come by burning them to CD or DVD. The customer has a myrid of options in shots for practically no difference in cost and can deliver them to friend and relatives in a way that is easy to view and store.

Digital technologies have also made possible for the amateur to edit and enhance their photos through readily available computer software programs. Digital editing isn't cheating, it's the modern darkroom by which the message the photographer wanted to pass along to the viewer is guaranteed. Programs such as Photoshop can modify coloring, easily crop photos, add amazing effects, and adjust brightness just to name a few. But most importantly , it can correct common mistakes so that what might have been a 'bad picture' can be edited into an acceptable photo and the time involved is not lost.

In virtually every way, digital photography, delivery and editing is superior to the way "the purists" would have us hold on to. It makes our lives as photographers easier, faster and more profitable. But above all, this is something our customers want us to use. They get to enjoy their pictures so much faster, at a more reasonable cost and the pictures can be emailed to friends and posted on their family web sites which is fun for everyone. So despite our desire to be "purists", every reason we need is there to convince us that digital photography is the way to go.