Take Fewer Pictures July 2011 – by Per ChristenssonOne of the biggest advantages of digital cameras over their film-based predecessors is the ability to take unlimited pictures. With film-based cameras, you only had 24-30 shots per roll of film and you would pay for each one to be developed, whether it was a good picture or not. Today, digital cameras can store hundreds or even thousands of photos on a single memory card. If you take a bad photo, you can immediately view and delete it. The cost of importing photos into your computer is negligible and you only have to pay for the prints you want. Clearly, digital cameras have a number of advantages over film-based cameras. But they have one major disadvantage that is often overlooked: Digital cameras cause us to take too many pictures. Since each digital photograph is essentially free, it costs the same amount to take one photo or one hundred photos. Therefore, most of us end up taking far more photos that we actually need. Being an undisciplined shutterfly has two negative effects:
Next time you find yourself in a picture-taking frenzy, ask yourself these two questions: 1) When will I actually take the time to look at these photos?, and 2) Is my camera preventing me from experiencing the moment? Hopefully, with these questions in mind, you'll take just enough pictures to capture the memories without missing the moments you're trying to capture. ◀ June 2011 | August 2011 ▶ |