The process of photography is one that has changed immensely in all of our lifetimes – even those of us who are not yet old enough to read this. But for those of us who have a few decades on the clock, the changes are most noticeable. We all remember a time when taking a photograph meant a wait of at least a day or two before seeing the finished result. These days, it is a matter of seconds.
Digital photography is the cause for much of the change that has taken place. It used to be the case that we would take a photograph and think “I hope I haven’t messed that up”, in the full knowledge that you would have to wait until a couple of days after you got back from holiday to see whether or not you had. As almost all digital cameras now come fitted with a preview screen, that’s not an issue anymore.
There is some debate over whether this has led to any real improvement in the quality of photographs most people take. You can have five, ten or even twenty goes at truly capturing the majesty of the Eiffel Tower, but if you are unfamiliar with how to position yourself it will not matter whether or not there are people walking through the shot.
Camera phones have taken things on a level. It is now possible to take a photo on your cell phone and post it to a site such as Flickr or to your Twitter account within seconds. This has its good points – you can make your friends jealous and keep them posted – and its bad points too. It only takes one ill-advised drunken photograph to disgust a lot of friends.
