obeone

I've become less and less excited about my photography. When anyone with a smart phone and a few apps can crank out decent and sometimes even good photos, I find the thrill has gone.
Using digital cameras and Photoshop has left me feeling more like a technician than an artist. Chimping after every shot and making corrections as needed- then moving them into Photo Shop has killed the thrill. I was to the point of even selling my 5d MkIII. I decided to keep it, but I'm going back to film for a few months. Bought a Canon 1V and ordered 10 rolls of Tri-X and chemicals to develop same. Will scan negs instead of printing, although I may break out the enlarger at some point.
I think, having to get it right in the camera, was half of the fun and the challenge. The wait to see if "you got it", made it exciting. It's a - pitting my skills against everything that can go wrong - kind of thing.

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

Compete against yourself, not others! S-

wuzfuzzab Loc: Red Deer, Alberta

I feel the same way. The thrill is gone. I will keep my cameras for the occasional "O.K. let's try again" and vacation etc. For my bike trips last number of years all I've taken is a older Nikon point and shoot---seems to be all I've needed. Gary

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Nothing wrong with using film. However, one can still enjoy the thrill and challenge of digital. Have you taken your digital as far as it can be taken? Probably not.

Chimping???? Why. Don't you know your equipment well enough to know what you are going to get? Perhaps there's a challenge right there.

Have you taken your post processing as far as it can be taken? I'm not asking if you've taken it as far as you can.

There's constant challenges you can set for yourself. Put the self pity aside, enjoy your film, but also look at the far away limits you can push your digital.
--Bob

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Then why didn't you just do that with the 5DIII?
It took me years of using digital to get over the "frugality" of shots I learned with film. I would spend a day at an event and do less than 100 shots, my daughter who learned on a digital would blast off 500-1000. At a friend's wedding and reception she did 1100 in about 8 hours while helping with the food etc, of course at a mob scene like a wedding reception/party/dance in a garden/yard you get a lot of people or parts there of intruding and ruining shots that aren't posed. Every been to a Persian party/dance? Mr Delete is your friend.

Keldon Loc: Yukon, B.C.

The thrill seems to be gone for me as well.
I was on the west coast of Vancouver Island in February with my wife to watch the storms and celebrate our 39th anniversary. Normally I would have taken several hundred or a thousand photos over a four day weekend, especially with that scenery just waiting for me but I doubt I took even two hundred. It seemed so much better to walk the beach and clamber over the rocks than to peer through a camera.

obeone

I started with digital with the Sony Mavica when it first came out and went to Canon when they went digital. Started with Photoshop with 3rd release. Couldn't see much use with the first versions that were free and came on a floppy.
I don't know everything there is to know about Photoshop, but what I don't know falls into the category of things I'll probably never need or use.
I've been through my camera's manual several times and know just about every function and setting, as well as where each menu setting is and what it does. But, I still chimp when I'm using it, just to make sure I didn't miss something. In short, it's made me sloppy.
I could, as you suggest, just not chimp and wait to see what I got, but I'm a firm believer in going back to the basics.
Just me, and the way I do things.
Thanks, for the input.

Old Timer Loc: Greenfield, In.

If we learned to use our cameras to fifty percent of what they are capable of I believe that most of us could improve our skills more than a later model or higher priced camera could improve our photos. I know that ever time I reread my manual some things that I seem under stand or things become clearer.

DerBiermeister Loc: North of Richmond VA

I think it is all in the venue.

About 8 years ago, I rode my mc to Alaska and back with 3 other buds. Not knowing dick about good photography, I took about 2000 pics on my Sony DSC-H9. I got pretty handy at shooting one-handed while riding down the road, and then sticking the camera back inside my jacket. At every turn, it became a Kodak-moment. You just haven't seen scenery until you experience Alaska.

Now that I know a wee-bit more about shooting, I want to go back with my wife (probably 4-wheeling it) and take maybe 5000 pics. And I am sure glad I am not paying for film development. :mrgreen:

(Download)

SteveR Loc: Michigan

DerBiermeister has really hit upon it. When it's more about the subject and photography becomes a tool of capturing that subject.....photography can become a joy. When it's all about photography in and of itself, it can become a bore.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

As others have said, it's really up to you. If you let yourself get sloppy that has nothing to do with the digital camera or computer-based processing. I'm always happy when I get a good result, but I don't use the spray and pray approach any more than I did with film.

As for "chimping" I think that is also a personal discipline thing. Remember that professional photographers such as Helmut Newton used to "chimp" using Polaroids before doing the main shoot with their subjects. Having opportunity to check the lighting and settings is a huge benefit, and making sure that you did get the right shot is a great advantage.

On the other hand if you think about "chimping" as leaping up and down and going "Oooh, Oooh, Oooh! Look at that one!" when you get lucky and reward yourself with a banana or two it's a little different.

Nothing at all wrong with going back to film of course, but you can be equally sloppy with the liquids in the darkroom.

However, I hope you get that feeling of magic back, whichever way you do it.

obeone

I understand, and I agree. No I'm not one to spray and pray or jump up and down while checking a shot for something I might have missed, or to see if there's a better angle.
Just the challenge, I guess.
I was the same way with my archery. A week before a shoot, I'd get out my old 65lb. recurve bow and shoot bare bow with only fingers until I could shoot small groups in the bulls eye at the different shooting distances. Then, when I went back to the compound with sites and mechanical release - I had to only worry about splitting arrows in the bulls eye.
I guess, it's all about the challenge.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

Great attitude! Perhaps you just need to set yourself more challenges!

James56 Loc: Nashville, Tennessee

Sorry to hear your thrill is gone...but Photography is and will always be a thrill for me. That's because I keep it that way by planning trips or places to go just so I can get out and photograph stuff. I'm always thinking of, or finding ways to take pictures. I average about 40,000 images a year.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Awesome!

I know just how you feel.

I sold a 5DIII and a gaggle of L lenses and bought a Leica M6 and a few SLR's and a fridge full of film and never looked back.

It's so much more fun knowing that you have a roll of film that cost $4.00 and because of that, you don't waste your time taking 50 images of a dirt clod. You look for better shots, and when you find them, you think about what would make them at least the best you can do at the moment instead of taking 20 shots and hoping that one of them caught something worth keeping.

And the best part is that that's not the end of the artistry...it happens during developing also, and during scanning or during darkroom printing.

To me, it really makes things fun and exciting. I don't get all hung up on "what's the sharpest picture I can take" or any of the other stuff that used to interest me.

Now I try and think about "moments" and immortalizing them as well as I can...even without the best focus or whatever technical stuff might be involved...I like the way film looks.

If you were anywhere near West Virginia, we could hook up and shoot when the weather gets better!