by Dona Hake
So much has changed in the world of photography, and it continues to develop and improve in the world of digital shooting. I can remember being adamant in not wanting anything to do with a digital camera. I knew nothing but film and working in a film lab for almost ten years made it even harder for me to switch. The more I saw the beauty of digital, I wonder now how I survived without my DSLR camera!
I think my favorite job that I had in the film lab was printing black and white. Each negative had to be carefully read. Light, dark, whites, grays, blacks…it all had to be perfect to create the perfect black and white image. In the darkroom where your prints were processed you could stand and watch the images you printed. After printing I would take my huge roll of paper to the darkroom for processing. The paper passed from one chemical to the next and was being transformed as it reached its destination of completion. I would stand there anticipating if I made proper judgements or not. Honestly, I am glad I had that experience because it has benefited me even in the use of digital and making judgements while shooting manually.
You have to know what you want before you take your image. The blessing of digital though is that you know immediately if all your settings were perfect. If you are not pleased…instantly you can hit delete and start over. You did not waste any film…you just start over.
I embrace the opinion that photography is all about understanding light. How much or how little you need. It has to be perfect. So it is when we encounter situations in this life. First you need to know what kind of outcome you desire and you need to know what to do to make it happen. Along with our desires we need to desire to understand how to get to where we are going. God knows what we need. He knows the light we need to bring us the proper understanding in a situation. Thank God if we mess up, we can start over with His help and reach for His light. God is the God of ultimate light that can illuminate anything we need in our world.
Psalm 18:28
“For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.”
I am ever so thankful that God is a God of all light. There is nothing I face that He cannot go before me and show me the way and instruct me how to get there safely. Today I praise Him for being a God of perfect light!
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