LET THERE BE (MORE) LIGHT

By MICHAEL PERKINS

ASK THE AVERAGE PHOTOGRAPHER TO NAME THE GREATEST TECHNICAL ADVANCE of this general era and you will get an incredible range of responses. Given the breadth of technique out there, that’s to be expected. I have my own list of nominees, from lenses to ergonomics to processing platforms, but the one thing that has produced the greatest boost to my work is the superior light gathering power of today’s cameras, a revolution that dates to the first days of digital. That comes down to ISO, and how intuitive and simple it has made every kind of photography.

Consider this image. There is absolutely nothing artistically distinctive about it, but it is nonetheless remarkable, because, just twenty short years ago, it would have been nearly impossible for me to take it in the same way I can take it today. It was captured inside a museum gallery where the only light available was illumination directly next to the exhibits; everything else was swallowed in darkness. It’s hand-held, shot at a 50th of a second, and the lens, a 24mm prime, is fully open at f/2.8. But those things alone cannot deliver a shot like this, unless you factor in the sensor’s light-capturing performance.

Attempting this photo in the analog era, I would have had to purchase the fastest film available, likely with a maximum ceiling of around 800 ASA, and would likely have also had to provide flash or some other illumination to get color registration at this level. A time exposure on a tripod would have helped simplify some of that, but there would have been no getting a sharp shot of the museum guide without a strobe. Overall, a recipe for fuss, gear, expense, and a high degree of unpredictability, especially for an amateur. But that, folks, was film. And speaking of film, cameras that used it could only use one speed per roll. To change to a faster film from shot-to-shot, a separate camera loaded with that specific kind of film would be needed. Not handy.

However, with today’s sensors and processing, shooting this at 5000 ISO is just a matter of dialing it up and doing it. High resolution, low noise, faithful color (since I can also just select the white balance that I want without intricate calculation….another plus)…..it’s all, reliably, just there. I can shoot fast, simply, and with no great mental pre-occupation or guesswork, meaning I can concentrate solely on getting the shot. What other technical innovation over the last generation can possibly compete with that?

Tools and approaches vary by the individual, of course, and no one tech revolution will solve all problems for everyone. But. But. We are quickly approaching the point in photography in which nearly every major obstacle to making exactly the images we want has been overcome. And if that’s not the biggest news ever, then I can’t imagine what is.