“Say cheeeeeeese!”

I love my digital camera.Years ago I started taking pictures with a Kodak Instamatic camera, graduated to a Yashica range finder, then to a Canon single lens reflex. I’ve owned fisheye and telephoto lenses, fancy flashes and filters, but now am very happy with my fourth digital camera, a simple pocket sized one. I am an avid photographer, mostly of grandkids, my dog, sunsets, landscapes (oh yes, my wife and kids, too!) and anything else that catches my fancy. I am not talented, but I do understand my camera and the basics of photography: f stops, shutter speeds, ISO, depth of field and the like. Occasionally I get lucky and print a photo for framing or including in an album of my favourite shots.

My first pictures with a digital camera (only 2 megapixels but some of my best photos!) convinced me of digital cameras’ advantages. What progress! We all know the routine: take a picture and see it immediately! If it’s no good, delete and take another. Post it on Facebook and your family and friends can see it immediately.

However, there is always a cost to technological progress.

When rolls of film were costly- as was developing film- each picture was valuable. I would ration each shot, and impatiently wait for my film to be ready for pickup from wherever I had it developed. Then, I’d eagerly flip through the photos, frustrated with my poor results or happy with the rare good one, pass them around to friends and then put them in an album or a shoebox.

Now: do we value our pictures? It is all so easy and inexpensive, except for the initial cost of the camera. We just snap away until the battery needs recharging. Once they are loaded onto the computer, adding another few hundred to the thousands already there, do we even bother looking at them again?

Photography even for amateurs like me once required us to compose our pictures, to evaluate the light, focus, make other adjustments on our cameras and envision our picture before pressing the shutter. Today we can still adjust light, shutter speeds and add special effects on the camera. But when faced with the overwhelming choices of adjustments and special effects, don’t we often just feel overwhelmed? Isn’t it easier set the camera on auto and let it make the decisions for us?

With photo editing programs we can erase objects such as inconveniently placed lampposts, buildings or people. We can add shades of blue and red to our sunsets, heighten the grays and whites of clouds, erase blemishes from our subjects’ faces and of course eliminate red-eye.

But is it still a photo of what we actually saw? Some photos on the web of sunsets or the sky are so enhanced they simply look unreal. Professional photographers in the past made adjustments in their darkrooms or airbrushed their prints, and what we are doing on our computers is not particularly new. But what was once a very skilful technique is now within everyone’s hands, and often overused. Does this not devalue the end result?

Nevertheless, the digital camera is wonderful. Although I often set it on auto and let it do the work for me, I have tried to understand and use all its many functions. Once I took photos on film only on trips or special occasions; now I can practice every day and hone my skills.

Ironically, despite the ease of storing and viewing our pictures from our computers, tablets or phones, Kodak recently announced a new app which will enable us to find a local kiosk where we can send our photos we want to print directly from our device, and pick them up later. Apparently, despite web based sharing sites we miss holding and sharing the printed photos. And let’s face it: how boring is a pristine, unspoiled white fridge door! It is literally crying out to be plastered with magnets and our precious printed photos.

Regardless of your skill level, try to get to know your camera. Don’t be afraid to twist a dial or change a setting! You can always reset it. See how it goes. One of the best ways to learn more is to simply go on line, particularly on Youtube, to learn your camera’s capabilities. Remember to back up, and don’t forget the joy of printing photos and covering your fridge door with them!

Do you enjoy photography? What kind of camera do you have? Tell us in the comments below…