For some of us, that means taking a lot more pictures than we really need to take! If you are young – and digital is all you’ve ever known – you have the freedom to shoot the same image over and over to achieve the exact look you are going for. With film, you likely had 24+ shots available on a roll of film and you had to make each one count – AND, unless you had the luxury of a black and white darkroom or color, you had to WAIT to develop your pictures and go pick them up from a camera store or a store that processed film.

It was a waste of time, money and a perfectly good portion of film and photo paper to have printed something that had bad composition, was out of focus, crooked or over or underexposed. What if that situation repeated itself for all available shots on the roll of film? (been there done that – kind of defeating to be waiting for photos and get them back and have nothing good from the entire roll!)

Challenge yourself: Buy a disposable camera at the drugstore or online, and take an entire roll of film and have it developed. Then when you get it back, take a look at what you got. It may not sound like much, but you may be surprised! It may be a confidence builder when you see how great you really are! It also may hone in on some areas you need to work on like composition, the weight / cumbersomeness (is that a word?) of your camera body and lenses which may lead you to using a monopod or tripod more often when shooting. It may help you understand lighting and shadows and the settings on your camera. (we used to have to buy different film for bright light (100) or the warmth and darkness of the later times of day, or shooting inside (800).

Challenge yourself: Buy a disposable camera at the drugstore or online, and take an entire roll of film and have it developed.

I’m still as giddy over digital film today as I was when I got my first digital camera. We have some simply amazing technology in our hands every day. I used to line the dashboard of my car with post it notes (also a great invention) to remind me of appointments, the kids schedules, what to buy at the grocery store, etc. I used to think, if only there was a little person who could pop out of my car vent and say – “HEY don’t forget to… “ (now her name is Siri…or my husband! Haha). (Yes, I should have called the Steve’s and Bill, and Mark (wait he wasn’t born) and whoever and at least shared my innovative thoughts and ideas.)

Think quality, not quantity. Cutting down on the amount of photos you take, if nothing else, helps control your organizational work in post-production. Is your digital camera smokin’ from taking so many photos? Did you know that digitally you should be able to see in your camera (somewhere), the number of shots on the life of the camera? For someone like me, that number can be alarming. It’s like the first time you see your “screen time” on your phone and wonder how Mom limited it to 1 hour a day when you were a kid!!

Lastly, make it a priority to print your images. What good are stored photos on a hard drive unless someone else can enjoy them? I offer printed proofs with photo packages, where you get a nicely boxed set of 4×6 images of all photos. But there is something different about having a printed version that you can frame or print on canvas, metal or acrylic. Enlargements are special and can show the meaning of a moment in an image. I can help you choose what you want in an album or on the walls of your home. I can’t wait to download what I shot today!