26 THE HASSELBLAD MANUAL
has become their main photographic activity, perhaps, infl uenced by the often heard com-
ment that one no longer needs to be concerned about creating an image of the highest qual-
ity in the camera since all the faults, including unsharpness, can be corrected afterwards. As
a result, some digital photographers consider the effective use of camera and lenses in a sec-
ondary fashion. They no longer realize the importance of planning a shot and no longer oper-
ate the camera with the same feeling that previous fi lm photographers had. The extensive
automation in modern digital cameras has also encouraged photographers toward the snap-
shot approach of letting the built-in automation decide the camera operation and the lens
settings. This trend toward uncontrolled shooting and pushing the camera release without
carefully analyzing the situation and the camera and lens settings seems also to have taken
place among professional photographers, especially in wedding photography. Many wedding
photographers who changed from fi lm to digital will tell you that they shoot twice as many
pictures with a digital camera than they ever did on fi lm. Since wedding photography means
mainly photographing whatever happens in front of the camera, there may very well be fi nan-
cial advantages in this new approach, but one must also question whether this approach leads
to better photography and produces better photographers.
While many faults can be corrected and images can be improved in the computer, you
must realize that most image manipulations are not done easily, need special software, require
much computer knowledge if they are to look professional, and are also very time-consuming
if you want to do them yourself and costly when done on the outside. Unless your main inter-
est is in creating completely new images in the computer, I feel that you will be most success-
ful in your digital photography, will get you away from snap shooting, and will make you a
better photographer if you try to record an image in the camera that is as perfect as possible
and needs little or no after work on the computer. Work with your digital camera or digital
back as you might have worked with fi lm assuming that nothing can be changed afterwards
and that the image recorded in the camera is the image that you and your client will see.
Some of the new computer-educated photographers may consider it old-fashioned and out-
of-date if you fi ddle around with your camera and lenses trying to determine the best camera
and lens settings and trying different lenses and experiment with fi lters, or when you evalu-
ate the subject carefully to fi nd a camera position that produces the visually most effective
image. Do not let that bother you. Trying to produce a perfect and visually stimulating image
on the digital sensor or on fi lm is still the sign of a good and creative photographer. Working
in this fashion is an especially recommended approach with Hasselblad cameras and lenses,
which offer a wealth of wonderful possibilities for creating fascinating images in the camera
in the simplest and most enjoyable fashion (Figure 3-3).
Naturally you always want to investigate what corrections or retouching can be made
to improve the image and, if you do such work, make certain that the retouched areas have
the same qualities as the unmanipulated areas so the corrections are not obvious and are not
distracting.
Since I still consider the use of the camera and lenses most important for creating effec-
tive digital images, and since I consider The Hasselblad Manual a book that should help
create good images in the camera, the information and instructions regarding the after
manipulations of the image, which usually involves Photoshop and other image manipulating
hardware, is limited just as information about fi lm processing and darkroom techniques was
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