In a modern society film photography has become outdated and almost anyone can grab a camera or even their phone and take good pictures.  The process is so much easier in the digital age.  But the question of quantity over quality has become more plentiful than ever.

“The bottom line is it’s quality over quantity, but no matter how many photos there are the good memories will shine brightest,” said senior Taylor Siplon

With millions of smartphones around the world with built in cameras there is no place where photos cannot be taken. Because of this, millions of photos are taken every day and shared.  Leading to less of an appeal of professional photographers’ work.

On the other hand when a photographer takes photos they are most definitely using more than just their cell phones camera. When using a real camera the quality of the photos is inherently better. When looking at photos on a phone there is no way to tell the quality for sure and know that they are better than they would be with a phone’s camera.

The quality of a photographer’s work begins to show when the photos are printed. In this case there is no compromise of quantity versus quality. Quality will always win out and the photos definitely become more meaningful. When a picture is printed it becomes more meaningful.

In the case of looking at all of the pictures that are shared on social media there begins to be some form of the case of being too plentiful and not being meaningful.

“Scrolling through social media you’ll see 15 amazing sunset pictures or something like that but it won’t be as cool since there’s so many of them.” Junior Noah Oliver.

To a trained eye there is definitely a difference between all of the photos. Also to a photographer there is more than just the photo, there is all of the behind the scenes. In post production we see that with great power comes great responsibility and some photos can be made to look nothing like the original.

“Even though the photos online are plentiful, everything we see doesn’t mean the grass is always greener.” said Siplon. 

Another aspect that lots of people will look past and not even realize is all the prep work that trained photographers go through for a good photo.  They have to get to the location and scout the place in preparation of the shot. Every photographer must first find out the settings and the right lenses and where exactly to line up the shot to make it look good. A photographer also needs to know exactly how to use their camera in order to get what they are looking for and learning how to use all of the features takes a lot of time and effort on behalf of the photographer.    

All in all digital photographs can be meaningful or not it just depends on the depth that the pictures are looked at.