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Digital versus Film
Whether you'd like headshots taken on film or on digital, its an easy decision. The only major difference is the cost. Being a photografer, I had experiene with exposing and processing film, and exposing and processing the final prints. The darkroom is used for most of this process, which needs supplies, time and upkeeping. For digital photographs and headshots, the computer is now the darkroom and it enormously cuts down on time and upkeeping. In the long run, apart from initial costs of hardware, digital pthotgraphy is much more cost-effective and less time consuming.
To the unprofessional eye, there might appear to be almost no difference at all between film and high quality digital prints. 35mm prints digitized from film negatives or prints have a heightened degree of color saturation and detail. But, looking at a digital image that has been properly metered and exposed using necessary digital filters will show great likeness to digitized film. The major factor in achieving this likeness is in the quality of the equipment used. One must understand that not just any £500 point-and-shoot digital camera is going to come through in creating film-like headshots. Standard video camera is not going to come close to the look a moving picture film camera can create, and digital images need to be captured with a professional camera. In motion pictures, we would be using High Definition and 24p digital video cameras to achieve it.
I personally use the Canon EOS 5D, full-frame 12.8 megapixel proffesional photo camera, which has over 12 million effective pixels, and shoots an image size up to 4368 x 2912 pixels, and, being a SLR camera, it lets the photographer make vital adjustments that standard digital cameras can't afford. Full manual functionality in a camera, including aperture size and shutter speed controls, depth of field preview, exposure modes, bracketing capabilities, as well as compatibility with variable focal-length lenses is a must to creating professional quality digital headshots. But, if you prefer your headshots taken on film it can be arranged. It just might cost more.
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