The beauty of digital photography

Don't get me wrong. I've shot A LOT of pics on film. But I LOVE what digital photography offers me. Maybe because I'm not that great a shooter. This pic is a perfect example of what I'm talking about.

Krista and I went to the Badlands and it was a photographer's paradise. The sky was perfectly clear one night and I had an idea for this image. But no great idea how to execute it. No natural light, so you couldn't see the bluffs at all from 50' away. But the sky was amazing.

In the end I set the camera for a long exposure and "painted" the hills with a powerful flashlight to illuminate them. How long an exposure? What ISO? How much time should I spend painting? I had absolutely no idea.

It took an hour of messing with settings (Krista is incredibly patient) for me to get a good pic. Thanks to digital I could shoot, check the image, change settings, shoot, check, change.... There were a lot of variables.

I guess if I were forced to shoot on film I could manage it again. But I'd miss the ability I have now of instantly checking results to see if I need to tweak settings. This is especially important to me on night sky shots that require f-stop, ISO and shutter speed to be just right. I can also use a shotgun approach to taking pics; trying a variety of settings and looking later to see which was the best. And I don't have to pay for processing. I often say...Pixels are cheap. Let's shoot.

How about you? Do you shoot on film or on pixels?

This pic was shot on a Canon T8i. 100 second exposure. ISO 2000. f/5.6. 18-55 mm lens at 18 mm. About a 15 second sweep across the hills with a flashlight.

I can't wait for the opportunity to try this again.