Digital photography is now solidly established and the cost of photo printers, digital photo frames and digital cameras have all reduced significantly. The costs were already quite low to begin with; consider the Polaroid as an example of this. When the first Polaroid was introduced in 1948 it had a price tag which was equivalent of more than $800 at current market rates. Perfectly serviceable digital cameras, suitable for birthdays, family events, weddings etc., can be picked up for around the $50 mark at the moment. You can pay quite a bit more if you want of course but, for most people, there’s really no necessity.

Apart from the cost of the equipment itself, the associated costs are also significantly lower. In the first place, there’s no film so you can save on the cost of the film and, if you either display your snapshots on a computer or use a digital photo frame, the cost of processing. Even if you want a hard copy print out the chances are that it’ll be more economical to do this on your own photo printer. It’ll definitely be quicker.

Monetary considerations aside, digital photography is, as a rule, so much more convenient than traditional photography. There are no reels of film to muck about with and, from time to time, to load wrongly so that a whole reel gets trashed. When you want to get hard copies you don’t need to send your reels of film off to the development lab and then wait for them to be mailed back before you know if your snapshots are any good or not.

The best benefit on offer from digital photography though is nothing to do with number of pixels, anti-shake technology, red eye reduction or face recognition. All of these technological benefits are worthwhile of course, but the key thing that will really help you advance is the fact that you don’t have to worry about taking a photograph or not and you don’t have to worry whether or not it’ll turn out fine. If it’s good you keep it, if not you can just click the delete button and it’s gone for good. No wasted film, no cost, no problem. Basically, you have the freedom to experiment as much as you like, to see what works and what doesn’t and to work out what’s good for your style.