Digital Makes it Easy
Digital photography made it easy for anyone to take a photo and spend virtually nothing on it monetarily. Sure, you had to buy the camera, but that's a fixed cost. Digital wiped out the variable costs of film and developing.
That's great and allows you to take as many photos as your heart desires. It certainly benefits those learning photography, as it can allow you to try things and immediately get feedback. Digital makes it easy to take a lot of photos.
With Time Comes Skills, Comes More Time
The problem is, I've found, you get to a certain point where your skills evolve past needing fifteen frames of the exact same scene. You also come to the realization that time is money. Spending hours culling through thousands of photos to pick the best ones costs you money. Maybe not literal greenbacks, but that's time you could be spending doing something else.I've shot a few events for friends. The first one I delivered over 4,000 images. So not only did I spend my own time going through those looking for blinks and out of focus frames, my friends then had to spend the time to go through them all to pick out the ones they wanted to share, print, etc.
The last one I shot I delivered well under 1,000. Were they unhappy Quality over quantity. It was far easier to go through and pick the best shots, it takes up less hard drive space, and ultimately "costs" less.
Film Makes it Easier
I began shooting medium format 120 and 220 film in 645 format a couple years ago. It solidified the change in my shooting behavior by putting an actual cost behind each release of the shutter. I now felt the sting of not getting it right the first time.
Plus, I now had to find a place for each and every frame in the physical realm as well. Only shooting 16 frames a roll doesn't sound like a lot, but just ask your parents and grandparents about cataloging all the pictures they've ever taken. It's grows and grows.
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