A professional freelance photographer specializing in digital photography, Jeffrey Gerken holds certification in Adobe Photoshop and also boasts an extensive background in computer science. As digital photographic technology becomes more and more advanced, many professional photographers choose to abandon their manual cameras for the digital medium. While there is yet no consensus on which medium produces an optimal image, photographers like Jeffrey Gerken appreciate the wealth of technological advantages that digital cameras provide.

Jeffrey Gerken utilizes digital technology in his work, because it allows him to photograph a wider range of subjects. Gerken’s underwater scuba diving photographs are examples of images that could not be produced without cutting-edge technology. At the forefront of switching over to underwater digital single-lens reflex cameras in 2004, Gerken began employing underwater film cameras in his work as early as 1999. Like his incredible photos of the ocean’s depths, Jeffrey Gerken’s photographs of football and basketball games, as well as mixed martial arts (MMA) events, require a camera with the ability to focus on an image that exists for only a fraction of a second. Traditional manual cameras lack the shutter speed to capture these types of shots.

After he captures an image, Jeffrey Gerken begins his work in the “digital darkroom.” Traditionally, people developed photographs by placing negatives in several chemical baths to affix the images to photo-quality paper. If photographers wanted to alter their images, they had limited options available other than imprecise techniques such as burning and dodging. However, a digital photographer like Gerken may alter an image however he or she sees fit, employing programs such as Photoshop to produce the perfect effect. Traditional photographic techniques will always have their place, but Gerken also produces amazing images using cutting-edge digital technology. To view Jeffrey Gerken’s photography, visit www.jeffgphotography.com.