Re: Off topic -- digital

["Patrick G. Sobalvarro" <pgs@sobalvarro.org>]

At 08:18 AM 11/7/97 -0500, Stephen Kobrin wrote:
>As I mentioned in my response to the "roll call," I am trying to decide
>whether to set up a chemical or digital "dark room."  The deciding factor
>for me is whether B&W can be "processed" digitally with reasonable results,
>at least at 8X10. (I am not worried about how long the prints last...I get
>bored with them on my wall after a few months!) While I realize this is a
>bit of topic for the list, you guys are the only ones I can think of to
>ask.  Anyone have experience  doing B&W digitally?  It really would be nice
>to have TCN400 developed by my local processor and then work on prints
>digitally.

I do B&W digitally -- yes, I shoot with a 40-year-old M2 and a 50-year-old
Summarit, and from there on everything is digital!  It works, and for the
right image it works very well.  But for many images, the results aren't as
good as one would get in a wet darkroom.  The reason is subtle, though.
The problem is Photoshop.  A good scanner will give you 12 bits per
channel, each of R, G, and B, or for a monochrome image, just 12 bits.
Photoshop will only accept 8 bits per channel.  Good scanner software
allows you to choose your white point and black point and manipulate curves
in the driver, but after that it can give only eight bits to Photoshop.

Now, eight bits is enough so that humans still see smooth tones in the
resulting image.  But what if you have to do further work with the image in
Photoshop?  Most image manipulation destroys information, and any further
compression of the tone gamut will leave you with a blotchy image.

Still, I really enjoy having a dry darkroom and I recommend it to you.
Does that trash can under the tree there bother you?  A matter of 15
seconds' work and it's gone without a trace.  Hmm, would this look better
if flipped horizontally?  That takes a couple of seconds.  How about
burning in this limited area -- it's a funny-shaped mask, but it doesn't
take long to make on the screen.  With the right printing machinery (I like
ALPS printers, although I don't have one) you can produce really nice
prints.  But a wet darkroom is still superior in many ways.

- -Patrick