Re: [Leica] Editing; wasTheater Photography

[Bill Welch <welch@pressroom.com>]

I've been interested in the editing methods described in response to Paul's
request for comment on selecting negs. Perhaps I'm in the minority here,
but I generally skip the contact-sheets and make my initial edit by
eyeballing my black and white negatives under a good loupe on the light
table. I've just never been able to learn much more from 35mm contacts than
I can from reading the negs.  I usually pick one or two or three frames
from a roll, more if it's good stuff, and make 8x10 RC prints. Sometimes
I'll trash it as soon as I turn on the lights and move on. But if the
negative has promise I'll work with it to get a print I like and make
printing notes. The work prints I produce on the first go-around usually
are good for reproduction, if that's the end result. Or I'll think about
them a while before going back and making another attempt, or making fiber
prints, exhibition prints, bigger sizes, etc. 

I've used this method for years. I'm doing a pretty big black and white
project and don't think I could operate any other way. One reason, perhaps,
is that I love black and white printing but hate the drudgery of making
contacts. I also like to soup my film myself, so I know I'll get negatives
the way I like them for printing. I suppose if I had a lab and a printer
doing my work I might want to use the contacts. I print far more than I'll
end up using, of course. But I learn a lot from printing my negatives, and
I feel like I can often improve an image with a little creative darkroom
work. That's why I love black-and-white, I guess.

For color neg, though, I like contacts or proofs.

Bill Welch


At 03:29 PM 5/18/98 -0700, you wrote:
>My biggest difficulty is editing the selection down from the hundreds
>of frames that we expose down to the dozen images I print and give
>the school. ...
>
>Could some of the folk out there who regularly edit large quantities of
>images give me some tips?
>