Re: [Leica] (no Leica) Black Borders

[Mark Rabiner <mrabiner@concentric.net>]

Paul Schiemer wrote:
> 
> Went to an opening last night for two photographers; a portraitist and the
> other urban landscapes (both artists quite successful).
> Each and every image printed and hung on the wall had the 'frame' of the
> negative printed and revealed as a component of the finished (matted) work.
> 
> Was wondering what y'all think about the habit of including the 'black
> edge'.
> 
> Personally; it's noise and lends absolutely nothing to the expression being
> made (other than to flaunt the 'I used the whole thing' bravado to other
> photographers). [Although I will admit to having done it once or twice
> myself; http://users.aol.com/pschiemer/evpic.html ]
><Snip> 

The majority of pictures I print I do full frame black border. Take the border
out and the image just sits on the surface of the paper. But put the border back
in and the image appears to exist and inch below the paper. This depth effect
works as a plus for an awful lot of images.
If you are doing professional photography the black borders say to the art
director that you have not cropped the image that is being presented to them.
The black of the border works with the blacks in the image to bring them out and
make them stronger in your eye. And they can consolidate a less strong
composition- Paul is calling them "noise" here I might think of them as "antinoise."
I most often print this way because I like the effect plus I think it is good to
give the benefit of the doubt to your first inclinations of how to handle the
composition of your image: what you saw through your viewfinder. I believe this
will most often be the best approach. Trust your instincts.
On the other hand in the last 5 years I have been influenced by articles on
Avedon and others to reassess even my 35mm contacts and crop the heck out of the
images- going over my contacts with not only a lupe but a cardboard cropper
thing that I have which does either a 5/7 or 8/10 ratio. I pulled a lot of
winning images out of old contact sheets this way. Sometimes it does work to
rethink the whole composition at the time of printing. This is more obvious to
people in medium format but my approach there is almost as austere. The majority
of my images are full frame black borders 7 inch squares on an 8 by 10 piece of
paper. My 35mm images are 6 by 9 inches.
File down those negative carriers and give yourself that option!
Mark Rabiner