Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/05/30
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi Dave, I think each of us has to make his own rules on these matters. My own rule is that I will not anything in Photoshop that I did not or could not do when I was printing in the wet darkroom. This means for me that the following activities are permitted: - - cropping - - correction of exposure and contrast using levels and curves - - dodging and burning - - removing dust marks and scratches That's it for me. All these things are directly analogous to wet activities. The only digital-specific thing I use is unsharp masking, but I view that merely as a means to compensate for the imperfections induced by the scanning process. I definitely draw the line at Gaussian blur and the like. Also, my experience with exposure correction is that it can only go so far. If a slide or negative is grossly under- or overexposed, I do not find Photoshop much more useful than the darkroom. Just as you cannot create something out of nothing on the enlarger, you cannot do it in Photoshop. These are my rules and they work for me. They have allowed me to avail myself of the conveniences of scanning and inkjet printing while still retaining the feeling of doing "real" photography. But I have no desire to impose these rules on others. Nathan "Rodgers, David" wrote: > Personally, I don't think digital manipulation is what Leica photography is > all about. Especially Leica M photography -- which I feel in it's pure form > is b/w full frame printing. Maybe there isn't a difference between burning > or dodging in the darkroom and using a sliders to adjust levels, or cropping > in Photoshop or raising and enlarger head. I think there is. Just my > opinion, for better or worse. "Is that bokeh, or is that digital blur?" I > have a hard time knowing these days. > > Dave - -- Nathan Wajsman Herrliberg (ZH), Switzerland e-mail: wajsman@webshuttle.ch General photo site: http://belgiangator.tripod.com/ Belgium photo site: http://members.xoom.com/wajsman/ Motorcycle site: http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Downs/1704/