Re: [Leica] Making a "black" cube

["Ted Grant" <tedgrant@home.com>]

Hi Adam,
Sorry I hope I didn't offend by my comments, as I usually relate to
"shooting as a photojournalist" where exposing the film whenever at the
"peak moment," catching whatever for impact and interest. And it rarely, if
ever, includes film testing as you've explained.

I keep forgetting some folks delve into other aspects of photography than
picture taking or they look for a consistency that I just take for granted
if I do film exposing and processing everytime as I've done for many years
I'll get the best results for my kind of photography.

I bet your request to KODAK on the black box will get you the answer you're
looking for quicker than checking out regular photo sites. Although I must
say, the LUG has more people of high quality photography knowledge than
probably most others put together.

About those arthritic knees old buddy? Better get a stool, as it's a hell of
a lot better than trying to stand the time and spoil the darkroom fun. :-)
ted











Ted Grant Photography Limited
www.islandnet.com/~tedgrant
- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Adam Bridge" <abridge@mac.com>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Monday, September 24, 2001 9:12 PM
Subject: Re: [Leica] Making a "black" cube


> on 9/24/01 8:06 PM, Ted Grant at tedgrant@home.com thoughtfully wrote:
>
> > I mean it's always beyond me why one would ever want to waste film doing
> > this strange kind of testing to determine, I do believe some kind of
> > exposure level value of some sort, I do hope that is correct and if not
I'd
> > appreciate it immensely if some of you good old fashion types might
> > enlighten me on the purpose of what appears to be some kind of
Neanderthal
> > film testing for heaven knows what reason.
> >
> > I mean, I suppose the content of image may mean nothing, however as long
as
> > the negative is coal dust black, some what like that chap "Adam's, Ansel
I
> > believe was the name, you lads know that great rock, mountain , fern,
fauna
> > and peeling paint fellow with those strange zone number efforts,
actually
> > bloody confusing to a photojournalist you know.. Action of the moment
and
> > all that sort of stuff, not much time for figuring out the number
selection
> > system.. ;-)
>
> Well, in some sort of self-defense, I was asking because I was wanting to
do
> some science about processing film in a variety of developers (another
> related thread).
>
> So I thought it would make sense to set up a consistent reproducible image
> to photograph so that I could make some solid sense about the images I was
> exposing.
>
> Because I'm not very sophisticated, but I am by training an engineer
(okay,
> an electrical engineer with almost a degree in English (American Lit)), it
> would make sense to have a way to in the image I was setting up each zone.
> And so I was thinking about how to really achieve black when I remembered
> reading a Scientific American that had a thing about how to make REAL
black.
> So I asked here.
>
> I guess I like the idea of repeatability. And I like understanding the
> technical parts so the creative parts have a decent chance of being
properly
> expressed - so what I see, or envision as that Adams guy would say, is
> something I can achieve with reliability.
>
> It's ain't sexy but it seems like science to me.
>
> The only problem I have is that the arthritis in my knees make working in
> the darkroom for any length of time rather painful. I don't have my own
and
> use a commerical facility in Sacramento that doesn't have stools (gonna
fix
> THAT.)
>
> So, that's where I was going with the request for the cube.
>
> I'll bet someone at Kodak might remember and I'll go haunt their site to
see
> if it's there.
>
> Thanks for the ideas though - and the black velvet sounds like it'll
> probably work just fine.
>
> Adam Bridge
>
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