Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/03/24

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Subject: RE: [Leica] Was - Photoshop playing -Now-Digital Darkroom
From: "Austin Franklin" <darkroom@ix.netcom.com>
Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002 12:15:12 -0500

Hi Doug,

> I have a question related to the digital vs. wet darkroom. How close can a
> digital B&W print get to a wet darkroom print?

They are two very different mediums...but, that said, I can print inkjet
prints that are very close to my wet darkroom prints...but I don't want to.
What I CAN do with digital is two things important to me in image quality
that I can't do with a wet darkroom (at least near as easy).  One is
setpoints, which means I can set the black point and the white point...and
all my valid image data lies in between.  Second is tonal curves (which is
similar to dodging and burning plus a whole lot more), for example, I can
"bring in" my shadow detail, yet leave the rest of the entire image with the
same tonal ratios.

I actually prefer, for B&W, the digital methodology, though I spend the past
year 30 years in a wet darkroom!

> I am trying to decide whether to build a small home darkroom or breakdown
> and learn photoshop.

Neither.  You do NOT need to learn Photoshop to create exceptional B&W
digital (or color for that matter) images.  You DO need to learn how to use
the scanner driver, as in set the setpoints, and apply tonal curves.  For
me, Photoshop is merely for dust spotting (rarely BTW), and for
sizing/printing the image.  I do NOT sharpen (the need to not sharpen seems
to be a property of my high end scanner and how it scans B&W using a neutral
density filter, instead of how typical scanners scan B&W using RGB, and
converting).

All the bells and whistles in PS will do nothing to give you exception B&W
images.  I am not saying there is anything lost by learning how to use them,
but you do not need to use them.

Regards,

Austin

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Replies: Reply from "Doug Lee" <drlee9@earthlink.net> (Re: [Leica] Was - Photoshop playing -Now-Digital Darkroom)