Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/03/06
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Mark, >>It has also helped me to better understand the characteristics of photographic paper and how to interpret the information that appears on the data sheets. So it has been a valuable learning experience as well.<< It’s refreshing to hear someone talking about photographic paper. It’s a rarity these days, even on the LUG. I’m trying to decide where I stand in relation to all the changes in photography – in particular whether or not to continue using film, and keep my darkroom intact. It’s hard to switch back and forth between digital and conventional. Heck, it’s hard for me to switch from b/w to color. For now my heart is still in film and b/w. A good silver image is much more difficult to create than a good ink jet image. I’ve put time and materials into both and conventional printing takes a whole lot more effort. And not just on the printing end. Analog printing demands a better negative; which means better exposure, better development, and even better composition. It demands more skill, time and/or money throughout the entire photographic process. The question I ask is ‘does that leads to overall higher quality output, as well?’ (I think it very well may). Digital’s big draw is that it’s faster, easier and supposedly cheaper. When I view digitally captured images they all look the same after a while. There seems to be more creativity when people use film, even if they scan and print. Are there traps we can fall into with digital? Such as, if we think we can fix things in the printing cycle does that make us less careful the moment we fire the shutter. Can we get snapshot syndrome, i.e. “who cares if it’s no good, it didn’t cost me anything.” I know I’ve visited both mindsets more than once. I keep asking myself, am I a photographer or a digital artist, and is there a difference between the two? And will the fact that silver prints are becoming more rare, make them more valuable as time goes on? DaveR - -- DaveR www.lightcurves.com - -- - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html