Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/07/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]on 07/01/03 8:41 AM, Nelson Chan at cchan@info.com.ph wrote: > What are > the advantage of a scanner other than storing the images in your pc and for > posting photos on the web? If you have an excellent printer (read: better than simple desktop printers) you can produce images that are indistinguishable from darkroom-printed prints - up to a certain size. Depends on many factors what that size is. Advantage - in Photoshop it's much easier to spot a photo (remove dust motes) and you can have much more precise control (easier anyway than with film) over dodging and burning and contrast control. There's really not much you can't do with a traditional darkroom that you can do with Photoshop, but in most cases it's much harder to master. That being said, having worked in a darkroom for quite a few years, I was able to take to Photoshop and understand the basics pretty quickly. Thanks to them some times using darkroom metaphors for functions - such as dodging wand, pencil, brush, airbrush, etc. In the end, there are lots of things that you will find easier to do with Photoshop, but unless you know what you're doing with calibration and picking the right printer, you won't see the advantages. Photoshop classes at local colleges is highly recommended. On your own with a book is much more difficult. Or look for a Photoshop User Group in your area. Or stick with a darkroom. I very much miss the atmosphere of a darkroom (absence makes the nose grow fonder?) and working under high-pressure deadlines. It was a big adrenalin rush to walk into a darkroom at 9 p.m. and be required to turn in a couple basketball photos by 9:30. And the craftsman-like feeling (when I had the time) of doing it by "hand" has its perks, too. Just like using a Leica camera in a largely digital, AF, automated world. Eric Welch Carlsbad, CA http://www.jphotog.com A mad, keen photographer needs to get out into the world and work and make mistakes. -Sam Abell - Stay This Moment - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html