Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/02/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]The black and white, inks v. silver question, Marc, is one that will never be satisfactorily answered. There is no question that Photoshop provides far more control over the image than can be achieved in the wet darkroom. There is also no question that one can produce truly beautiful black and white prints using inks, rather than silver. HOWEVER - there is also no question that an inkjet print produced by someone who has mastered the process, and a silver print produced by a master printer, are two different (dare I say it?), separate but equal animals. Both are beautiful; both but they are not the same. I am extremely pleased with the results I get with the combination of Photoshop, an Epson 1160 printer, and quadtone inks. But I know that some silver aficionados will never accept those prints as "real." So it really comes down, like virtually everything else in every art or craft, to a matter of taste. B. D. - -----Original Message----- From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On Behalf Of Jonathan Borden Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2004 4:12 PM To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us Subject: Re: [Leica] A Grudging Concession to Digital, Made With Regret Doug Herr wrote: > >Marc, as Dan C suggested, if the prints from your 1200S scans impress >you, try printing from a really good scan. YMMV, but I was so >impressed that I gave up the enlarger for good. There's a long >learning curve ahead of you but the results are worth it. > > The ease of applying unsharp and contrast masking is hard to believe. Although I've done a certain amount of Cibachrome printing (mostly years ago, more recently I've sent it out) and although there is a somewhat steep learning curve with Photoshop (I'm not on the top of the curve yet), the things that can be done in the "digital darkroom" are nothing short of amazing. There is no question in my mind that, perhaps unless your name is Ctein, for color enlarging, digital far surpasses the conventional chemical darkroom. Now for B/W is this the case? (An honest question). Do folks feel that digital surpasses "silver gelatin fiber" ? There seems to be something to the appearance of a conventional print that has a certain look that I find appealing, but perhaps it's just because I am not enough of an expert B/W digital printer (yet). Jonathan - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html