Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/06/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Dave Indeed we could discuss scale and context in art and photography for days. I experience Weston (and other's) contact prints, down to 4x5, as amazing, glowing little jewels. We've grown accustomed to experiencing Adams' prints as large prints, posters and huge books. Recent "art" photographs seem to "huge" no matter what or why as if size were the point. And, indeed, almost any photograph blown up to 40x60 will impress the eye for a while. My sculpture professor said, "the human head should never be sculpted larger than life size; and preferably slightly smaller." Choosing the appropriate size for a photographic image, painting, drawing, sculpture, et al is as important an aesthetic decision as all the other decisions involved in the process. Regards, George Lottermoser george at imagist.com http://www.imagist.com http://www.imagist.com/blog http://www.linkedin.com/in/imagist On Jun 2, 2009, at 10:05 AM, David Rodgers wrote: > George, > > Good point. It's not practical to do much micro dodging or burning > in a > 4x6. > > I've always been somewhat fascinated by print size; more specifically > why some images work better printed smaller, and others work better > printed larger. Sure there are general rules, like large negs make > better large prints, but there are factors that go well beyond that. > I've seen gorgeous 5x7 contract prints. I've seen gorgeous 24x36 inch > prints from 35mm. > > Making large prints from small negatives isn't easy (and it's not > something I've ever been good at). The margin for error anywhere along > the workflow is slim. > > I'm referring mainly to BW film. There's nothing like a big > enlargement > of a well composed, well focused, well developed, well enlarged 35mm > Tri-X negative. There's a character -- due to grain or other > factors -- > that can't be duplicated with digital. Or maybe it can and I've > just not > seen it. > > A really good image, though, will work in just about any print size, > although most negs have technical limits. If a 16x20 from 35mm looks > good, someone is doing everything right.