[Leica] Daved and confused

[chs2018 at med.cornell.edu (Chris Saganich)]

AMEN, again!

At 08:05 PM 12/2/2008, you wrote:
>Dave,
>
>Just a few thoughts.  Most of my background is in LF.  I believe that I
>understand the visualization (pre-visualization) concept.  I have done my
>share of reading negative density for various N minus and what all settings.
>I still have friends who would not give that up for the world.  But for me,
>"digital" is liberating.  As long as I don't do something really bad (put my
>thumb in front of the lens, blow out the highlights etc.) I have a
>"negative" that can be used.  Sort of like having an endless supply of TriX.
>You can make an unprintable TriX neg, but you have to try.  In addition, I
>now have a lot of negatives.  I don't mean happenstance.  I mean, let's try
>this angle or this light (though typically the first image is still the
>best).
>
>Editing is fast, and brings the winners, if any, out quickly.  There are
>plenty of times when a color file surprised me when converted to b&w.  Just
>desaturation won't get you much.  There are plenty of solutions for b&w,
>such as Alien Skin Exposure, Convert to B&W Pro, Photoshop's tools and so
>forth.  I think you raise an interesting question, and my comment is
>essentially why not use all these great tools, or stated another way, why
>lock yourself into one way of seeing?  I'm sure at one time burning and
>dodging in the darkroom was seen as the devil's work.  As far as what WWAS,
>I'd bet the ranch that if he used the brush adjustment tool in Bridge he
>would say "Holy crap, my ship has come in - this calls for a martini!"
>After all, you're talking about someone whose prints bore little resemblance
>to the negs, and who dunked the bottom of the most holy of negatives
>(Moonrise)into chromium solution to intensify the grave markers.  Or, how
>about the LF darkroom photographers who use unsharp mask negatives...that
>wasn't on the original.
>
>Ken
>(An amateur photographer, untalented painter, whose family is most thankful
>that his income does not relate to photography, and who understands that
>there are areas, such as PJ, where the above thoughts would or should be
>heresy)
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: lug-bounces+kcarney1=cox.net@leica-users.org [mailto:lug-
> > bounces+kcarney1=cox.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of David Rodgers
> > Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 12:23 PM
> > To: Leica Users Group
> > Subject: [Leica] Daved and confused
> >
> >
> > Perhaps this is too deep a subject for a shallow mind such as mine, but
> > when I first learned photography I was taught that visualization -- the
> > process of imagining the final print before snapping the shutter -- was
> > essential to good photography. It was difficult, but made a little
> > easier because your scope of visualization was more narrow. For
> > instance, you were pretty much locked into the type of film you were
> > using.
> >
> > Certainly you could cross over from BW to color using Marshall Oils or
> > the opposite direction using Panalure, but how common was it to do so? I
> > think I used Marshall Oils one time and I still have leftovers from my
> > first and only box of Panalure.
> >
> > Now we can switch back and forth -- and I do it often, from color to BW
> > and back, at least -- with a mouse click. Since nearly all digital
> > begins in color (I'm not diciplined enough to shoot in monochrome mode)
> > it's almost like I'm admitting defeat when I determine that an image
> > can't make it as a color image so I try and dress it up a little in BW.
> >
> > Thus when I shoot digital I feel like I'm a color photographer who uses
> > BW -- aka zero saturation -- as a crutch to make bad photos that have
> > some compositional merit but are colorly challenged, into mediocre
> > photos; sometimes even really good BW photos, if I'm lucky. I can even
> > hide unwanted artifacts....even noise.
> >
> > Has happenstance replaced visualization? Is this even something worth
> > discussing? WWAS? (What would Ansel say?) Was visualization merely a
> > fancy metaphore for "you're stuck with what's in your camera, so make
> > the most of it".
> >
> > There was a day when I'd have given my eye teeth to have someone come up
> > to me and offer a magic film that could be either color or BW at the
> > snap of my finger. After all, visualization was a tough thing for me to
> > grasp. Sadly, now that I'm an old dog I can't ungrasp it. I'm conflicted
> > and confused. What's that old saying? Careful what you wish for.....
> >
> > DaveR
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Leica Users Group.
> > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>
>
>_______________________________________________
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Chris Saganich MS, CPH
Senior Physicist, Office of Health Physics
Weill Medical College of Cornell University
New York Presbyterian Hospital
chs2018@med.cornell.edu
http://intranet.med.cornell.edu/research/health_phys/
Ph. 212.746.6964
Fax. 212.746.4800
Office A-0049








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