[rollei_list] Re: OT Ancient Computers (was Re: Re: Rollei -Singapore) now analogue versus digital
- From: Elias Roustom <eroustom@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2009 21:51:28 -0500
Who would know? Every color picture* I see today, both on and off
the computer is a digital representation. I have not seen a color
print from a wet process in years!
Rob
I was thinking about that myself just today... My daughter is
turning 8 tomorrow. Her baby pictures were optical prints from a
wonderful little photo shop in Haverhill MA, close to where we lived
at the time. Rich in color, sharp detail, wonderful textures. When I
got back into shooting film a few years ago (maybe going on 3 now) I
was really shocked by the compromises made by the industry, and
accepted by the public (even from "Pro" shops) for what passes as
high quality. The loss is hard to quantify, but can be found in
highlights with detail, high contrast transitions, the loss of fine
curves, and the lack of depth due to garbled up tonal transitions,
and the limits of the pixel or ink spatter. These losses are very
very subtle, I'll grant you all that, but I am one to notice such
subtleties, and for me they add up to lessen the enjoyment of the
image from anything closer than 2 feet away. Maybe I'll wait before I
fully invest in digital imaging until my eyes do what my dad's eyes
did in his mid forties - as I rapidly approach the time. I'll
probably be amazed by what I see then! : )
Ink jet prints on textured papers are beautiful. But these are
prints, not photographs (images made with light), and they have a
beautiful quality all their own. I've seen good ink-jet images, and
they're fine. They cost about the same as cibachromes to make,
they're more expensive than RA4 prints, but they take a hell of lot
less time and space, make the process accessible to just about anyone
and that's a VERY big advantage that cannot be understated. Still, I
can see the jaggies, or the weird out of place dots. People say "who
looks at them from 4 inches away?" I do. The wonder of a photograph
is that it's an illusion which draws you in. Like the call of a
siren, the digital image draws you in, only to trip you up on the
rocks of the limitations of a medium built around average best. In
painting when you get closer, at the point at which the image breaks
up into brush strokes you are rewarded with the dazzling nature of
pigments (Childe Hassam comes to mind). In photography that reward is
grain and tone, and in some cases more detail than you could imagine
from two feet away, in printing it is the scattered bits of process
colors. Which is better? I put them in the order I prefer - everybody
else can have their own favorite.
I've told this story before, but a couple of years ago I was at
photographer's gallery, and I was really impressed by his ink jet
work. Such color! He was quite proud of it, and was telling me how he
hasn't done analog work in so long, and I could tell how in love with
the new medium he was. I went from print to print, and then I stopped
at one b&w print, my jaw dropped, and I exclaimed "Wow, this one is
digital too!?" "Oh, not that one..." And then he went on to tell me
about his Hasselblad and the lens he took that landscape with, etc.,
and the darkroom he took down but is thinking of putting back up some
day, etc. etc. You all know this story.
Well I soon hope to see a wet process color print from my own
darkroom. I did the math, and I can get into color photography much
more cheaply than I could get into the comparable range of color
printing. I'll be limited to 8x10 for some time to come, but I'll
live with that, or hire out the work if I really need it. Maybe next
year I'll buy bigger trays. I for one want to see color photos again.
Elias
---
Rollei List
- Post to rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Subscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'subscribe'
in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org
- Unsubscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with
'unsubscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org
- Online, searchable archives are available at
//www.freelists.org/archives/rollei_list
Other related posts:
