I've been thinking (a slow process) about your teacher's attitude toward
dodging and burning. This is a great teaching tool. You will learn to
properly expose your film, or die. I think you will come out a better
photographer, but...
He's really fooling himself, if this is the way he does all his work, as he
is missing a lot of what could be on his negatives. The tonal range
available on different media is, well, different. Some more than less. The
greatest tonal range is captured on negative films. Reversal films capture a
smaller tonal range. Paper reproduces a smaller range. In effect, he is
modifying his lighting or processing to limit the tonal range to match his
paper.
But what about the Zone System, I hear you say? The whole point of the Zone
System is to match the tonal range of the subject to the film, to maximize
the information recorded. No one, Adams included, intended to make straight
prints exclusively. As one who has worked in several labs, I can tell you a
negative that allows a straight print is a very welcome negative, but no one
expects that from every neg. I have been led to believe that Adams' printers
frequently manipulated negatives more when printing alone, but Adams himself
was known to burn and dodge.
In other words, always try to get a negative from which you can make a
straight print. Just don't expect it.
Imagine the beauty of a print that shows a range from the rich subtle blacks
of a supple leather whip, to the brilliant highlights from a set of
handcuffs...oops, that's a student, not the teacher.
Bill Pearce
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