> <Poking Caged Bear with Stick Alert!>
No worries. This bear is pretty lethargic, I guess.
> Now why would it matter, once you go high-end DSLR? All you need is a copy of
> Nik Software's Silver Effex Pro v2 and Adobe Photoshop CS5 and you have what
> you need to make genuinely cosmic black and white prints. Combine good
> technique with the software with Epson's 3880 printer and Epson Exhibition
> Fiber paper, and you can produce prints that are virtually (used advisedly)
> indistinguishable from silver gelatin. Use some of the premium velvet and
> watercolor matte papers, and, well, it's just pure magic. You'll even acquire
> groupies. Trust me on this!
My darkroom is much less expensive than all which you've identified.
> Those who are happiest in the wet darkroom have no need to change. I salute
> them and would not disparage them (except for AG, and that's just for sport
> <g>). But for those who like or would like to like black and white and who
> shoot digital exclusively, there's no need anymore to feel like you're Aunt
> Sally's bastard love child. You, too, can do black and white, and you can do
> it well. So well, in fact, that with enough practice, I suspect it would take
> trained and experienced eyes to tell the difference between their chemicals
> and your pixels. In a few more years, no one will be able to tell.
I do not disagree with anything you've said here. I do black & white
with film and in the darkroom because I enjoy it and find greater
satisfaction from it than doing digital photography. Besides, it
justifies using the OM gear. But from a pure technical perspective,
the digital method is getting close-enough that it really doesn't
matter too much.
However, I have yet to see a B&W print from an entirely digital
process, as you have identified, that didn't have certain tell-tails.
Primarily, the digital version is a little too perfect. It is the
flaws of film that give it the character. You can fake some of that
character, but we can spot the fakes a mile off unless you go to great
lengths to disguise the chosen effects library.
I'm working with computers and I'm around people all the time. The
darkroom is a wonderful escape from the real world and my enlarger
isn't connected to email or facebook.
AG
AG
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