U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: Users of digital negatives

Re: Users of digital negatives



Thank you very much for your reply Sandy.

Another question for you. Has your ability to work faster and with more
accuracy, made an impact on how you think about what you do? Has improved
quality, reliability and productivity resulted in you attempting to
photograph or undertake projects that you would never have contemplated
making before, or try out ideas that you would not have even considered with
film and a darkroom?

This is probably a more difficult question because many of us are still
feeling our way with the new possibilities offered by digital technologies.
It is also so exciting that - and speaking for myself here now - perhaps we
may not have stopped to think about what impact all this new technology is
having on our ideas for photographic work.

Anyway, thanks Sandy - and everyone else
cheers Catherine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sandy King"

> Catharine,
>
> I began working with digital negatives some 5-6 years ago. Prior to
> that I had printed most of my LF and ULF negatives by direct contact
> printing, though I also made some enlarged negatives by wet
> processing.
>
> Most of my work is with carbon, a rather time intense process. Just
> to make one or two test prints will take 2-3 hours and nailing the
> contrast and exposure for any given negative could easily take 2-3
> evenings of work. Working with digital negatives has allowed me to be
> much more productive in that only one calibration is good for most
> images and sizes. Working with digital negatives has also allowed me
> to make most images in a few standard sizes, which simplifies matting
> and framing. Also, since all of the tonal controls and other
> corrections can be made on screen dodging and burning, which can be
> quite tedious with alternative printing, is avoided.
>
> There is no question in my mind but that the use of digital negatives
> has improved the quality of my work and increased my productivity as
> well.
>
> Sandy King