Actually, that isn't true. I have many times had the experience that you
have to keep everything within one or two versions of each other. For
instance, upgrade of MSW wouldn't work on my old Mac System 6, or wouldn't
do certain things. If for whatever reason I upgraded ancillary programs
and my system, old Adobe Photo Shop would probably *NOT* be good...
There's a name for this : p-l-a-n-n-e-d o-b-s-o-l-e-s-e-n-c-e !
> Let's suppose for the moment (big suspension of disbelief here, I know),
> that you, Judy, are working on one of your photos using Photoshop. Do you
Actually David I used Photoshop a couple of years ago, invested quite a
lot of time in it, in fact. But I found that I didn't have the expertise
or the necessary advice to learn to do what I would have had to learn to
get it to do what I wanted to usuably and affordably output as a
negative in HARD COPY.
At that time, even computer courses didn't do anything with output as
negatives. Maybe all that's improved. Maybe I was just too early. But at
this point I don't feel need of it --- can do what I need on silver film
as long as I can get it. And of course now that I have even less time left
at the end of the tunnel, I want to spend it .... (destroying gum prints?)
> I understand that you feel you can achieve the results you want more
> easily and quickly by retouching your negatives. However, recall that
> those procedures had a learning curve associated with them as well. You
> didn't just wake up one morning the Master of Dyene. For many people,
Look, I'm not trying to remake the negative with dyene, but to do some
spot corrections. Took about 10 minutes to learn..
> though not all, digital manipulation, once learned, is far easier than
> analog methods. The ability to instantly "undo" what you just did is a
> godsend. To be able to have several versions of the same image up on the
> screen at once so that you can compare them before deciding which
> direction you want to go, etc.
How long was it before you got your computer calibrated to the point that
"comparing" images on screen really matched the output????
> Also, I think that there are a lot of people who may have outstanding
> artistic vision, but whose expression of that vision has been restrained
> by their lack of technical darkroom skills. Fo these people, programs
> like Photoshop allow them to finally be able to express their art.
That one I'm not going to let you get away with -- the implication that
the computer skill is easier to acquire than darkroom skills. Really!
This week I taught 32 undergraduates, not all of them totally awake, how
to make passable lith film in a couple of hours -- these included painting
and architecture majors. How long would it take til they could learn to
go from scanning to output on photoshop!!?? Like us valley girls say, give
me a break!
Which is to say, if you stretched it end to end, how long was your
learning period to get to where you are now with digital!? Under oath!
(Starting from zero, where my students were.)
Truthfully,
Judy