From: Jeffrey D. Mathias (jeffrey.d.mathias@worldnet.att.net)
Date: 05/21/00-07:27:39 AM Z
Randall Webb wrote:
> ... the " if it looks right it is right" school of photography.
> Whatever happened to test strips or in the case of large format, exposing
> several sheets and developing them for different density ranges? ...
If and after one has trained their eye to read densities and understand
the relationships of values in the print, the negative, and the original
scene, they can do away with the multitude of tests strips. Negatives
and prints can be made from learned experience, and if needed,
adjustments will be understood. I have put to writing an exercise to
train one's seeing (in Chapter 3 of my guide). Keep in mind that to
benefit from an exercise, one must do it not just read it.
> ... My densitometer has developed a nervous seizure at present
Not to worry. There is no piece of equipment that can read and compare
density values such as the hole technique described by Judy. However, a
densitometer is not what is needed to make a good print (or negative).
One must have a good sense of what looks right.
> ... I also have a Stouffer strip but I never use it as I don't like a set of
> reducing rectangles on the bottom of the print. ...
Yea, I hear ya. I don't use them either as they can lure one into a
false sense of how something should be printed. However, the Stouffer
strip is a valuable tool when doing calibrations or normalizations of
processes variations.
> ...Hidden in the dark recesses of the Fox Talbot museum at Lacock UK ...
> "... I had in mind a method reducing both the labour and the lack of
> consistency of making my salted paper prints.
> However, I feel I shall be obliged to abandon this scheme as it is
> neither art nor science. ..."
It seems that Talbot discovered two important philosophies of today, one
commonly practiced and one not so well known. All too often
photographers (as do others) look for shortcuts at the risk of
sacrificing the art. Only does a master come to a realization of the
truth. So ponder how one becomes a master.
-- Jeffrey D. Mathias http://home.att.net/~jeffrey.d.mathias/
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