Re: Only shades of gray...

I keep wanting to reply to this thread, but can't remember or find the
original source I'm thinking of.

One of my original teachers was Fred Picker. A very opinionated and
original photographer / thinker / teacher. One of his assignments was
to print as many distinguishable "shades of gray" as possible on a good
silver gelatin paper. His intention was to teach "what were worthwhile
and what were homely shades of gray" (paraphrased) . I think he claimed
"about" 80 or 100, I really can't remember what I printed. I remember
thinking (much latter) that Adobe's 8 bit (126 shades) seemed more than
enough.

On Tuesday, June 8, 2004, at 10:59 AM, steves wrote:

> Not stupid at all!
>
> Ansel Adams and Jay Hannah, the painter, did extensive study. Hannah
> for
> both Kodak and Poloroid.
>
> Adams broke the gray tones into ten 'Zones.' and Hannah determined
> there
> are 64 shades of gray in discernable gradations.
>
> Does that tell why AA came up with the Zone system and his f64 theory?
> Yes!
> In fact that's almost all of it, exactly.
>
> Steve Shapiro, Carmel, CA
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bill William" <iodideshi@yahoo.co.jp>
> To: <alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2004 8:07 AM
> Subject: Only shades of gray...
>
>
>> I hope this is not a REALLY stupid question...
>> I am good at asking those,,, but
>>
>> Does any one know how many shades of grey humans can
>> discern, between black and white?
>>
>> I know the answer will be a variable range, but what is
>> the range?
>>
>> What is the maximum number possible (probable)?
>>
>> 30? 130? 1300?
>>
>> If anyone knows of any such studies, I would love to hear
>> about them!
>>
>> Ray
>> -------------------------------------------------
>> I remember when the answers seemed so clear
>> We had never lived with doubt or tasted fear.
>> It was easy then to tell truth from lies
>> Selling out from compromise
>> Who to love and who to hate,
>> The foolish from the wise.
>>
>> But today there is no day or night
>> Today there is no dark or light.
>> Today there is no black or white,
>> Only shades of gray.
>>
>> The Monkees
>> (lyrics: barry mann and cyntha weil)
>>
>> __________________________________________________
>> Do You Yahoo!?
>> http://bb.yahoo.co.jp/
>>
>>
>
>
--------------
Tom Ferguson
http://www.ferguson-photo-design.com
Received on Tue Jun 8 21:00:26 2004