[Leica] Travels with M6

["Oliver Bryk" <oliverbryk@attbi.com>]

Rob wrote:
"I must say that I agree with Jerry. I feel that the distortion is minimal
and the
subject has been handled as it should be.  Furthermore I am impressed with
the
tonal range you have in your prints. Granted, there could have been some
more
contrast and saturation added, but these scans have all the detail necessary
to
produce beautiful prints. Can you tell me how you did this? You have
everything
from shadow to sunlight, all with very usable detail. Did you scan a print
or have
you used a neg scanner? In Australia, or Queensland at least, the contrast
of the
light is such that this sort of result is extremely difficult. I would be
very
interested to know what method you used.
Regards
Rob"
Thank you very much for your kind comments, Rob. I'll respond to your
questions as best as I can. Healdsburg (the location of the farmers' market)
lies at approximately 38 deg 45 min latitude north. At this time of year
there is usually still a touch of fog in the air when the market opens at 9
a.m. Pacific Daylight Time; by noon the light has become very contrasty. I
usually pay attention to the open shadow areas when I meter. 
I have used Agfa Optima and later Vista (but not the "Ultra")films for a
long time because they have a nice long scale and color fidelity without
excessive contrast and saturation. Many modern consumer films are designed
for contrast and saturation levels that I find unnatural.
I scan the negatives in a Nikon LS-4000 with VueScan software (which I
prefer to NikonScan). Although VueScan has a film setting for Agfa Optima,
the resulting TIFF images have a slightly pinkish cast which I correct with
PhotoShop's AutoColor feature. With rare exceptions I do not manipulate the
images' color or contrast any further. From this stage in the work flow I
can print, format a 640x480 JPEG copy for the Internet or archive the image.
IMO perceived sharpness, contrast and saturation of small images posted on
the Internet are affected by a lot of intervening variables, including the
viewer's display screen and driver.
Oliver Bryk


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