Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/11/20
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Thanks so much for this Kevin--very helpful. I, too, have experienced the totally irrational and "perversely capricious" security personnel, and they're a real pain. I think half the time they say no just because they can. I've been toying with the idea of creating negs from digital files and printing them and this will put me over the top. It sounds really intriguing, and I'm encouraged to read the prints are virtually indistinguishable from film neg prints. While I was in Germany I met another photographer on assignment for an NGO and he recommended "Silver Effects Pro" for adding grain and making digital files look like Tri-X, or any number of other films. I've been too busy to download it and try it out but I'll give it a try soon. If anyone has had success with Silver Effects or any other film replicating software, I'd love to hear about it. Thanks again for the post, Craig On Nov 19, 2009, at 8:09 PM, lug-request at leica-users.org wrote: > Message: 6 > Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:54:19 -0800 > From: K Landdeck <bamboozld at gmail.com> > Subject: Re: [Leica] Lou Reed, now Salgado... > To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org> > Message-ID: <F7643C40-F6CF-4ED0-8F29-520AEA2E375B at gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes > > Craig, > > I was at the Salgado event (the main one anyway, not the small, > intimate dinner one for large donors) in SF and as far as I remember > he didn't go into any details of his post-processing, except to say > that his assistant "adds grain" to the files and then prints them as > digital negs. He did relate that he prints the digital negatives at > large sizes and has asked photographer friends to pick out the digital > prints from analog -- no one did better than random guessing. > > What I took from the whole story was that he still prefers the process > and look of film: darkroom printing and film grain. He related at > length that he would still be using the Pentax except that the hassles > of traveling with large amounts of exposed film through airports with > irrational (and often simply perversely capricious) security personnel > rendered it impractical: too much time wasted in security offices, and > too many ruined rolls of film when security at multiple stops insist > on x-raying. (The savings in weight and bulk were also appreciated; > apparently on his longer trips the volume of film really added up.) > Since he can replicate both the look and the final step in the film > process (darkroom printing), he is satisfied with digital capture and > the hybrid workflow. I would be interested in seeing if he continues > this hybrid process if/when he starts using a S2/M9. > > I was very interested in this part of his talk because I too work in a > hybrid fashion (though it's the reverse of his), and have toyed with > digital negatives for doing alternative processes (cyanotypes and salt > prints). > > As an aside, I have to agree with Richard's assessment in the blog. > The contrast was awful on the slideshow. But even fixing that, it was > pretty clear to me that Salgado (at least thus far) is no landscape or > nature photographer. His talent is definitely with photographing > people. The images in Genesis (thus far) were far below his past work > in my opinion. > > Kevin > > ============= > Only connect. > ============= > bamboozld at gmail.com > > my photography: > http://www.flickr.com/photos/shudaizi/ > > > > > > > > > On Nov 19, 2009, at 6:54 AM, Craig Semetko wrote: > >> Now I'm referencing it, Richard:) >> >> In the blog you say: >> >> However, he still uses it like in the film days: his assistant makes >> contact sheets for him, and his camera is modified to give the same >> 645 ratio he is used to. He also has the images processed to look >> like Tri-X. For prints, a lab converts the data into a 645 negative >> and prints using traditional darkroom process! >> >> Did he say how he has the digital files processed to look like Tri- >> X? Is is assistant using a certain software program? I know there >> are a number of programs out there for this; I'm wondering which one >> or what process replicates Tri-X accurately enough to his liking. >> >> TIA, >> >> Cheers, >> >> Craig >> >> >> On Nov 19, 2009, at 4:44 AM, lug-request at leica-users.org wrote: >> >>> Date: Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:00:55 -0800 >>> From: Richard Man <richard.lists at gmail.com> >>> Subject: Re: [Leica] Lou Reed has an S2 and an M9 >>> To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org> >>> Message-ID: >>> <7ac27f4f0911181600s57982babm9fa41e0ff48c6fe0 at mail.gmail.com> >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 >>> >>> One or more photogs were shooting with an M9 extensively a few >>> months >>> before the info was leaked, so I wouldn't be surprise if some >>> photogs >>> have been shooting with a S2 for the last couple months. Real life >>> tests and all that. >>> >>> I hope Saldago get one, my blog entry: >>> http://rfman.wordpress.com/2009/05/10/an-evening-with-sebastiao-salgado/ >>> still get half a dozen hits every day and more if yet another person >>> references it in another blog post (or email like this one :-O ) >