Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/02/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Sunday, February 07, 1999, B. wrote: > The point isn't that Smith isn't great, but that the creative photographic > process often involves darkroom "magic" that allows the photographer to > produce a picture of what he saw, as opposed what was technically "there." BD, Very right. When I was starting out in PJ some 15-20 years or so ago it was "vogue" to completely burn the backgrounds of your photos black so that the subject really popped from the image. I knew many great B&W printers and it was their ability in the darkrooms that won them honor after honor in the NPPA contests in region 6. I interviewed at a newspaper where one of the R6 top photogs worked and he said something to the effect "Anyone can get it on film, you have to be able to get it on the paper." I learned all the dirty tricks, super hot developer, fera-cyanide bleach, massive amounts of dodging, burning, selective fixing, and others I have forgotten. The old 4 corner burn was standard everywhere I ever worked, we even did it printing color. I still do it as I like the look. Helps separate the subject form the background. Photographic reality is a tenuous thing. What moment the photographer decides to show...how he used the light, the expression he chose to freeze, and the mood he creates in the darkroom by making a print heavy and oppressive or light and cheerful all create the "reality" Just with digital it is soooo much easier to alter the reality even further than it was in the old days. Best regards, Harrison mailto:mcclary@iname.com http://people.delphi.com/hmphoto preview my book: http://www.volmania.com