Re: [Leica] RE: Re: meter's shmeters..step away from the meter!

[Guy Bennett <gbennett@lainet.com>]

>Finally, no matter how much metering you do you still have to deal with the
>actual contrast variation in the scene.  Advanced metering will not give you
>any cures for a scene that is flat or to punchy. Only proper development can
>do that, and as I mentioned before that is a tough nut to crack when you
>plan to process 36 shots in one tank.
>[snip]
>Dan States


Here's an interesting take on the above:

"In the early days it was easy to develop by inspection. You had these
blind films you could hold up to a bright safelight and just look through.
Now you turn on the dim green safelight a couple of minutes beforehand so
your eyes get used to the light. Then, at eight minutes or so, you take the
film out of the developer, hold it a foot and a half or so from the light,
and turn it until the light reflects off the surface off the film for just
a few seconds. It's a question of being able to evaluate blacks and
grays.... I always try to mark rolls as to what kind of light they were
exposed under, and as to general subject. then I try to develop film in
groups so that I can anticipate the problems I have to face.

But I'm not as good at it as Bernie Hoffman was. He used to have a pair of
scissors, and as he was going through a roll of negatives, he would start
clipping it up and developing this section more and that section less. I
don't carry it that far, but inspection certainly comes in handy."

W. Eugene Smith


"When I return from a trip, I have perhaps 30 or 40 rolls.... First I
arrange the negatives according to sunlight and shade values. Then I
develop them all by inspection....

I don't really know how long I develop the negatives. I usually take the
temperature of the chemicals and consult the instruction chart. If the
chart advises, let's say, 7 minutes, I set my timer for 4 or 5 minutes,
because I agitate continuously. Around 4 minutes, I put on my green
safelight to see how far the development has gone. Then I go further as
needed.  I would say my tendency is toward overdevelopment. I followed the
same procedure when I was working with cut film and film packs."

Aaron Siskind


Guy