[Leica] Daved and confused

[amr3 at uwm.edu (Alan Magayne-Roshak)]

On Tue, 2 Dec 2008 "David Rodgers" <drodgers@casefarms.com>wrote:

>Perhaps this is too deep a subject for a shallow mind such as mine, but
>when I first learned photography I was taught that visualization -- the
>process of imagining the final print before snapping the shutter -- was
>essential to good photography. It was difficult, but made a little
>easier because your scope of visualization was more narrow. For
>instance, you were pretty much locked into the type of film you were
>using. 

>Certainly you could cross over from BW to color using Marshall Oils or
>the opposite direction using Panalure, but how common was it to do so? I
>think I used Marshall Oils one time and I still have leftovers from my
>first and only box of Panalure. 

>Now we can switch back and forth -- and I do it often, from color to BW
>and back, at least -- with a mouse click. Since nearly all digital
>begins in color (I'm not diciplined enough to shoot in monochrome mode)
>it's almost like I'm admitting defeat when I determine that an image
>can't make it as a color image so I try and dress it up a little in BW. 

>Thus when I shoot digital I feel like I'm a color photographer who uses
>BW -- aka zero saturation -- as a crutch to make bad photos that have
>some compositional merit but are colorly challenged, into mediocre
>photos; sometimes even really good BW photos, if I'm lucky. I can even
>hide unwanted artifacts....even noise.

>Has happenstance replaced visualization? Is this even something worth
>discussing? WWAS? (What would Ansel say?) Was visualization merely a
>fancy metaphore for "you're stuck with what's in your camera, so make
>the most of it".

>There was a day when I'd have given my eye teeth to have someone come up
>to me and offer a magic film that could be either color or BW at the
>snap of my finger. After all, visualization was a tough thing for me to
>grasp. Sadly, now that I'm an old dog I can't ungrasp it. I'm conflicted
>and confused. What's that old saying? Careful what you wish for..... 

>DaveR
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I think it best to approach color and B&W separately, which is why I still 
like to use 
film for B&W (also my M's, IIIf and other film cameras are more pleasant to 
use than 
any digital camera that I use at work). 

When I have a digital camera in my hand, I ONLY think color, and when I'm
using B&W film, I'm forced into visualizing how to get to the final result 
with the
controls allowed by monochrome.  I don't think good B&W pictures can 
necessarily 
be gotten by desaturating color unless the subject was analyzed for 
monochromatic 
rendition from the moment of exposure.  (i.e., how does this tone compare to 
that tone?  
Will it blend in or separate? )
 
I kind of like what you wrote as a mantra -  "you're stuck with what's in 
your camera, so make
the most of it".   ;~)  And since I like to do as little as possible 
post-exposure, in PhotoShop, 
I would add another variation: "You're stuck with what's in front of your 
camera, so make the most of it."
Get it right first, so you don't have to fix it later.

Alan   B^)

Alan Magayne-Roshak, Senior Photographer
UPAA POY 1978
University Information Technology Services
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/