Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/10/02

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Subject: [Leica] Altering Digital Files to Look Like Film
From: robert.rose at mac.com (robert.rose at mac.com)
Date: Tue, 02 Oct 2012 11:30:52 -0700

Maybe I will be dismissed or ignored like Cassandra, but I want to speak out 
against making files from a digital camera "look like" something else, e.g., 
some film-developer combination.  

I am not old enough to know this first hand, but when photography first hit 
there were folks who tried to make photos look like paintings.  I believe 
that William Mortensen was in that group, and this earned him the enmity of 
Ansel Adams and others in the f/64 Group.

Similarly, I feel that the desire to make a digital file look like film is 
misguided.  Just use a film camera if that is what you want (and I hasten to 
add that you all do a bang up job producing film images).  

We should be exploring what can be done with digital that would be 
impossible or difficult with film, and exploit those differences to create 
something new.  We should embrace digital display too, and stop worrying 
about making prints on our Epson printers that "look like" they are silver 
prints.

Off my soap box now.  Your comments, disagreements, agreements, etc., are 
really appreciated.

Bob Rose


Replies: Reply from imagist3 at mac.com (George Lottermoser) ([Leica] Altering Digital Files to Look Like Film)
Reply from tedgrant at shaw.ca (tedgrant at shaw.ca) ([Leica] Altering Digital Files to Look Like Film)