Digital BW, The Print

One of the beautiful aspects of film scanning is the ability to do multiple
scans and blend later, and this is key to "if you are going to print it as a
SG at some point." A well crafted negative will scan or print well but those
with excessive contrast seem to be hardest to deal with in my experience.
Low contrast negs that might prove to be a nightmare in the darkroom, scan
with ease. I'd get my hands on a color checker chart and dedicate at least 4
sheets of film to it and shoot it full frame in the conditions you plan to
shoot; dusk, daylight, dawn, and process them.  If you were not planning on
going directly from negative to print, I'd also consider a COLOR film, so
you can take advantage of digital ICE in scanning. 
 
Eric Neilsen
Eric Neilsen Photography
4101 Commerce Street, Suite 9
Dallas, TX 75226
 
www.ericneilsenphotography.com
skype me with ejprinter
www.ericneilsenphotography.com/forum1
Let's Talk Photography
 
  _____  

From: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
bwyg@...
Sent: Thursday, June 02, 2011 2:24 PM
To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Cc: Susan Koons
Subject: Re: [Digital BW] film development for scanning
 
  
Depends on your image, your film, your processing, your scanner, your
scanner software, and of course, your skills, among other things.

In broad generalities, if you are ever going to use the film in the
darkroom, then optimize for the darkroom. It will scan just fine. If you are
*only* going to scan the film, and the film is B&W (the image is formed from
metallic silver), then lower density is better -- to a point. You can go too
low. In my own work (5x4 TMY-2, XTOL, ColorGetter 3Pro, ColorRight Pro 2.0,
and years of experimenting) I found that N-1 is generally a good place to
start.

My theory on what makes this true is Callier Effect, which isn't constant
across an image. Callier Effect increases with increasing density, and
typically results in decreased local contrast (caused by increasing light
scatter) in areas of increased density on the film.

Since color films don't experience Callier Effect (image is formed from
transparent dye clouds), there is little benefit to scanning from density
manipulation of the film.

The Zone System teaches us that you have to do your own tests to find out
what's optimum for your own personal workflow. Even if half your workflow is
now digital. You still have to do the work to optimize your own process. But
I'm sure you knew that already.
--
Bruce Watson

---- Susan Koons <hackberrytree@... <mailto:hackberrytree%40att.net> >
wrote: 
> I am planning on taking a 4x5 with me on a trip. It will be the first time
I will intentionally shoot with scanning in mind. Is it best to basically
shoot and develop at a N-1 to get all the tones and use curves to adjust for
printing?



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