Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., <david_bookbinder@s...> 
wrote:
> Richard,
> 
> I have rarely been able to significantly improve an image by 
> "tweaking a few sliders" in Photoshop. I can make the image look 
> different, yes, but not much better. On the other hand, years 
> ago when I used to print color myself, it was not hard to 
completely 
> alter an image by playing with various filters in the darkroom 
> -- about the equivalent of tweaking a few sliders. I don't really 
> see the point of confessing to having used layers, or hue 
adjustments, 
> or sharpening, or whatever, any more than to having used a 
particular 
> flash, backdrop, filter, or darkroom processing technique. Having 
> been a "manipulator" in both realms, it doesn't feel that different 
> to me. It is easier to do some things with a digital image, and 
> it is possible to do some manipulations with a digital image 
> that could not be done at all in a darkroom, but doing really 
> good digital manipulation takes, I think, the same sort of mind 
> set and skill development as doing really good darkroom or 
lighting/filter 
> manipulation using wet chemistry and film.
> 
> Just my two cents.

David,

I'll add my two cents and agree with you. I don't do much more 
manipulation in PS than I can do in the darkroom. I can just do a lot 
of it better. I always assume that a photograph is an interpretation 
of the photographer and that manipulation took place.

Martin Wesley

> 
> = = = Original message = = =
> 
> Monday, September 16, 2002, 10:25:46 AM, Bill Agee wrote:
> 
> BA> This argument has been going on long before I got seriously 
> 
> BA> interested in photography over 30 years ago...the "purists" 
> vs the 
> BA> "manipulators".  Most people don't realize that some of the 
> most 
> BA> venerated photographers were heavy manipulators of the silver 
> gelatin 
> BA> media.  Ansel Adams and W. Eugene Smith are just a couple 
> that 
> BA> immediately come to mind. 
> 
> 
> I think this argument is less about the actual act of "manipulation"
> than about the art and talent inherent to the manipulation or
> enhancing process that was used.
> 
> I belive now that many people are actually quite aware that 
photographers
> like Adams and Smith were manipulators. However, their techniques
> required an artistry and talent on a completely different plane 
> than
> many are now doing by simply tweaking a few sliders in PS.
> 
> I have no problem with manipulating or enhancing an image in 
> PS. I
> just think photographers should be EXPLICITLY up front about 
> what, if
> any, PS tools and techniques may have been used. The biggest 
> problem I
> see, and the most dishonorable trend I see, is where photographers 
> are
> using PS to create tonal ranges and/or hue adjustments, then 
> say
> nothing in their image description. This "silence" tends to
> purposefully create an "aura" and tends to completely imply that 
> the
> photographer, through talented field techniques and camera skill,
> captured that once in a lifetime light when in reality, while 
> they may
> have captured a very good image, they absolutely needed PS to 
> make it
> over the top.
> 
> Some say we should all use our "artistic license" to make our 
> images
> the best they can be. Artistic license is one thing, but the 
> more
> one's artistic license depends on mouse movements in a computer 
> the
> less merit there is to the art.
> 
> Best regards,
>  Richard  
> 
> mailto:richard@c...
> 
> 
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