Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "jimj1946" 
<jimj1946@y...> wrote:
>   Almost all these methods are basically for 
> > geeks and nerds who enjoy doing profiling and running test strips 
> and 
> > tweaking things and taking out heads and cleaning them and 
> installing 
> > special software on their computers, etc, etc.
> > 
>  
> I hope that geeks and nerds was meant in a good way. I am also just 
> getting started in B&W inkjet printing. So far I don't see how it 
is 
> any different than darkroom work, as far as the 
> tinkering aspect goes. I don't know of any darkroom
> printer who is not always looking for the perfect paper,
> film, developer combination.

You must be young.  Nowadays very few people do their own wet 
darkroom work so those that do are in the "enthusiast" category.   
They do it because they LIKE the process, they ENJOY the 
experimenting and tinkering, etc.   That's why all the ones you know 
today seem to be avid tinkerers.

I've been doing wet darkroom since the mid-60's. In those days FOR 
MOST PEOPLE it was simply a means to an end - to make prints of our 
photos or to do it more cheaply than a pro lab.   I found papers and 
chemicals and processes that WORKED and stuck with them; I spent very 
little time tinkering, nor did most people I knew.  We weren't trying 
to be Ansel Adams; we were trying to make prints of our photos.

That's the point that digital B+W has yet to evolve to.   A standard, 
agreed-upon process and set of technologies that works for 90% of 
users so when a newbie comes here we can all say "here's how you get 
started"  and tell him the same basic thing.   Tinkering should 
always be an option for the advanced enthusiast, but it should not be 
REQUIRED to just get a decent, neutral, streak-free, print without 
blocked shadows or mid-tone texturing.