Digital BW, The Print

Step back and look at the big picture,  right now digital is in it's
infancy.  Here is how that affects your $,£,¥,&:

I suppose I will have to replace the digital darkroom in it's entirety every
couple of years for the foreseeable future.  I view this as a mixed
blessing.  Right now, you have to pour an enormous amount of effort into
understanding the process.  So the people who produce excellent results are
limited.  When digital printing becomes a no-brainer, the market will be
flooded with crap and price competition amongst amateurs will wipe out the
profit margins that professionals need to survive.  Like they say, make
something that any fool can run and only a fool would want to run it.  At
that point, skilled printers will be reaching for maximum complexity in
order to distinguish their work from the pedestrian offerings of every Joe
Six-pak.

Scans made today, especially 8 bit files, will be entirely obsolete in a few
years at most.  You can save re-doing your stock files by keeping raw 16 bit
files, as far along as possible, at maximum resolution.  Tomorrow's
printers, and stock market, will demand it.  I have learned 100% 16 bit
workflows and archive all steps.

As long as fiber archival prints last longer than digital, there will be a
good market for them.  I have raised my prices for fiber and orders continue
to be strong, this week about 125 fiber vs 175 digital, even though the
digital prints are half the cost.  Don't discard your darkroom, learn how to
manage your business so both are profitable.  One is not a substitute for
the other.  

Publish full specifications with each print you make, giving accurate
technical details to aid in future conservation and restoration.  Digtal
prints that survive the test of time will depend on the ability of
professional conservators to identify them.  Many museums and universities,
from MOMA in New York to University of Oregon here, keep 100% of their
photos in refrigerated storage to prevent deterioration.  The problems that
are surfacing with digital prints are difficult for conservators to
understand due to lack of information about how the particular digital print
was made.  One good example is ink falling off giclee on canvas.  The canvas
is archival, the ink is archival, and the work of art is suitable for
wrapping fish at best.  Publish full specifications with each print you
make, giving accurate technical details to aid in future conservation and
restoration.

Keep your original film in good condition.  Scanners ten years from now will
make the things we use look like 8 track tape players.

Tom Robinson