Digital BW, The Print

Hi Nick-

A very interesting (if painstaking) technique! How are you scanning these
images?


Bill Morse
PhotoProspect
Cambridge, MA USA


on 6/6/03 11:24 AM, nick90290 wrote:

> Hi Alessandro
> 
> Thanks for the compliments on the photos. Especially considering you
> saw a bunch of pokey little 3" inch images on the web. I'm very
> flattered.
> 
> In response to your answer, firstly let me say I feel very foolish
> and dumb having been using Levels at all to create the majority of my
> contrast, since it was making many of my images way more grainy than
> they ever needed to be.
> 
> The thing I found with levels is if you have a fairly grainy image to
> begin with, you increase the contrast of each invidual 'blob' of
> grain to the next. Obviously working in Curves is better and helps to
> quite a degree. 
> 
> But what I now do - which is very painstaking, is try and create
> nearly all my contrast in the image, down to the smallest detail,
> through elaborate dodging and burning with the brush set to
> mid-tones. 
> That way, all the 'blobs' of grain are pretty similar to the original
> flat scan one started with.
> 
> I was shocked at the difference it made when I started again from
> scratch on a number of photos. Grainy photos done the old way at
> 11"x14", when re-done using my new time-consuming method, looked
> almost devoid of grain blown up to 20"x24". So when I did add more
> overall contrast to the new image in Curves , it was only a pretty
> small amount, that did little to make the image more grainy.
> 
> I should add that I only have this problem with grainy images - the
> images shot on T-Max 100 (6x7 format) generally are grainless enough
> that they can handle some crude levels layers.
> 
> Nick
> 
> ................................
> 
> 
> 
> Please visit the Group Homepage to check the Files, Bookmarks, Polls and other
> resources as they are often being updated. The page is at:
> 
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint
> 
> If you wish to receive no emails or just a daily digest, or you wish to
> unsubscribe, please edit your Membership preferences by visiting this same
> page.
> 
> Please follow these basic guidelines:
> - Include your full name with your message.
> - Include the address of your website, if you have one.
> - As threads develop, trim off excess portions of earlier messages to keep
> them short.
> - As the topic of a thread changes remember to change the subject header.
> - Good manners are required at all time. No personal attacks or flames
> - Complete your Yahoo profile.
> - Before posting a question, search the message archives and the various
> resources on the homepage.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
> 
>