Digital BW, The Print

Hi Don, do I understand it that you found the same things I did back 
at the start of this thread, that printing BO with grainy B&W film 
has a similar / sometimes better finish and look to the same image 
printed in Hextone.  AND then visa versa for the digitial image?

I certainly found that BO was lovely with my Neopan400 work, but I 
couldn't really put up with it for digital capture.  The BO 
produced 'grain' in it's laydown of the black ink, but as grain was 
an inherant quality in the print/film itself it was not unnatural.  
For the digital image, you are essentially printing 'clean' and the 
dots are an addition, sometimes an unwelcome one, to the end print.

Kind regards

Steve


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "D. Hill" 
<hill14701@y...> wrote:
> I just spent the evening reviewing quadtone prints
> made with filmscans (Coolscan IV) verses eos 10d
> capture.  the 10d images were captured in RAW mode,
> and converted to 16 bit greyscale tiffs.
> 
> The negatives scanned by the coolscan were Fuji Neopan
> 400 developed in PMK Pyro.  Very grainy and quite
> lush. This film/developer combination gives a look
> similar to development in Rodinal 1:25 - very sharp
> and well defined grain but much better highlights.
> 
> In addition, I scanned neopan negatives that were
> developed in d76 1:1.  This developer produces much
> less acutance than PMK, but very smooth transitions
> and masks the grain of Neopan.
> 
> The neopan negatives developed in d76 were for all
> purposes identical to images shot with the 10d.  I do
> not intensly sharpen my images, but use the "local
> contrast technique" for shapening.  Settings in
> Photoshop using Unsharp Mask: Amount=500, Radius=.2
> (or .3), Threshold=0.  
> 
> Due to the construction of the sensor or some other
> technical reason I really don't care about, this
> practice of sharpening produces images that have an
> exceptional film quality.  I print via quadtone and R9
> driver, and I must stress that these images are more
> similar to the d76 1:1 negatives and are quite smooth
> in tonality with an inherent film grain look.
> 
> I would rather have the look of my grainy negatives
> via 10d - but have not found a solution that does not
> look photoshopped.  After scanning and spending hours
> repairing the image with clone stamp and fixing a
> scratch - I'll gladly give that up for a total digital
> workflow.  Besides, printing via BO gives a similar
> texture, and it is quick and easy.
> 
> Don
> 
> --- PhotoWorkshops Partnership
> <info@p...> wrote:
> 
> > 
> > > Any suggestions on how to bring back real, good
> > looking
> > > (old-fashioned) "grain" in(to) the world of
> > digital B&W capture? So
> > > far I haven't come across a software solution that
> > can emulate the
> > > special aesthetical quality of high-speed-film
> > grain.
> > 
> 
> 
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