Digital BW, The Print

Thanks, Tom. What you wrote makes sense. It makes even moresense since 
I was asked about $80 per print and per scan at a local service 
bureau. I guess I'm better off either buying a 4x5 film scanner or 
waiting to see if the publisher will do it.
JMF

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Historic Photo 
Archive <tom@h...> wrote:
> 
> My personal opinion is that silver fiber prints look better than 
inkjets,
> all other things being equal and working from top quality negatives 
(in
> other words, the silver print itself has a better appearance).  
Having said
> that, if the output is to be inkjet and publication scans, you will 
get a
> better look by scanning the negative in hi-bit mode (16 bit). The 
negative
> scan will give you more tonal range to work with.
> 
> dodging/burning with the history erase in high bit mode, although 
time
> consuming, yields inkjet print and publication scans that have 
noticeably
> improved definition in the shadow and highlight values, compared to 
darkroom
> prints.  The ability to dodge and burn by changing midtone slider 
gamma on
> any section of the image can produce outstanding aesthetic quality 
that can
> only be achieved in the darkroom with masks at least, if not pin
> registration masks.
> 
> Prints made in the darkroom for publication or scanning are usually 
a bit
> soft in contrast and have almost no pure blacks or whites, whereas 
darkroom
> prints made for exhibition usually have as much pop in them as 
possible.  So
> a third option exists, which is making a set of prints in the 
darkroom for
> drum scanning.  If you lack the ability to personally do high-bit 
dodging
> and burning on a scan in the computer, this would probably give you 
the best
> result.  Often now the scanning for coffee table books is done in 
Hong Kong
> or elsewhere and you don't have hands-on access through the process. 
 By
> making publication 8x10s I had excellent results in both tri-tone 
and
> halftone books.
> 
> Probably one of the persons who is going to be most interested in 
this
> discussion is the book designer.  Get their name and number from 
your
> publisher, go to the library and see a few other things they have 
done, and
> then call the book designer to come up with the best strategy.  
Designers
> are very individualistic, and each publisher has an existing 
pipeline, and
> what would be best for one may be different for another.
> 
> good luck
> Tom Robinson