Digital BW, The Print

> > I keep experimenting with B/W inkjet printing, and althought
> > they look good upfront, once I pull out one of my good silver-gel
> > print from my archive... the epson MIS on EEM falls flat.
> > 
> 
> I think you are right- an inkjet print isn't the same thing as a fine 
> silver print. To me they are more like an incredibly excellent 
> reproduction of a photograph-like the best photo gravure from the 
> masters of the past.
> As far as digital snaps go-files printed on a Noritsu type machine 
> look more like photos than snaps printed on an epson.
> Color definitely is better on a good ink printer better than any r 
> print-c print- etc.
> Jack

Unfortunately, from what I observed, most people come to B&W digital
printing with the wrong attitude, they think it is a technology meant
to copy or clone traditional silver printing, which it is not. Also
unfortunate is the fact that most efforts are put in the same
direction, how to make a digital print look like what it is not, a
silver print. And I must say, some have been very successful, though
on the wrong track.
There is a paradox, most people acknowledge the fact that an image
from a scanned negative (grain structure is different) or one taken
with a digital camera (shadow detail, sharpness, grain structure,
etc.) looks different then what one would get from a negative enlarged
with an enlarger, still they expect the prints to look the same with
the ones coming from a process involving an enlarger and chemical
processing.
Besides, the best paper (IMHO) for digital printing is Hahnemuhle
photo rag which has a texture and feel and color with no equivalent in
silver printing papers that I know unless you make you own.
What I'm trying to say is, use each technique for its strongest
points, take into consideration the specifics of a technique and use
them to your advantage. The B&W print 'look' that we all know and like
and are nostalgic for, has its power and its magic because over time
we learned how to take advantage of that technique, not by trying to
copy another.


Andu