Digital BW, The Print

Ansel wasn't a god. He wasn't perfect, and didn't claim to be. Far from 
it. Why anyone would think he is unerring is beyond me.

Previsualization is a tool that he used to help him decide what to 
photograph, how to expose, and how to process so that he could get a 
print that he liked from a negative that could produce it. I've never 
read that there was a single best print that matched exactly a given 
previsualization. Rather, previsualization is a tool that helps you get 
a negative that you can print in a range of ways around what you 
originally previsualized.

As to the grab shot idea, I would have to say:

"chance favors the prepared mind." -- Louis Pasteur.

Adams was able to successfully make that grab shot because he had been 
using his tools of previsualization and the zone system for quite a 
while and was fully prepared for the scene around the corner. If he 
hadn't previsualized the shot, he probably wouldn't have slammed on the 
brakes and slid to a stop.

But this is conjecture. Pity we can't ask him.
--
Bruce Watson


claudej1@... wrote:

>
> In all fairness to Ansel, Moonrise was a single "grabshot" where he 
> didn't 
> have time to think and pre-visualize as he might have in his other 
> work. He
> also  had to intensify the foreground of the negative to match his 
> vision of the 
> original scene, citing that Moonrise was difficult to print. He talked 
> about
> the  e-printing his work in his later years with a bolder, deeper, 
> darker mood
> and  higher contrast than in his earlier days. So post process 
> "performance"
> of the  score was allowed as "post visualization" in the Zone System. 
> Just
> think of what  would happen  if he had been forced to shoot a Jepeg of 
> the 
> scene!!
>
> In a message dated 6/15/2005 9:15:01 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, 
> DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com writes:
>
> Considering all the various versions of "Moonrise---" that I've seen 
> (printed by AA) I'm not too sure about his unerring  pre-visualization.
>
> Ian
>