Digital BW, The Print

CDTobie@... wrote:

>
> Does anyone really want to tell me that it will require years of 
> experience and experimentation to get a system that will take a good 
> B&W image in screen, and make a large, gallery quality, archival print 
> from it?

It depends on how you define "good" and "gallery quality" I think. If 
you are implying that anyone can rip an image onto paper and take it 
their local gallery and get it accepted, then yes, I'll tell you that it 
takes years of experience and experimentation to get to that stage. In 
that, digital printing doesn't differ from darkroom printing in any 
meaningful way.

It's not the quality of the print that makes them say "yes." It's the 
quality of the image.

Now, if you have a gallery quality image, you still have to get a print 
that supports the image. It is not as easy as pushing a button. It does 
take a fair amount of work, no matter what your methodology is. The 
reason is that galleries aren't interested in "good." They are instead 
interested in exceptional. And you aren't going to get there without a 
fair amount of work to understand the process so that you can make it do 
what you want. And in this too, digital printing doesn't differ from 
darkroom printing in any meaningful way.
--
Bruce Watson