Digital BW, The Print

It isn't any easier than anything else. When photography came along
people thought it could make them instant artists; it didn't. When
digital output came along people thought it would make them instantly
creative art printmakers, it won't anymore than the old chemical days.
You have to put in years like he said to be really good, and some
people don't have what it takes even after many years. I know
photographers who still can't see color well after decades of hard
work, while other students see it very quickly. Black and white is
even more difficult.

As for high-end printmaking, most people can't do it anymore than
someone who has the cash on hand to buy a great jazz guitar will make
them a concert quality musician. I can tell you exactly what you need
to buy and what you need to read to be a musican, but that won't
produce the art. You many have it or you may not. There are no
shortcuts no matter what the Epson ads tell you. There is no manual to
tell you how to think visually, only technically.

John




--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, hogarth@... wrote:
>
> 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
>