Digital BW, The Print

On Nov 12, 2007, at 12:43 PM, Lew wrote:

> Pardon the intrusion of a lurker,

Welcome to the list, Lew.


> but could the list recommend a book

There's no official list, Lew, but I learned on this list of the  
books listed below. Check them out on Amazon.com.


> that will take me through the steps of
> producing a bw digital print starting with scanning a silver based  
> negative? I'm a programmer by profession,
> and I have years of experience in a wet darkroom. I'd appreciate  
> anything that explains in terms of gamma,
> contrast, dodging/burning in ... etc... ie traditional, wet  
> darkroom terms & techniques.

In his "The Photographer's Guide to the Digital Darkroom", Bill  
Kennedy covers from scanning to printing, and for color as well as  
for B&W, in 200 pages. It's a good start and after you've read it, it  
will make a nice gift for an interested friend who has less  
experience than you do.

In his "Mastering Digital Black and White: A Photographer's Guide to  
High Quality Black-and-White Imaging and Printing", Amadou Diallo  
also covers from scanning to printing, but only for B&W, and on  
almost twice as many pages, so it treats the process in much greater  
detail and at a higher level. Amadou's book is one in a series, and  
his series editor, Harald Johnson, is both on this list and himself  
the author of several books on digital printing. And one of this  
list's leading lights, Tyler Boley, was Amadou's technical editor.

My guess is that you're going to be disappointed in the extent to  
which digital processing and printing are explained in terms of  
traditional, wet darkroom nomenclature and techniques. But as you go  
along, you can ask about that on this list and be sure of getting  
answers. Don't be shy.

Good luck.
--
Sam