Digital BW, The Print

No, it is not HDR, his photos are full range zone system shots.  Look in a library for Ansel Adams book on "The Zone System" then practice what it teaches in Digital.  
Check these links to see a few shots of mine using the zone system with a digital camera, all were single exposures.  Even the darkest ones have all ten zones, they just have a dominant shadow areas.  But they can go the other way also, with more highlight area dominating the image.  It depends on what you like to shoot, what dominates the image in detail.  But, all of these images have all ten zones included in them.  Even when it looks as if shadows dominate.

http://photocamel.com/forum/black-white/87647-sedona-bw.html

http://photocamel.com/forum/black-white/92884-hot-air-balloon.html

http://photocamel.com/forum/black-white/83433-beach-oregon.html

http://photocamel.com/forum/black-white/92881-grand-canyon.html

http://photocamel.com/forum/black-white/92666-arizona.html

http://photocamel.com/forum/black-white/88294-flower-wildlife-image-bw.html

http://photocamel.com/forum/black-white/87911-joshua-tree-national-park-ca.html

Ive been shooting for over 73 years now, most of that time with BW and since attending a seminar with Ansel Adams, using the Zone System.  When he published his book, it made it easier, as I could not remember all he covered in the seminar...

 Ye Ol' Codger    Bob, & Nadine

Over 2000 Photos of our Travels.
http://rjohnston.zenfolio.com/

   







________________________________
From: Jacob <jacob@...>
To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sun, November 15, 2009 6:35:28 AM
Subject: [Digital BW] photos by Jean-Michel Berts

  
In the latest "LensWork" there are pictures of French photographer Jean-Michel Berts. I never heard his name before, never saw his pictures and I'm really impressed by them and puzzled.
The pictures look very unusual - very dark with all details clearly visible. I've scanned one of them just to see the histogram. The histogram is shifted to the left, almost all tones are in the left part but the line goes down right before the left edge so no blacks are clipped.
If you never seen his pictures you can see them here:
http://marcozna. wordpress. com/category/ berts/

Now I'd like to know - how did he do it and how to reproduce this look?
The guy shoots film using zone system - he exposes for shadows and under develops his negatives. I can't do it with digital. Lightroom manipulation don't give this effect.
May be HDRI? 
Also I can't imagine how did he print it - to get such details in the shadows on inkjet printer close to impossible. Probably he makes platinum prints.

What do you think?

Jacob Mann
http://www.photo3dart.com


 

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