--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "wangalb"
<leica_phile@h...> wrote:
> Hi Digital BW folks,
>
> I'm Alfie Wang, a 25-yr. old street/documentary photog who has
>become a lot more interested in digital b and w. I used to be a
>die hard traditionalist and thought that digital shooting and
>printing was a joke. However, my attitude totally changed when I
>saw some grand prints by G. Plantigina (look photovillage.com
>gallery for examples) and the Leica shots looked stunning
>when I went there in person. I was stunned. The range of
>tonality and shadow details were captured beatifully. ;)
Welcome aboard, Alfie. You'll find a lot of people here with a lot of
different approaches toward the same goal, and bouncing ideas
of one another (sometimes a bit vigorously - one day it's beach
ball, another day dodge ball;-). You'll learn a lot.
>My head got a change instead. I've decided to try out inkjet
>printer of b and w prints. I plan to get a Epson C80 to start off
>some test prints and next year I will make the full change into B
>and W piezography using a Epson 1280 or 2200 (once Jon
>Cone gets the profiles for the printer 2200 model).
Sounds like a plan, although I mightn't hold my breath too long
as far as Cone's plans for the 2200, which is a fairly
sophisticated beast to tweak (although Colorbyte seems to be
picking up steam with it's profile work...I'd keep an eye on them,
though I have no plans for putting a 2200 into my setup for the
time being)
> I even decided to add digital shooting in addition to my
>shooting with Leicas and Nikons. A Nikon Coolpix 775 does a
>very reasonable job in my opinion and for me, the method of
>shooting isn't as important as the ability to print what you see or
>desire to see ;)...
Digital cameras don't really interest me (had a hilarious session
with a Canon EOS 1D a short while back, though - let's just say it
was "interesting"), but for you, having the 775 in addition to your
other gear should work nicely - another arrow in the quiver, so to
speak. There are also people on the list who have been doing
quite a bit of work with the new Nikon D100 and Canon D60,
among others, and have reported satisfying results.
> so I have a few questions here:
>
> 1) Does anyone here use digital cameras and output into
>piezography (preferably Cone's inks I'm more interested in...)?
Not my realm, but others here have, and you should hear from
them shortly. :-)
>2) Which outfits do you shoot with personally? I'm very close to
>thinking about using some Holga shots and doing piezography
>on toy cameras??? A joke perhaps but worthwhile shot...
I don't dig Holgas much either, but they're not a "joke" - I know
several people who have put on one-person exhibits of work
done solely with Holgas, and damn good work to my eye.
As for my own work, for the last 25 years I've only shot 35mm,
and now only with rangefinders (Konica Hexar RF system as of
this year, for the record).
> 3) What perked your interested in digital black and white
printing?
My interest in digital color printing as of three years ago, when I
bought my first film scanner (a used Nikon CoolScan LS-10) first
decent color inkjet printer (Epson Stylus Photo 1200), and first
CD burner (which I knew I'd need, given the big files I'd be
generating in short order). Later on, I read some curious articles
in Camera Arts magazine about this weird thing call Quadtone
black-and-white. Then I fell through the looking glass...
>4) What made you switch from silver halide based processes
>to digital?
On the "output" side, I didn't "switch"...since I had no space at the
time for a conventional darkroom, this simply came across as a
viable alternative. Now that I have the space I'll be setting up a
simple b/w darkroom for occasional work.
As for the "image capture" side, see above answer to (2)
>5) Why do die-hard traditionalists object to digital black and
>white prints? Tonality range? Shadow detail blockage? etc.
>etc.?
I think people have different reasons. Some have issues with
tonality and shadow detail (remember, digital b/w is practically a
zygote on the developmental scale compared to silver and other
processes, but making amazing progress nonetheless). Some
simply prefer to work with conventional methods because they're
accusomed to them, know their way around them, and know how
to get the most out of them (which is why I stick to 35mm - not
beacue it's "better" than any other film/filmless medium, but
because I know it like the back of my hand). I like the
conventional darkroom process a lot, but I also love the results I
get from the desktop, given the proper attention and care.
>Thanks for your help and I look forward to working and learning
>(more of that) from the intelligent folks here who are more
>experienced than I am!
Stick around, the fun's only starting!
- Barrett