Digital BW, The Print

In a message dated 8/21/2005 2:44:54 PM Pacific Daylight Time,  
DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com writes:

What is  a "Trix-Droop" applied to the curve?
 
Back when I was doing film curves, using Phil Davis' excellent curve  
plotting software and a MacBeth densitometer, I finally understood Tri-X's  unique 
characteristic. It had a long toe (took forever to get to Dmin of the  film, and 
the shoulder was usually beyond the range of most papers at the high  end. 
BUT the middle was saggy. IOW, the contrast in the highlights was higher  than 
in the shadows.
 
Fred Picker used to complain to me that he had to always dodge his Zone VI  
flesh tones in a print to make them look right. This was because of the  
depressed midtones from the sag, but I don't think he ever did a curve on Tri-X.  
Neither of the Tmaxes had a droop like Tri-X, which, for many things, is a  
desirable characteristic. Snow and beach photos come to mind, which, in my prior  
description, was a beach scene. When the wet sand was a little darker, the 
water  and rocks looked better. the print had a "richer" look. the only thing I 
didn't  do is change to the spectral response of Tri-X, which is also different 
from  Tmax.
 
With the understanding of analog film characteristics, one can do a better  
job in the digital world sometimes. I'm glad to see most of the Art schools  
teaching large format B&W as part of their curriculum. Nothing give one a  
gut-feel understanding of photography like view cameras and silver film. Then  they 
are ready for digital.
 
Claude







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