> Exhibition Fiber (Fibre? <g>) is extremely well suited for black and white.
> While I don't wish to stir up the savage Iowans on the list, it has been said
> by far more talented people than I that EF paper so closely emulates silver
> gelatin that in the hands of a accomplished printer using the right kind of
> file, it is indistinguishable from silver gel except to the most highly
> trained eye--and, of course, our resident savage Iowan. <again, g> As a rule
> I don't try to make my b&w files emulate what could be found on an enlarger
> easel. If I wanted to do that, I'd just go back to a wet darkroom and do it
> properly. However, I do sometimes use the film emulation feature of Silver
> Effex Pro, but then I go and mess with sliders and stuff and somewhat defeat
> the purpose.
>
> All of that said, it's fun, and my fingers don't smell at the end of the day.
> At least they don't smell like fixer. <wink>
You said something in there that reveals a truth that most people
ignore. And that's that you don't emulate a darkroom print, but make
the best B&W print for the image you have. Source files, just like
negs, have their characteristics which make them better for certain
kinds of processing and output. A 35mm Tri-X negative will produce an
entirely different image than a 4x5 Tmax 100 negative and a converted
image from a D800e. Instead of forcing the square pegs into round
holes, it's better to exploit the squareness of the pegs and interpret
the image accordingly.
Because of this, I can almost always tell the source and technology
used for a B&W print because the entire imaging chain, from
determining exposure before the picture is taken to the final print,
is different. The output media is only a part of the equation. Yes, I
can tell what the physical media is through knowing what it isn't.
Does that make sense? Saying it a different way, I can tell when an
image isn't printed on chemical/silver output because I look for
certain flaws that I know all too well. If I don't see those flaws, I
start looking for other telltails.
There! I said it. Analog is flawed.
Happy?
--
Ken Norton
ken@xxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.zone-10.com
--
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