Digital BW, The Print

On 11/26/2013 09:42 PM, Paul Roark wrote:

> Our carbon prints should be well up to the task.  Protect them from
> physical damage and make copies of the best.  I use mylar sleeves for
> prints that are not displayed under glass or acrylic.
>
> One of the things we hear all too regularly is that family photos were
> lost in a fire.  I keep at least one backup drive in a bank box.  I've
> heard some recommend copy prints with relatives.  Taking advantage of
> the cloud storage may be a good place to have copies of images off-site.
>
> I don't worry much about preserving special, proprietary layers, or
> whatever.  For archiving, I think a flattened Tiff is our best bet.  I
> do try to keep one that is as "original" as possible for important
> images.  If I have a good 16 bit Tiff version of my raw file that is not
> clipped, sharpened or otherwise manipulated in a destructive way, I
> probably have enough original information saved to re-create my final
> image even if the raw file (also saved) can't be opened 20 years from now.
>
> Paul
> www.PaulRoark.com <http://www.PaulRoark.com>

Paul,

Is there not something in returning to the original, whether RAW or 
film, and process, edit again with newer tools and another view on the 
subject? You once remarked that limited editions should not imply that 
print sizes are set or another expression of content impossible. I can 
understand the preservation of the original and saving the long hours of 
editing for a good print but also admire the idea that not all is set in 
stone. Not to mention that we often changed printers within 5 years 
periods that asked for edits if the print had to be identical to the 
first print made. I like the idea of more piggy back files from more RAW 
developers on one RAW file and keep that total functional in time where 
possible. It would surprise me if RAW files can not be opened in 20 
years time even when some RAW developer programs may not survive another 
OS upgrade. There is an evolution in the quality of RAW developers that 
could lead to a new edit on old RAWs, just for the quality. More editing 
can be done within the RAW phase than was possible in the past.

-- 
Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst Dinkla

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
December 2012: 500+ inkjet media paper white spectral plots.