Digital BW, The Print

Richard,

I study with a master photographer in the Boston area. Two of 
his books contain spectacular images of flowers and other plants. 
Though he usually shoots with an 8x10 view camera, he manipulates 
each of these images in Photoshop. Sometimes he merely "helps" 
the image by increasing the saturation or doing a little cloning, 
and other times he alters them considerably. His publisher either 
did not ask or did not care that he had altered the images in 
Photoshop, rather than in a darkroom or with filters on his lenses, 
and neither (since he makes a good part of his living doing direct 
print sales) do the people who buy his prints. Perhaps he is 
the exception, but he says he has had much more financial success 
and recognition in the last several years, during which he has 
been using a computer to process and alter his images, than he 
did in his many previous years processing images in a darkroom.

He is not selling to the photographer community. For instance, 
his books, when I went looking for them, were actually in the 
gardening section of Borders Books.

When he displays his images in galleries, they are identified 
as inkjet prints, but that's it. No further qualification asked, 
at least at the galleries I've seen his work shown. Were he asked, 
I'm quite sure he'd readily describe how he did whatever he did. 
But the images are so good, why, as Jerry pointed out, would 
anyone care?

So, I don't know who you have been talking to, but your mileage 
and his have apparently varied widely.  

- David

= = = Original message = = =

Wednesday, September 18, 2002, 3:25:02 PM, Jerry Olson wrote:

JO> Why on earth would you need that info displayed?

JO> When's the last time you saw a silver print with the note 
that it was made
JO> on Oriental seagull grade 3 paper with heavy burning and 
dodging?
JO> Developed in straight Dektol... Overdeveloped 2 minutes to 
get added
JO> contrast... Yellow filter over the lens.... unsharp mask 
applied in the
JO> darkroom... Archivally washed,
JO> and Selenium toned for deeper blacks...

All excellent points. And most buyers, for whatever reason, would 
not
care about those processes used as you outline them above. Whether
dues to misunderstanding, acceptance, ignorance, I don't know.

JO> I present my work as a fine art print. Details don't matter, 
unless the
JO> purchaser of the print asks.

But mention to a prospective buyer that you pumped up the color 
by
using saturation controls in PS, or by using a color enhancing 
filter
and it WOULD matter to many, many more people.

Do not ask me why.  Ask the general non-photographer public. 
 But it
does.  And that's my point.

What we, within the photographic-artist group, feel/debate/discuss
amongst ourselves is one thing. How people perceive these newer
processes and the application of them, is another. Should it 
matter?
Is there a real difference when it all boils down? Perhaps not. 
But
the perception out there amongst others, which I have found when
talking to people, is that there is.

Best regards,
 Richard  

mailto:richard@...


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