Digital BW, The Print

Thanks, I get it.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Hogarth Hughes" <hogarth@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, November 28, 2004 2:51 PM
Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Re: Tonal range recording



B. Campbell wrote:

> "Yet, if you do a good scan and
> set your black and white points well, you get a full range scan with
> beautiful tonality from darkest shadows to brightest highlights. This
> scan prints fairly easily on an inkjet printer, without blown out
> highlights (which are virtually undefined in this workflow)."
>
> Everything you say here makes sense. But I have a couple questions.
> What do
> you mean by "set your black and white points well?" I would have thought
> that if the shadows are placed on Zone III in your example so that the
> flower falls on Zone XI with normal development, then there wouldn't
> be much
> choice in how you place the black and white points if the goal is to
> print
> with texture/detail in both the shadows and the highlights.



What I do is to set my black point to "film base + fog" so that I get
every bit if information I can from the film. White point is set just
beyond the Dmax of the image. IOW, I don't clip either end. This usually
means that I have to use the levels control in Photoshop to fine tune
the image because I end up with a few empty levels on either end. These
I just chop off. I do this in Photoshop because it allows finer control
than my scanner software. You might be able to set your white and black
points exactly where they need to be with your scanner software though.

The point is, don't clip the image data in scanning.

> Second, what do
> you mean when you say the highlights are "virtually undefined in this
> workflow"? I thought the whole point of what you're saying here is
> that the
> negative actually contains texture and detail in zones well above Zone
> VII
> (which is correct, you can actually get up into Zones XIII or even XIV
> and
> still see some tonal separation in the negative) and that textire and
> detail
> can be brought out in the print without minus development when you
> scan and
> print digitally. So why are the highlights "virtually undefined" in this
> workflow?



Not highlights. *Blown out* highlights. If I didn't make that clear in
my post, I apologize.

Blown out highlights in traditional photo papers are just analog
clipping. If your scan isn't clipped, your print won't be either,
assuming that you didn't cook the film to the point that it can't cope
either (I've done that by mistake, and it's and ugly sight ;-)









Please visit the Group Homepage to check the Files, and other resources as
they are often being updated.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint

If you wish to receive no emails or just a daily digest, or you wish to
unsubscribe, please edit your Membership preferences by visiting this same
page.

Please follow these basic guidelines:
- As threads develop, trim off excess portions of earlier messages to keep
them short.
- Good manners are required at all time. No personal attacks or flames.
Hostile, aggressive or argumentative users may be removed from the
membership without notice.
- Keep your posts and threads related to the group topic of digital B&W
printing. Users who persistently make off-topic posts may be removed from
the membership.
- By posting on this forum you agree to abide by the group rules and
guidelines, and to abide by the actions and decisions of the group Owner and
Moderators. See "Group Topic, Rules and Guidelines" in the Files section:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint/files/

BY PARTICIPATING IN AND/OR POSTING MESSAGES TO THE DIGITAL BW, THE PRINT
YAHOO! GROUP YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT THE "OWNER" AND
"MODERATORS" OF DIGITAL BW, THE PRINT YAHOO GROUP SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU
FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY
DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS,
GOODWILL, USE, DATA OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES (EVEN IF THE  "OWNER" AND
"MODERATORS" OF DIGITAL BW, THE PRINT YAHOO GROUP HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE
POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES), RESULTING FROM: (i) THE USE OR THE INABILITY
TO USE THE DIGITAL BW, THE PRINT YAHOO GROUP; (ii) UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR
ALTERATION OF YOUR TRANSMISSIONS OR DATA; (iii) STATEMENTS OR CONDUCT OF ANY
THIRD PARTY ON THE DIGITAL BW, THE PRINT YAHOO GROUP; OR (iv) ANY OTHER
MATTER RELATING TO THE DIGITAL BW, THE PRINT YAHOO GROUP.

Yahoo! Groups Links