Jeff Spirer wrote:
At 10:20 AM 5/29/2006, Charles Dias wrote:
The biggest problem is that in this war we, consumers, are the real
losers.
I don't agree with this at all. There's been a huge shift in where
the control lies, but that doesn't mean it's a loss.
For example, I have a wider choice of paper for printing than was ever
available. I can print on watercolor paper, which previously required
the fairly unreliable and barely controllable and tedious process of
applying liquid light to watercolor paper. And it was a lot more
costly too. I can print color in my small home. I couldn't do that
before. I can print on Japanese rice paper. And I can print 4x6
photos on-site, which is a huge advantage on the business side. And I
can manipulate photos, especially color photos, in ways which were
impossible or difficult in the darkroom.
I too live in a small home that was shared with one wife and four
children and I had a darkroom in the basement. I had a film drying
cabinet and a print dryer. I printed color from negatives and from slides.
It has been quite a while since I printed my photos from film, but
weren't there plates that were used to add textures to the paper when it
was in the dryer?
Printing photos on site can be an advantage but why limit to 4X6? A
friend was selling 8X10s to owners of hot rods and classics on site.
Manipulation, IMO, takes us out of the realm of photography and into
digital art in some cases. Not necessarily a bad thing, just a
different thing. At a camera club meeting we had a photo editor from
the local newspaper as a speaker. During the Q&A session this was
brought up. She told us of a photo of a military pilot taken at the
annual air show by one of her PJs. His refection was in the pilot's
visor. He said he could remove it with Photoshop. She explained that
she wanted a photo not a digital image. He went back and reshot the
story. Would anyone that read the article know, or care? Probably not,
but she was the boss.
The only really big advantage to digital photography, IMO, is you don't
get into arguments going through security checkpoints at the airport. I
have a roll of Kodak 3200 B&W film that has never been exposed but often
used.
Bob
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