On Mon, August 23, 2010 00:19, Andrew Sharpe wrote: > Good point. I occasionally do some dodging and burning (with the > dodge/burn tool), but only if my original exposure was a bit off, or if > something is a bit distracting in the image. I do not have Ansel Adams' > touch with the zone system, n-1 and n+1 developing, or his dodging and > burning skills, and I have not really tried to duplicate these methods > with photoshop. Not yet retired, I have only the time to learn > composition, design, light and exposure. My "darkroom" skills are > limited, but that forces me to take the time when I photograph to make > the best picture I can. I shoot with only old manual primes (except when > traveling), and believe me, that slows you down. I was probably a middling decent B&W darkroom printer (I certainly didn't have the speed to be professional). Dodging and burning were important even for snapshot album pictures. I also used selective development of the print sometimes to achieve effects similar to burning in. Not for every picture, but most. Shooting in 35mm, I didn't do the altered-processing side of the zone system much. I pushed a lot of film, though (and have a D700 now, for the high ISO performance). I still use the 50, 35, and 24mm lenses I got in the early 1980s, but less and less. I ditched the 105 some time ago, and the zooms from that long ago. The 24-70/2.8 zoom covers that range, only a stop slower. The nice thing about curves layers with layer masks is that you can alter either the mask or the curve later very easily; and once you get it right, it stays there, and each print comes out the same. (Yeah, I know collectors who don't like that. Sorry, guys.) This makes dodging and burning almost solely an intellectual task, with very little physical component. Which suits me better personally. Also I can try the curve first with a VERY rough mask (the mask being what takes time) to see if it's going to be anything right, and not spend the time on a GOOD mask until I know it will do what I want. I've been spending variable amounts of time on photography since I was, oh, 8 years old. Semi-seriously since I was 12 (when I got my mother's old 35mm rangefinder camera). Not retired yet, and if I keep spending on photography at this rate I may never be able to. -- David Dyer-Bennet, dd-b@xxxxxxxx; http://dd-b.net/ Snapshots: http://dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/data/ Photos: http://dd-b.net/photography/gallery/ Dragaera: http://dragaera.info
