5:00 PM
It's a light machine
A RAW file is, quite literally, nothing.
gns
Well-known
You can store it, move it, retrieve it, manipulate it, output it in various ways, so it must be something.
Cool thread, through.
Gary
5:00 PM
It's a light machine
What I mean is that unlike a negative, a RAW file has no direct relationship to the final image/output. It's not a "digital negative." If it is something, it's something far less than a negative.
charjohncarter
Veteran
I remember reading that future archaeologists will wonder why in 1995 everybody stopped taking pictures.
Sparrow
Veteran
Sparrow
Veteran
This was Frame #40. Looks like HCB's was #39? Late roll keepers
(Website link) "...The world's most famous negative. Korda used a Leica M2 with a 90 mm lens and Kodak Plus-X film. The famous image was captured on frame number 40."
... I always thought the famous Che image was a crop of a group shot.
mbisc
Silver Halide User
Joe Rosenthal
Flag raising on Iwo Jima, Feb. 23, 1945
Speed Graphic
4x5 negative
Interesting image -- maybe it's illustrating my ignorance, but I find it interesting that this 4x5 negative is rectangular, rather than the roughly "T-shape" produced by modern film holders -- when did that change happen, and how was the film held flat in those old holders?
bfffer
Established
impressive!!!
Harry Lime
Practitioner
From what I have read many of HCB's negatives are a nightmare to print. It sounds like the exposure was sometimes off by a few stops. There was an exhibit a few years back at the Getty and they had a few of his prints. I was surprised to see how technically mediocre many where. A lot of them looked 'chalky', like the printer had tostruggled with an over/under exposed negative. Many were also slightly out of focus.
Harry Lime
Practitioner
gns
Well-known
^ It doesn't have the typical film holder masking around the edges. Maybe it is a dupe of some kind, but the envelope says, "Original".
Harry Lime
Practitioner
charjohncarter
Veteran
From what I have read many of HCB's negatives are a nightmare to print. It sounds like the exposure was sometimes off by a few stops. There was an exhibit a few years back at the Getty and they had a few of his prints. I was surprised to see how technically mediocre many where. A lot of them looked 'chalky', like the printer had tostruggled with an over/under exposed negative. Many were also slightly out of focus.
Well, at least I'm not the only one that thinks that his negatives may be lacking.
Harry Lime
Practitioner
mbisc
Silver Halide User
The "personal safety neg"-part would make sense then.
What I mean with T-Shape is demonstrated here (a contact print of one of my negs). It clearly shows the edges, and the absence thereof at the top-right and top-left of the print:
Qutb Minar - Alai Darwaza by nbg90455, on Flickr
zauhar
Veteran
I find it comforting that someone with his genius and experience still had trouble keeping exposure and focus perfect while pursuing candid shots!
Randy
SimonSawSunlight
Simon Fabel
or maybe it didn't and still doesn't matter all that much...
telenous
Well-known
Fascinating thread, thanks for starting it.
It's interesting, you can (just) make out the retouched thumb of the mother as it's wrapped around the pole (bottom left corner as you look the negative - the index finger was left untouched). When looking at the positive it's well nigh impossible to see it. Very fine retouching needlework.
.
Dorothea Lange
Migrant Mother, Nipomo, Calif. Mar. 1936
Graflex RB (?)
4x5 negative
It's interesting, you can (just) make out the retouched thumb of the mother as it's wrapped around the pole (bottom left corner as you look the negative - the index finger was left untouched). When looking at the positive it's well nigh impossible to see it. Very fine retouching needlework.
.
f16sunshine
Moderator
Maybe his "sloppiness" in things technical allowed him to be more prolific by ... pushing the shutter release at that right moment rather than, twiddling the exposure controls or focus ring.
The pursuit of technical perfection was never as easy as it is today.
I still often miss the perfect moment even with the "latest and greatest" gear to be had.
gho
Well-known
+1 !