Poll: Isn't Printing the Greatest Thing?

Poll: Isn't Printing the Greatest Thing?

  • Absolutely !!!!

    Votes: 461 76.6%

  • It's okay, but I hate the chemicals.

    Votes: 41 6.8%

  • No, it's just something you have to do.

    Votes: 26 4.3%

  • Forget about it -- I'm all-digital now.

    Votes: 74 12.3%
  • Total voters
    602
mbisc

mbisc

Silver Halide User
Local time
1:28 PM
Joined
Mar 3, 2006
Messages
666
Just to get this area rolling, a quick poll question: when you put your new print in the developer and see the picture "pop" at you after 30 or so seconds, isn't that the greatest thing on the planet? Let me know why or why not:)
 
I love printing but it is so slow.... I've been having a hard time finding the time, and I honestly have trouble getting in the groove. Once I'm there, though, it is magic.
 
I used to love printing as well, but I never had my own home printing darkroom. I always used a school or rentals, so it took a lot of time to get going and I was always at the mercy of the lab, regarding which enlarger or lens I'd end up with or the folks I was printing with, or the chemicals, etc. Those days are over for me. About as far as I'm willing to go back into it is making contact sheets, or working with some alt-process. I'm not technically "All Digital" but definitely all digital from the perspective of this thread. I love scanning MY personal work and using PS (though I'm nowhere near mastering it), so the digital darkroom it is for me. That's my selection.
 
to me it finishes the process. Not wet printing my film was always like making a chair out of fine wood, then covering it in stick-on vinyl instead of finishing it properly.
 
40oz said:
to me it finishes the process. Not wet printing my film was always like making a chair out of fine wood, then covering it in stick-on vinyl instead of finishing it properly.
Click to expand...
Great anology! I like to get my hands into things, the computer just seems so cold. :cool:
 
I don't miss all the chemicals one teensy bit. Of course that may be because I spent years in darkrooms making all sorts of uninteresting hi contrast enlargements to be used as backgrounds for charts and graphs, but I also spent a good portion of my younger days in our home darkroom.

Like I said, I really don't miss it a bit. But that doesn't mean it should go away or that folks who love it shouldn't continue, just that I really prefer my digital workflow at age 56!
 
we're sculpting with light

we're sculpting with light

It really is sculpture- the negative is the die, the paper the blank- we play with the light as it hits the paper-
 
It's good fun and very much an art. I continue to learn every time I use my darkroom. But I will admit that I don't like setting up my darkroom if I only have contact prints to make, the computer is good for that, and is better for organizing them. On the subject of scanning negs, either from the supermarket scanner (which should capable) or my own flatbed effort: It is amazing how much detail missed in a scan can be brought out in a wet print. Particularly in my MF work the detail and tonality of prints is always a surprize to me, and I am only a learner!
 
patrickjames said:
I just can't give up the darkroom. I tried B/W digital printing but even with all of my uber professional profiling equipment and access to just about any printer I want I still couldn't find the quality you can achieve in the darkroom. Digital prints just don't have the magic when you look at them. Color prints on the other hand.....

Patrick
Click to expand...


I agree whole-heartedly on all points. I use digital for color output and for my purposes it great. I don't need or want more than what I can print at home. But for b&w that really pops I wet process.

Bob
 
I do like to use film, but all of my printing is digital. I can do more and better in less time in a digital darkroom. In fact, I can take a so-so photo and really make it sing with digital post-processing and printing. I could probably do the same thing with a chemical dark room, but it would take forever and cost a fortune to do it over and over until it comes out just right. Plus, there are some things I would like to do in a chemical dark room that I just don't have the skills for. They can be done with a flick of a button or slider in a digital dark room.

I am sure this is one reason that "purists" dislike digital - it has caused the commoditization of photography. You can be a mediocre photographer and so-so post-processor and turn out very good pictures digitally; whereas, you would have to be a near-master to do the same with film and chemicals. I routinely make what I consider great balck-and-whites digitally that would be far beyond my reach chemically.


T.
 
I do it 'cause I love the tactile quality of the whole process. From bulk loading the cassettes, to composing, to exposing, to souping and finally the whole process of printing.
I sit in front of a computer all day, go to meetings, discuss problems and solutions and catch up with a CrackBerry. Darkroom printing is my break from it all. I get to set up my chemistry, plug in my MP3 player and use my brain and hands to create something. It's tactile. As an added bonus, it's very inexpensive to do.

Just my thoughts,
Kent
 
I totaly love wet printing, but maybe its just the fixxer that's gotten me hooked :rolleyes:

Tuolumne said:
I am sure this is one reason that "purists" dislike digital - it has caused the commoditization of photography. You can be a mediocre photographer and so-so post-processor and turn out very good pictures digitally; whereas, you would have to be a near-master to do the same with film and chemicals. I routinely make what I consider great balck-and-whites digitally that would be far beyond my reach chemically.


T.
Click to expand...

I totally agree with you, I have loads of friends who produce great/nice work digitally but they've never learned it ' wet'..
Somehow I tend to feel superior, whilst that shouldn't be cause It should be all about the end results now shouldn't it?
 
fidget said:
It's good fun and very much an art. I continue to learn every time I use my darkroom. But I will admit that I don't like setting up my darkroom if I only have contact prints to make,
Click to expand...
I used to work in a B&W lab. We only did B&W.
All my home darkrooms never had h2o. I had to set up the trays all the times even for contact sheets. Then I had to make some prints just so I don't let the developer get wasted.

Now, I have a 16x20 Nova with Ansco 130 as my standard developer. I go in, make contacts, make prints, and I barely have to do much clean up. Its always ready. And with Ansco 130, it lasts forever!
 
I voted "absolutely" but it is only true for B&W. I used to also do my own color printing, both RA and Cibachrome, but I find that with scanning and PS I get better color prints than I ever could from my darkroom work. To get the same popping pictures in the darkroom I would spend hours making contrast masks and try various filter settings. I am thankful that digital processing of slide and print film is possible today.

B&W is another story - there is still something magical about the entire process in the darkroom. From dodging and burning, to finally seeing the print appear in the soup!
 
Of course !

Of course !

It sure is something completely different than messing around with a digital file on the PC. I not at all experienced with Photoshop, so I can't judge here but diving into this learning curve - there is no joy for me in that. Totally different with a wet darkroom. I don't have a darkroom currently and used to have a friend (professinal photog) with a fully loaded studio and dev. equipement. Everything permanently set up and in perfect condition.
It was a real joy to print myself, I never ever experienced this level of quality from a lab. Unless you stand next to the guy and giving instruction no one will ever know your intentions/ expectations. You feel of contrast and framing. If you've never been there ... poor guy/girl. I'm missing it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom