February
26 , 2008
In
This eNewsletter:
How-To - Directional Light: Reveal & Obscure
Industry Perspective - The Changing Face of Photography
What's New This Month - Lexar, Sony, Kodak, Adobe, and SanDisk
Commentary - Digital Black and White
Vote! - Will
you base your purchasing decision on how “smart” the camera
might be?
Workshops & Contests - Learn and Show
Shutterbug Forums - Your
Photo & Digital Imaging Source
Directional
Light: Reveal & Obscure
by George Schaub
Think of how
stage lighting adds to the drama of the scene or how a painting by Rembrandt
or Vermeer uses light in ways that draw the eye into and through the frame.
In every visual and many performing arts the use of bright and dark values
play an important role. In photography, the play of light creates the
illusion of volume, defines space and forms and can even tell us about
the season, the weather and time of day the picture was made. Photography,
which literally means “writing with light”, uses light to
reveal, but at times to also obscure detail for the benefit of the visual
impact of the scene.
Get
The Full Story
There
are a number of matters at the heart of black and white photography
that have changed, or at least should be looked at in a new light.
For example, I always considered density (exposure plus development)
as the arbiter of contrast and tonality; now I appreciate the incredible
malleability of the information in the codes that make up a digital
image. I had always thought that using larger format film equaled
better quality prints, with more detail and greater magnification
potential; now I consider pixel resolution, resampling and perhaps
most importantly, bit depth as my criteria for enlargeability. My
processing and printing regimen always included so-called archival
processes; now I have found printing systems and ink/paper combinations
that rival and sometimes surpass even the most archivally processed
silver print materials in terms of longevity and fade-resistance.
I would often struggle making decent prints from color images. Software
programs now have numerous controls for converting color to monochrome
with user-controlled input or various presets for any “look”
I desire. Indeed, the very nature of the digital camera image—RGB—lends
itself to custom “conversions”, which can emulate the
effect of placing color filters over the lens as you work.
