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| *SoulEyes Photography>>>Digital Photography |
In this age of digital everything I still do conventional photography, film, darkroom etc... Anyone else here? |
Just wondering how many others work in traditional photography. I do have a digital camera, but it's just not my thing. I do have a degree in photography from the 1970's. I'm not switching any time soon, however I don't consider myself a total dinosaur. I am one of the many film photographers who has adopted a so-called hybrid workflow. I shoot film and either develop it myself(black and white), or have a lab develop it(color). I then scan the negatives or slides, adjust them in photoshop(adjust, not manipulate), and either print them on an inkjet or have Frontier lab print them on real photo paper. I have a huge amount of appreciation for a well-done optical print, but it's getting harder to find people who know how to do them right, especially with color. Since it's so much easier to get quality digital prints these days, I figure that I'm better off at least taking control of part of the process and doing the scanning and correcting myself. I never have learned how to print black and white in the darkroom, but do plan on committing myself to it one of these days. I actually already have a decent medium format enlarger with a 50mm lens. Before I can use it at all, though, I need to track negative carriers(for both 35mm and 6x6) as well as a longer lens for printing medium format. I'll get around to that one of these days, though. I also have a huge amount of equipment that cost less total than a single high-end DSLR. In 35mm, I have a Canon F-1, two F-1Ns, an FTb, an A-1, AE-1, and a T90. For lenses, I have a 20mm 2.8, 24mm f2, 50mm 1.4(x2), 100mm 2.8, 100mm Macro, 135mm f2, 200mm 2.8, and 400mm 4.5, all of which are excellent lenses. For medium format, I have two Rolleicords and a Rolleiflex. All three are incredible, and the resolution of a 6x6 slide taken with an excellent camera and lens easily tops anything but a medium-format based digital camera. Besides the huge investment in film equipment, one of my other most compelling reasons is that I just like the look I get from film. Unlike digital noise, which is ugly, film grain looks very natural to me and, especially in certain images, can be very pleasing. I can't see film going away any time soon, especially not larger formats of film. Looking through a current copy of Outdoor Photographer at the doctor's office the other day, despite the fact that all the babble was about digital, virtually all of the full page spreads were taken on 4x5 or larger film. Arizona Highways still requires a minimum of medium format and preferably 4x5 for nearly 90% of their magazine content. i know people I absolutely love working in the darkroom but haven't done it for ages since getting rid of all my equipment a long time ago. I really miss it, there's so much 'craft' involved; I hate the way that anyone with a digital camera and a pc thinks they're David Bailey now!! There's nothing like watching your images appear in the chemicals, tweaking them and making test strip after test strip under those red lights!! May sound a bit sad (and jeez, I'm making myself feel old!!) but there's so much more creative input when you're in the darkroom. Somehow photoshop just doesn't measure up!! Ricky, you are a dinosaur. Digital imaging is not only the future but, it is currently the present. It will stay this way. Digital imaging used to take a back seat to film when it came to capturing a subject in motion. No longer, fstop features have improved greatly in digital cameras, now they capture motion as well if not better than film. Also, there are a bunch of websites devoted to digital imaging photography. I worked for a company back in '99 that was in the business of supporting digital photographers. The company is Express Digital. They have a website, photoreflect.com that lets you send all your digital images to them, then if you sign up, you can make a storefront with their website, and sell your photo's to anyone in the world. You can't do that with film. Digital photography is the future, if you want to be a photographer in the future, you will have to make friends with digital imaging Check out these websites Expressdigital.com photoreflect.com I do it the old fashion way. And I agree with you. It's not my thing. There is just something about film that I love. Chances are that I'll end up switching to digital eventually. But I will still love film. My husband and me find it a great fun but also a serious work. We've just recently got some really old equipment and it is so cool and a lot of our friends want to come to see and try to develop some photos. It is exciting and there is no reason for thinking that we will die out so soon - artist who do oil on canvas still exist! I have both a film and digital camera and take images with both. I do not have my own darkroom, so anything I take on film I have to take to the PRO photolab. Each technology still has it's place. I was just reading an article in Outdoor Photographer, where the expedition was out in the deserts of Afghanistan and for 2 weeks they would be without electricity or in limited contact. The only feasible way for the assignment to be completed was to use a film SLR. As my dad used to say, use the right tool for the job. |
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