Are Photographer trying to mimic Painters?

[mrca]

Here's the original out of camera.

I don't post photos often and just realzed I can go between the 2 photos using the lower thumbnail. Reminded me of Ansel's quote, the negative is the score and the print is the performance. Yup, the original has all the notes, but the final has my interpretation, my vision as a traditional painted portrait. This is more than paint by the numbers or a 1 click plug in. Color palette for an image can be chosen, which details are important and left which can be softened and how much, painting with chosen color or image flowing from one of hundreds of brushes, knives with a half dozen modifications for each. It was my first few months of covid project and it was my second run at it because the first time I just threw up my hands as the program makes photoshop look like childs play.

 

[Grandpa Ron]

mrca.

Yep, you have it. A good photo takes a lot of thought and time. Some folks love the challenge, others not so much.

When I was growing almost every young man was interested in cars. They were easy to work on and required new points, plugs, chassis lubrication, oil changes etc. on a routine basis. All my friend and I did it, it was just part of owing a car.

Of course some of my buddies went a step of two further, customizing, chroming, bigger carburetors etc. to make dragsters. show cars, or muscle cars and the like.

Digital photography has ushered in a similar situation in the photography world. Nearly every cell phone can take and do some basic picture manipulation and easy to use post processing aps are free just for down loading. For those who want to go a step or two farther, more sophisticated programs are available to let your mind run free.

 

[mrca]

Ron, we date ourselves. Remember how 32 ford hot rods were painted with flames? Just got an expresso machine that is like that, all sorts of modifications so am adding flame decals. It isn't important whether folks want to take on the challenge to progress in photography, it is important that folks are taking photos and capturing those moments. I love the line from the movie Kodachrome. You shoot film and probably know Dwaynes Lab in Kansas famous for processing the last roll of Kodachrome off the assembly line for Steve Curry of Nat Geo. In it, the curmudgeon photographer on a last journey to get his 30 yr old un developed kodachrome developed before the chemicals were no longer available said: You ever hold a pair of fake breasts in your hands? No matter how good something looks, you can't beat the real thing. People are taking more pictures now than ever before, billions of them. But there's no slides, no prints. They are just data, electronic dust. Years from now, when they dig us up, there won't be any pictures to find. No record of who we were, how we lived.

 

[Grandpa Ron]

mrca

That reminds me of a post not so long ago, where someone's grandkids wanted to know what those old books were. They were decades of photograph albums.

His grandkids were fascinated by the photos of their parents, aunts and uncles and grandma and grandpa when they were young.

Heck I still get a kick out of looking at my old family photos. I actually has brown hair.

 

[mrca]

I have a 16x20 on my wall taken in 1919 with my father at age 5 and his family . It survived because the print was made and although cracked, stained, torn, after a scan and 8 hours of digital repair I printed it on Epson legacy platine good for 400 years. It is stunning. Funny, it is toned similar to much of my work today. Yes, those albums are priceless. As Dylan said, I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.

 

[AlanKlein]

What's interesting is when they colorize those 1919 street scenes of people walking and doing things. It's really weird. It actually seems like it;s up to date and you ask why are they driving around in horse carts? The movie conversions are even more strange.
stills
video

 

[AlanKlein]

I have a 16x20 on my wall taken in 1919 with my father at age 5 and his family . It survived because the print was made and although cracked, stained, torn, after a scan and 8 hours of digital repair I printed it on Epson legacy platine good for 400 years. It is stunning. Funny, it is toned similar to much of my work today. Yes, those albums are priceless. As Dylan said, I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.

I have an original large print of my parent's wedding with them in platinum print or silver print, not sure. It's absolutely gorgeous how the print looks. It glows and it's over a hundred years old. Here's the one of my mom - the dress glows although it's hard to capture its true beauty from a scan.

 

[mrca]

I have an original large print of my parent's wedding with them in platinum print or silver print, not sure. It's absolutely gorgeous how the print looks. It glows and it's over a hundred years old. Here's the one of my mom - the dress glows although it's hard to capture its true beauty from a scan.

I have an original large print of my parent's wedding with them in platinum print or silver print, not sure. It's absolutely gorgeous how the print looks. It glows and it's over a hundred years old. Here's the one of my mom - the dress glows although it's hard to capture its true beauty from a scan.

Alan, it's gorgeous, you must treasure it. I shoot a mamiya rb67 and am getting set to test a 150 mm "soft focus" lens. What it does is you can adjust by inserting discs, how much it blends the highlights into the rest of the image. It doesn't throw the detail out of focus. Here, her eyes, eye brows, lips are sharp. Lenses that rendered that way were popular in the early 1900s. What an appropriate dreamy effect for a wedding shot. Love what appears to be back lighting through the veil giving chiauroscuro, dark against light separation and driving the viewers eye to her face, the area of highest contrast. Folks like to say eye goes to the brightest, like white dot in black bg, but the eye goes to highest contrast, here, darker face against white bg. Beautifully crafted image and beautiful bride. Looks like something out of hollywood.

 

[AlanKlein]

Thanks. That was very nice of you to say that.

 

[mrca]

Thanks. That was very nice of you to say that.

Alan, I think you, grandpa and I all are shooting film and appreciate the beauty of it. I have been putting off some tests with the 150 soft focus and will try to make time to do some, develop, scan and post unedited. Will be testing 2 of the 3 discs. But when I shoot boudoir, I do it on satin sheets and you have inspired me to try that lens on some of those shots which are also lit with fresnel hot lights. I have a fire extinguisher on hand and try to keep them a safe distance from the lace surround on the canopy bed. They aren't called hot lights for no reason, I keep gloves handy but inevitably, try to adjust the barndoors without them, ouch. Rocket hot.

 

[webestang64]

People are taking more pictures now than ever before, billions of them. But there's no slides, no prints. They are just data, electronic dust. Years from now, when they dig us up, there won't be any pictures to find. No record of who we were, how we lived.

Even most film shooters will have nothing in the future. We are one of the few labs that give you your film back BUT 80% of the film shooters that come to our lab get their dropbox scans and never come pick up their film. After 90 days we dump the not pick up film in the trash. Sad.

 

[mrca]

Even most film shooters will have nothing in the future. We are one of the few labs that give you your film back BUT 80% of the film shooters that come to our lab get their dropbox scans and never come pick up their film. After 90 days we dump the not pick up film in the trash. Sad.

I was one of those with Dwaynes to keep the $3.00 a shot medium format cost down with one less mailing fee but now develop and scan with my d850 so save the negs and cost per shot about $1.30. et mm per shot cost down to a quarter inc film and developing. But prints are so important as well and will teach folks so much. Problem I was having was a 3 week turn around, now it is it is nearly "3 hour photo." But like printing, it was a skill to be learned, a far cry from my darkroom work in the 60s.

 

[AlanKlein]

Even most film shooters will have nothing in the future. We are one of the few labs that give you your film back BUT 80% of the film shooters that come to our lab get their dropbox scans and never come pick up their film. After 90 days we dump the not pick up film in the trash. Sad.

In the old days, you got prints when you brought your film in. So it made sense to include the negatives. However, when I moved a few years ago, I threw out all those old packets I held with the bad prints and negatives. In all those years I just didn;t bother going back to the negatives except at first if I wanted a larger print. But afterward, I never bothered.

 

[mrca]

In the old days, you got prints when you brought your film in. So it made sense to include the negatives. However, when I moved a few years ago, I threw out all those old packets I held with the bad prints and negatives. In all those years I just didn;t bother going back to the negatives except at first if I wanted a larger print. But afterward, I never bothered.

For my personal work, I shot slides because it was cheaper. I could then only print the ones I liked. They were grain free like digital. It's why today, i don't shoot transparencys, I shoot film for grain and the colors of portra. Had wonderful colors, liked ektachrome not kodachrome, but that's personal taste. Sorry Paul Simon, but I do shoot nikon camera, just don't take my Portra away. It was back ordered couple months ago.

 

[Grandpa Ron]

My color photo processing is simple, for film it comes back from the developer on a disk or electronically and is transferred to the computer. For digital it is transferred to my computer from the camera. I copy those photos I want printed to a thumb drive and pick up a Walgreens photo sale flier, to get 4x6 prints for 39 cents each.

My wife on the other hand, rarely reviews her photos, she just takes the SD card to Walgreens. At Christmas she had about $20.00 worth of 39 cent 4x6 family snapshots. The grandkids are even smarter, they cull the pictures on their phone or camera them send them by email them to the photo printed at Walmart. They pick them up on their next trip to town.
Black an white was been my issue. I can have a great Black and White photo on the computer screen, but when processed by a photo lab it will come back as a shade of black and a shade of white. I finally realized that I was comparing the reflected light from a photograph, to the back lit brightness of the computer monitor; definitely an apples to oranges situation. I will still do some dark room work, but it is mostly with my 4x5 view camera.