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PORTFOLIO
A DIGITAL APPROACH TO BLACK AND WHITE
March/April
1999
I come from a traditional
background in black-and-white photography, using the methods of Ansel
Adams (whose workshops I attended in ’83 and ’84).
My approach has been
to use a Hasselblad 2 1/4
camera with either Kodak T–max 100 or Kodak Technical Pan films,
and then scan the negatives into Photoshop. After working with the image
in Photoshop to get the desired tones and sharpness, I print the image
on an inkjet printer. My digital darkroom adjustments have been primarily
limited to whatever is possible in the darkroom, such as unsharp masking,
bleaching, dodging, burning, contrast and brightness adjustments; however,
the methods and the tools used are necessarily different.
Stone
House, Ireland, 1995
The results have
been very exciting. Recently, I gave a day-long conventional photographic
workshop for a local university. Some of my mounted and matted prints
were on display, in two rows. Images in the top row were all done in the
darkroom, and those is the lower row (different images) were printed using
my digital process. I asked the group, including their instructor, which
of the two rows they preferred. The response was that they liked both,
but they gave the edge in quality of the digitally-produced prints! All
were astonished to learn how they were produced. They hadn’t a clue
that they weren’t done in the darkroom.
For those photographers
who might be interested in entering the digital arena, some specific recommendations
follow.
Hardware
Computer: For a PC system intended for photography, both color and black-and-white,
I recommend a Pentium II (266 MHz minimum) with 256 MB ram (128 MB minimum),
at least a 4 GB hard drive, 8 MB video, 32x (or faster) CD-rom, 17- or
21-inch, 0.26 dot pitch, high-refresh rate monitor, and a SCSI–based
system. A CD-rom writer and a high-capacity removable drive are valuable
add-ons. The speed and the large amount of ram are necessary to make changes
to images in a reasonable time frame for good creative work.
Masonic
Lodge, Montana, 1996
Printer: The photo
printers from Epson with six inks have made it possible to make prints
that certainly look photographic. Yes, it is possible to make inkjet prints
that compare favorably to silver-based prints.
You may be surprised
to learn that superior black-and-white prints result from printing black-and-white
as “color” images. If “mono-chrome” is chosen in the
printer driver, only the black ink cartridge gets used. Shades of gray
are achieved by spacing the black dots printed on the paper, resulting
in much empty space in the printed image. If “color” is chosen,
all six inks are used, essentially filling the print with colored dots.
These overlapping dots generate the subtle shades of gray necessary for
a fine print, and generate more detail in the image. Epson printers are
capable of producing very round dots, particularly on their glossy and
film papers, which results in superior prints.
The Epson photo printers
are optimized to print images that consist of 240–300 pixels per
inch (ppi). This should not be confused with the 720 dpi to 1440 dpi capability
of these printers. These printers do not print ordinary halftones, but
use “error-diffusion dithering.” In low-detail regions, like
clouded skies, the resolution is reduced, and the shades of gray increased.
In high detail regions, this situation is reversed.
Ghost
Town, Idaho, 1996
Printer resolution
in dpi should also not be confused with ordinary photographic image resolution.
My previous tests (“Understanding Resolution Part I: Lens, Film,
and Paper,” D&CCT, Vol. 12, No. 2, Mar/Apr 1991) have shown that
in a conventional black-and-white photographic print, one can resolve
only about four lines per millimeter (lp/mm) with the normal human eye,
unaided. I also found that—using high-quality cameras, lenses, papers,
and—the usual methods of printing—the resulting prints had a
maximum resolution of about 13 lp/mm as examined by a loupe. Yes, I know
that a higher number of lp/mm can be imprinted on photographic paper,
but I’m referring to ordinary photographs of ordinary scenes.
My tests have shown
that Epson Photo prints have an image resolution slightly exceeding the
maximum resolution of the eye. This accounts for the fact that such prints
may appear photographic. However, examination with a loupe will generally
prove the photographic print to have more actual detail.
Printing papers and
inks are important, as well. Epson photo papers and inks make it possible
to print almost all of the tones from black to white.
Bannack,
Montana, 1996
One problem with inkjet
prints is that they are not archival in the photographic sense. However,
this situation is improving, and I look forward to the time when inkjet
prints will last as long as conventional prints. Also, bear in mind that
my conventional black-and-white negatives are archival, and of course
I can still make conventional photographic prints from my negatives at
any time. Since the images are stored digitally, images made today can
be reprinted as necessary in the future. One word of caution, though:
just because an image is stored digitally does not mean that the image
file will give the same print on other printers, now or in the future.
Each image must be optimized for the printer and inks in use to achieve
the subtle tones of a fine black-and-white print.
(Incidentally, I don’t
mean to suggest that other manufacturers don’t make printers as good
for photography as Epson’s. I simply have no experience using any
other printer.)
Scanner: The specifications
for many scanners capable of scanning photographic negatives are similar.
However, not all of them are suitable for scanning black-and-white negatives.
Some block the highlights; some lack shadow and/or highlight detail and
tonal separation; and some produce soft-focus images. For photography,
only the optical resolution of the scanner is important. Assuming that
the target ppi for the image going to the printer is 300 ppi, then a 600
ppi scanner would be capable of a 2x magnification. For a 2 1/4 negative,
this would make for a 4.5 x 4.5-inch print. If the target is 240 ppi (the
minimum for high-quality prints), then a 2.5x magnification is possible,
resulting in an approximately 5.5 x 5.5-inch print. On the other hand,
if the scanner has a resolution of 1,000 ppi, then these sizes increase
to 7.5 x 7.5 and 9.3 x 9.3 inches, respectively, providing that the printer
will handle this large a print.
I have either scanned
or had professional scans made on several scanners that do a fine job
with black-and-white negatives. For flat-bed scanners with transparency
adapters, I have had very good results with the 600 ppi Microtek ScanMaker
III and the 1,000 ppi LinoColor Saphir Ultra, the latter being the superior
choice. One problem with scanning on glass is that Newton Rings can sometimes
occur when scanning negatives. There are sprays which minimize this. A
distinct advantage of the flatbed is that an entire roll of 2 1/4 film
may be scanned at once. For dedicated film scanners, I have had good success
with a Minolta D’image Multiformat scanner; however, a glass holder
is used for medium format film. The 2,000 ppi Polaroid SprintScan45 does
a truly excellent job with black-and-white negatives, and it has glassless
film holders.
Barn,
Washington, 1997
If you don’t
want to buy a scanner, Kodak Pro PhotoCD scans are excellent. With any
scanner, it will take considerable experimentation to learn how to make
optimum scans for any film. This fact must not be overlooked.
Software: My choice
for a digital darkroom program is the standard one, Adobe Photoshop. Once
the image is scanned into Photoshop, it consists of a bed of pixels. If
the resulting image is an “8-bit” image, each pixel will be
one of 256 shades of gray. A “12-bit” image would have pixels
with 4,096 possible shades of gray. These shades of gray, of course, make
up the tones in the image. If the pixels are small enough, then the image
appears to be continuous. The printer cannot generally make use of 4,096
shades of gray, but having this much information in the file while working
with the image until it’s ready for printing helps to keep the image
from being degraded as it is manipulated in Photoshop.
In Photoshop it is
possible to perform all sorts of operations on the image, such as sharpening,
darkening, lightening, changing the contrast, changing the tonal distributions,
and so forth. In practice, I generally select a single region of the image,
such as the sky, and work on it separately, until I get it the way I want
it. Then, I work on other parts of the image, until the entire image is
optimized. For doing this type of work, Photoshop’s “Adjustment
Layers” permits you to make an adjustment to a selected region of
the image, and to make subtle modifications to this region at any future
time in the development of the image, without producing image degradation.
Bristlecone
Pine, California, 1997
Conclusion
The use of the digital computer in producing black-and-white photographic
prints is desirable, both because it opens up the creative process and
also because the results can be stunning. There are no chemicals to mix
and discard. The prints rival conventional darkroom prints. However, they’re
not the same as darkroom prints, nor are they a replacement. They stand
on their own merit. The digital process gives you the freedom to quickly
evaluate an image, to make changes, and then re-evaluate. Such explorations
in a darkroom would be far more time-consuming. Further, you can make
tonal adjustments and do retouching with an ease only dreamed about in
the darkroom. I have found that the artistic quality of my work has been
en-hanced by using this printing method, and that my print output rate
has increased.
Ron Harris is a Louisiana–based
black-and-white photographer.
