Prints and contact sheets

craig

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I worry that in this digital age prints and contact sheets fall by the wayside and photos do not make it further from posting on the web.

Personally I know I have had a good day when the contact sheet is full of different angles and not too much bracketing. Although my prints are from my (now) dated Epson stylus PHOTO 960 I doubt they could be any better in the darkroom.

I think it would be fun to hear your relationship to the print.

Love & Bass
 
I firmly believe that the print is essential. It is the finished image, whether you manipulate a final shot from a negative, or print on an inkjet or lightjet to exactly match your digital file.

Too often do photographers theses days settle for entirely mediocre prints. I do not believe for a second that most of these online printing houses produce archival quality, or even really good prints. Even if you take your digital images to a pro-lab to be printed with pigment or on silver gelatin, RA-4, or Ilfochrome via lightjet, most photographers entirely forgo the absolutely crucial step of adjusting their photographs to the color profile of the printers at the pro-lab. In fact, I would wager that the vast majority of digital photographers these days do not understand the fundamental differences in appearance between pigment, RA-4, and Ilfochrome prints for color work. Most, I believe, are also unaware of the vast array of media types available. Printing surfaces are not limited to inkjet equivalents of the older silver halide lettering system. So many other interesting options abound, such as printing onto metal with an inkjet, selecting traditional photo papers for particular surfaces, or the existence of really cool translucent photo papers made by Fuji and Kodak. To the extent that one is unaware of functional differences in media and processes, they are in a poor position to choose an appropriate medium for a particular print.
 
Yes. It is only through the print that we can prove our photographic worth. The proof is in the pudding as they say.

Another question is how can we understand web posts. Seems to me this forum should have a standard web monitor profile.

Love & Bass
 
Well, it sort of does. Standard web profile is Adobe RGB. Problem is that a lot of people don't adhere or don't know how to adhere to it.
 
Well, it sort of does. Standard web profile is Adobe RGB. Problem is that a lot of people don't adhere or don't know how to adhere to it.

In what universe is that? There's no browsers that read Adobe RGB other than Safari. The standard profile for web is the IEC sRGB standard. Even many of the local printing labs use this although some do accept the Adobe RGB standard.

I do know what you're talking about. I print all of my best pictures. It just seems right. A friend with a MF camera went the other day to get his film developed in one of the few places that still does it and they returned a contact sheet of 35mm sized photos. I mean seriously what good is that. I don't think people even know what a contact sheet is these days.
 
In what universe is that? There's no browsers that read Adobe RGB other than Safari. The standard profile for web is the IEC sRGB standard. Even many of the local printing labs use this although some do accept the Adobe RGB standard.

I do know what you're talking about. I print all of my best pictures. It just seems right. A friend with a MF camera went the other day to get his film developed in one of the few places that still does it and they returned a contact sheet of 35mm sized photos. I mean seriously what good is that. I don't think people even know what a contact sheet is these days.

I would never go to a lab that didn't have custom profiles. And you're right about sRGB. I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote that. Oh wait, it was 3am. I wasn't thinking.
 

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