Printing - Black and White in Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop Lightroom - page 251

processes. Eastman Kodak has announced that it will no longer manufacture
black and white photographic papers, Agfa is no longer in the black and
white photographic market, and there are rumors concerning the stability of
the remaining companies who manufacture and distribute black and white
silver materials. While many of the rumors are predominantly true, the black
and white silver process is not necessarily dying, but changing form. All these
disheartening gloom and doom scenarios do not necessarily have to equate to
the death of black and white silver process, however, if we recognize that we can
still embrace them in the digital domain.
Since I found the digital darkroom, I do spend most of my time working
digitally, but I know that I have not left the chemical darkroom for good.
I strongly believe that the traditional darkroom still has a secure future in
the photographic world. Just as platinum, cyanotype and gum printing
have survived as “alternative processes”, so will silver processes i nd their
place among the beautiful and well-respected forms of artistic printing. It
may be comforting to know that Ilford Photo is now leading the resurgence
of black and white photography as the only manufacturer providing a full
range of i lm, paper, photochemistry and ancillary products. Further, the
process of “digital negatives”, created with digital darkroom processes and
output onto clear acetate, can be printed onto i ne art papers with various
traditional chemical methods such as platinum, ziatype and silver. Digital
negatives are but one of the new and exciting ways to integrate the benei ts
of both the traditional and digital worlds into a new medium altogether.
This digital negative process, introduced to me by Dan Burkholder, was not
only reminiscent of the processes of the chemical darkroom that made me
fall in love with photography in the i rst place, but brought it all back to life!
The combined strengths of the dif erent technologies and processes are just
one of the many benei ts and creative innovations that the digital domain
brings to the medium of photography. The savvy photographer who has both
traditional and digital methods in their bag of tricks simply has more choices
that can only serve to broaden the scope of creative possibility.
There are almost as many dif erent types of photographic users, each with
varying and disparate interests and levels of technical proi ciency, as there
are possibilities in the digital print making process. Although this text could
neither cover the full gamut of makes, models, manufactures, brands, inks,
etc. on the market today nor advocate any one particular printing method as
“best” for all users, we can, however, give you a strong overview of what to
look for in your output decision-making process.
Black and white output options
There are an overwhelming array of options available today for the black
and white photographer to output digital i les onto paper and other i ne art
surfaces. Here are a few to consider:
1. Traditional photographic papers such as the Fuji Crystal Archive or
Ilfochrome. This process requires working with a service bureau that will