Black Bodies and Suchlike Magical Stuff
Black Bodies and Suchlike Magical Stuff
- Subject: Black Bodies and Suchlike Magical Stuff
- From: Nick Wheeler <email@hidden>
- Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:19:58 -0500
Henry Davis wrote
Some of the best automated approaches for
handling the translation of color negatives have relied on a scene
balance algorithm, or a set of statistical models for typical scenes.
When they work, they work fairly well, considering that it is terribly
difficult to predict exactly what a color negative is supposed to look
like. They often require some human adjustment to improve the
resulting
assessment. So, it would seem, the issues involving Camera Raw and the
practicality of profiling a digital camera might fall into this same
kind of category. While the "digital negative" may have some
standardization, it might be that processing the capture might benefit
more from a scene balance algorithm approach, rather than trying to
nail
a specific color (thinking mostly of batch situations here).
Henry:
That's it exactly. EXACTLY. It is possible to build simple profiles or
batch processes to handle very consistent lighting situations, just as
it was possible to standardize a traditional analog process for
consistent setups such as copy work, some low end portrait and wedding
photography, tabletops etc.
That whole approach goes right out the window when shooting with
different lenses, mixed lighting, atmospheric pollution, changing
altitudes, times of day or any of dozens of real world every day
location photography situations. Add to that using software to
compensate for chromatic aberration, sharpness, vignetting etc and
dealing with RAW files becomes quite a project. The tools are far more
powerful than traditional analog tools, and there's more of them. It's
not easy, there is really no limit to the complexity. One has to learn
what tools are best for one's individual approach and simplify.
When working with transparency materials, to get a good image one had
to do all the work on location or in the studio. We all know that many
location setups took hours or even days to get right. A friend (Steve
Rosenthal) has made the analogy that tradtional photography was like a
painter setting up the easel in the field and doing the work on the
spot. Done properly the result was a perfect transparency. With digital
capture the camera can become a sketchbook, a lot of the work is now
done post production. Now we are combining many exposures into one
image and employing all manner of powerful tools to the process. Often
the results now are not even "photographic" but an entirely new beast.
In many cases the hours in the field have been replaced by hours in the
studio (or both).
Nick Wheeler
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