Let's Talk Photography - AjijicCityGuide.com

People generally don't understand the differences between darkroom prints, digital prints and hand painted (or tinted) black & whites. They don't understand the amount of work needed to do them and why the price structures for buying them are so different. So let me try to sort out some of these questions this month and next:

Let's start with "old style" prints from film cameras. The film print (be it black & white or color) is developed in a traditional darkroom, using paper that is sensitive to light and to certain chemicals. Then an enlarger is used to make the photos whatever size you want. The digital print is usually shot with a digital camera and then worked on in the computer via some sort of software (like Photoshop or Elements, etc.). It is also possible to scan film negatives into a computer and make digitized images from them.

What is the difference in quality? Depends on whom you talk to. But, keep in mind, that prints made from negatives are printed on light sensitive paper. You put light onto the paper (usually with the enlarger) for a certain amount of time and the picture darkens (when immersed in developing chemicals) depending how long the paper is exposed to the light. However, when you print digital images, you are simply putting ink onto paper and the ink can fade over time. Prints made in the darkroom also can fade over time, but, despite the better inks available now, I still think that film prints, have a longer life.

Also, black & white film prints have a longer life than color film prints. Think of all the great photos we have, for example, of the civil war, of Abraham Lincoln, etc. that still exist. And then think of the color snapshots you have in your photo albums, most of which have greatly disintegrated in color intensity over the years.

People say, "But, with digital prints, you can always re-print something". This of course is only true with your family photos (and if you have saved the photo on a CD). But what then about that magnificent photo you bought (for a pretty penny) in a gallery? If that fades over time, can you go back to the gallery and request a replacement? And what about the photos of our great photographers - will they still exist in 100 or 200 years?

Now we get to hand tinted photos. This is an old method that was used in the late 1900's and early 20th century before color film. At that time, it was an attempt to make black & white photos, especially portraits, look like color photos using realistic colors. Nowadays, hand tinted photos are another method of expressing art, with the photographer using his/her imagination for the best artistic results. Like paintings, each one is unique and each one becomes an original. Even if the photographer makes another one from the same print, it still would be different. Painters very often paint the same subjects over and over again, and like them, these prints are different or changed each time.

But, as they say, you can't stop a moving train, and many of us, including me, have moved on to digital cameras. Many professionals use both, depending on the job. The problem with film is that the public also is using digital cameras almost exclusively and so the manufacturers of films and darkroom materials have either stopped manufacturing this stuff or manufacture very little, so there is not as much choice and films, papers and chemicals are getting harder to find - so darkroom printing might soon be another lost art.

Jill Flyer is a professional photographer who lives in the Lake Chapala/Ajijic area of Mexico. Her work is featured in Galeria La Puerta in Ajijic and Galeria Vallarta in Puerto Vallarta. She runs 2 day and 7 day photo "safaris" for both amateurs and professionals, to give people a different view of Mexico, of the small towns and villages and the magnificent vistas. For more information and to view some of her photography, check out her website at www.mexploration.net. If you have photo questions, contact Jill at: fotoflyer2003@yahoo.com.