[LargeFormat] Photoshop plug ins

[Richard Knoppow]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Brock Nanson" <brock@nanson.org>
To: <largeformat@f32.net>
Sent: Monday, February 24, 2003 7:44 PM
Subject: Re: [LargeFormat] Photoshop plug ins


> I understand what you mean... it's a very difficult
quality to put into
> words.  Two thoughts.
>
> What would happen if it was photographed in very flat
light, then
> 'sharpened' the original way, with an unsharp mask (film
type, not the
> Photoshop kind!).  That would define the hard edges a
little more but not
> change the surface texture too much (?)
>
> The second though relates to the color temperature of the
light and the
> response curve of the film to color.  When I look at old
photographs (Karsh
> is a perfect example) I swear I can tell if they were shot
with tungsten
> light or modern xeon flash.  To me the tungsten source
just makes the skin
> look grittier than can be obtained with modern flashes.  I
don't know if I
> could prove this or not... it just seems that way to me.
But again, the
> film at the time would have an impact on this look - I
doubt it would have
> responded just like the films of today.
>
> If you figure this one out, please let us know!
>
> Brock
>
  Be careful about Karsh. I am pretty sure he shot most of
his male portraits with ortho film expressly because it
gives that "gritty" look. Women are best photographed using
pan film and tungsten light, which tends to suppress skin
blemishes. Of course, women are often photographed wearing
makup, so that is another difficulty in guessing at
techniques.
  Strobe units became widely available in about the mid
1950's although they were certainly made earlier. About the
first commercial units were made by Kodak under Edgerton
patents in the mid 1940's as Kodatron lamps. These were big
studio units which went off like a pistol when flashed. Too
big to carry around. Portable strobe flash shows up around
1950.
  The use of unsharp masking or sharpening, in Photoshop or
other image editors, is not quite like the effect of ortho
film. The characteristic curve of the film also has an
effect. Long toe films, like the current Tri-X sheet film,
were long used for certain types of portrait work because
they tend to exagerate highlight contrast. I have no idea of
what film Karsh used but Kodak, Ansco, and Defender, all
made suitable film at the time. I think the only normal
contrast ortho film on the market now is made by Ilford.