The Fundamentals is back!

[Tim_B.]

"After perusing the informational page, I would suggest some basic edits to the imagery to bring out the contrast and sharpness of the images."

Yes. That is what he said.

 

[pantheraba]

Sleuthed!

 

[MasterBlaster]

Derp!

 

[Stumpshot]

I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve, but for these quick sample images, I simply did curves, light luminosity channel blending, and hiraloam (high radius, low amount) sharpening.

 

[SeanKroll]

Big difference

 

[Mellow]

A major improvement. Kudos!

 

[gf beranek]

Go ahead on her, Bret, but you'll have to talk to, and arrange it with Patrick. Since he has the server with the data. It's OK with me.

The extra contrast does wonders. Upon completion of your work a new copy of the Fundamentals of General Treework will be headed your way.

Thanks!!

 

[SeanKroll]

You might mean GP, Jer.

 

[gf beranek]

Terri already set me straight. Thanks.

 

[Tim_B.]

As an objective, the Zone System printing guys always shot for visible detail in both the highlight areas of a photograph, as well as the shadow areas of a photograph. Ansel Adams was the inventor of the Zone System, I believe. Thanks.

Here's a link to a Wiki page about it. Of course, in the first paragraph Ansel denies having invented the idea, claiming only to have codified existing knowledge, along with his work mate, Fred Archer.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_System

 

[Stumpshot]

There was a tendency in the past when preparing halftones, particularly B&W (gray) photographic images, to keep a rather open halftone, slavishly linear -- even leaving the photo paper itself as a light gray. This makes a lot of images look washed out and not very contrasty. The true goal should be to make the image as contrasty as possible within its own range. Make its highlight (discounting specular highlights/sunlight reflections) the true white point of an image while preserving any detail. And make the darks of the image as dark as possible without plugging up the shadows. In the past, newspaper presses and uncoated papers couldn't really hold dot values beyond 90% -- so 90% is often portrayed as "black" when 97% or 98% would be a fairer representation for current printing methods or for digital e-book distribution. That is what creates a great deal of "punch" with B&W photography. Also, to apply the principles of Dan Margulis (author of Professional Photoshop) is that the bulk of the visual information is in the steepest part of the tonal curves, thus giving the appearance of greatest contrast.

I've watched an archival video of Ansel Adams developing photo prints and heard his guiding principles for eeking out the maximal contrast from a negative. He made extensive use of dodging and burning -- digital version of those tools are readily available in Photoshop, but on a bulk image pass like what I am proposing for this book, I don't think I would get into dodging and burning for selective contrast improvements -- since that can re-interpret the image for "artistic purposes." Perhaps on the cover image and other key color images it would be appropriate, but I was just planning on shooting for a general technical improvement on the imagery, not offering an artistic re-interpretation of them.

 

[gf beranek]

It all sound good. Have at'er.

 

[Stumpshot]

Had a good interchange with Patrick, he has made the digital file available to me. Work has begun!

 

[Bermy]

Great collaboration!

 

[gf beranek]

Great!

 

[chris_girard]

Great work all you guys are doing to keep The Fundamentals going!

 

[MasterBlaster]

That book will never go away.

 

[chris_girard]

Agreed, and that's why I am also planning on getting the digital on.

 

[Stumpshot]

Okay, I've done my bit. Now back to Patrick.

I'm looking at it as a Revision 1 -- much better contrast in the photos and text, making all the photos look less gray and washed out -- sharper, crisper, punchier. However, I was a bit disappointed in the resolution I was working from, as you could see clear JPEG compression artifacts in all the photos at 100% zoom ratio. So Patrick has provided me with the full resolution original scans and I hope to do a Revision 2 that will be even better still. But don't hesitate to buy into the digital version -- it's looking nice and crisp now! (I just tend to be my own worst critic and a perfectionist through-and-through!)

 

[chris_girard]

I'll buy it now, as soon as I hear from Patrick.

 

[Stumpshot]

I won't be able to get him the new file till tonight -- rolling out the door to work now. So wait to buy till tomorrow...

 

[gf beranek]

That was fast. Now send me your address and I'll send you a book.

 

[Stumpshot]

I was hoping you would check my work via Patrick before so generously fulfilling your promise. I want you to be totally satisfied that it's an improvement!

(And again, I see this as a 2 step process; this is Step 1. The best is yet to come!)

 

[chris_girard]

Well, the cover sure looks great.

Placing my order with Patrick right now

 

[chris_girard]

Is Patrick all set with the updates? Haven't seen him post yet.