The Digital Darkroom
So you are tired of sweating away in the classic darkroom inhaling foul smelling chemicals and spending hour upon hour trying to get the perfect image you are looking for. Burning and dodging, processing and washing, hour upon hour only to find??
Then you get a scanner and Adobe Photoshop. In minutes you are creating the perfect images you always dreamed of. Sharper pictures than you ever imagined without aligning your enlarger. No chemicals and instant gratification! Ahh, but the dust has got you down, no worry, small potatoes compared to what those classic darkroom people are putting up with. Not only that, but you can print a million perfect copies, all exactly the same from the same image file. Make it Sepia I command, instantly you get the perfect Sepia toned Black & White photo from Photoshop. Black & White from Color, no problem. Increase the contrast, brighten the shadows and sharpen the picture, do it all in minutes not days.
You make your photographs, they look good coming out on your new Epson printer. But where's the magic? The incredible feeling watching the image materialize in front of your eyes, or the depth of the image as it sits in the substrate of the silver particles on the paper? Not in this print, maybe Classic darkroom processing is for you!
Maybe, just maybe, they can co-exist? Do your proofs and cropping on digital. Make your snapshots of the family dog on digital. Send your images over E-Mail and attach them to your web-site. Then when the creative mood strikes and you want to hang that perfect picture on your living room wall, you sweep the cobwebs off of your classic darkroom. Mix your chemicals and within days you have that handmade masterpiece that you can show of proudly to all of your friends and relatives. Something to hand down to the grandchildren with pride. The ultimate quality made from your very hands. One of a kind.