What would Ansel Adams do?
Jul 24, 2019 15:22:55 #
dick ranez wrote:
I recently jousted with a fellow enthusiast in a conversation about Ansel Adams. His position was that Adams would be very disappointed with today's digital cameras and printing techniques. Mine was that Adams would quickly embrace the whole process and would have been an early adopter and embraced the finishing options of Photoshop from the beginning. Any opinions?
I think AA today would still be shooting B&W film, but using digital for color work. I tried digital B&W, and I couldn't match the quality I got from B&W film and doing my own darkroom work. AA experimented with color film, but he felt he didn't have the control with it he had with B&W film. I think he would have embraced color digital photography with its amazing control over white balance and the ability to manipulate color in different parts of an image. And he would be writing books to teach us all how to get the most from color digital.
Jul 24, 2019 15:34:36 #
JohnSwanda wrote:
so it would have depended on whether his experience matched yours, whether he could find some way of making digital B&W work for him.I think AA today would still be shooting B&W film, but using digital for color work. I tried digital B&W, and I couldn't match the quality I got from B&W film and doing my own darkroom work.
Jul 24, 2019 15:45:40 #
burkphoto wrote:
You are most likely right, although he probably would consider digital just an additional arsenal of tools.
Totally agree.
AA was a pioneer, a rule breaker, a master at manipulating an image to extract every last detail and expand its tonal range in order to represent his vision. On one hand his mantra was to carefully expose a negative, then carefully develop it to minimize manipulation during the print process. But as we all know, he never shied away from doing what he needed to do with a print - always pushing the limits, and even taking it to how his collections were printed as books.
Jul 24, 2019 15:46:30 #
CHG_CANON wrote:
If Ansel Adams couldn't deliver straight out of camera (SOOC) JPEGs, he is not a photographer worthy of the name Ansel Adams .... 
You got jokes!
Jul 24, 2019 15:54:36 #
Adams lived in a different period and with different technology. To guess how he would be going about photography today if still alive and active is a meaningless exercise in speculation. One thing for sure, creating expressive, meaningful images would be his primary concern, not the technology used or how many bells and whistles his camera has.
Jul 24, 2019 17:33:19 #
rehess wrote:
so it would have depended on whether his experience matched yours, whether he could find some way of making digital B&W work for him.
Not just mine, I have talked with many photographers who printed their own B&W in a darkroom that felt digital couldn't match them.
Jul 24, 2019 18:09:54 #
BebuLamar wrote:
I think if I remember correctly AA said in one of his books that he would embrace electronic imaging when the time comes. Of course he passed away too early.
I remember reading that, but I think it was in a biography since I've never read any of his books. According to the book, in the early 80s not long before he died he learned that digital photography would be coming in the future and was very interested.
Jul 25, 2019 06:44:41 #
Jul 25, 2019 06:49:34 #
Jul 25, 2019 08:00:21 #
My favorite AA quote: The negative is the score, the print is the performance.
Jul 25, 2019 08:03:19 #
I believe that if he were alive today, he'd be teaching Photoshop or one of the other editing programs.
Jul 25, 2019 08:05:43 #
Just guessing but having read about the huge amount of time Adams spent in his darkroom printing photos I think he would have jumped at the opportunities digital photos, computers, printers and lightroom and photoshop offered. More time taking photos or playing the piano!
Jul 25, 2019 08:06:28 #
Actually, AA was alive for 9 years after the digital camera was created. Thus, he probably heard something about the beginnings of digital photography.
https://blog.tomski.com/2012/12/30/ansel-adams-on-digital-photography-from-1983/
--Bob
https://blog.tomski.com/2012/12/30/ansel-adams-on-digital-photography-from-1983/
--Bob
Jul 25, 2019 08:12:41 #
Retina
Loc: Near Charleston,SC
tommystrat wrote:
A similar question has been debated through the ye... (show quote)
Except they would have still been the Beatles. Think about Bach, Ravel, or Jimi.
Would AA have even bothered with film in the digital age? I can see him partnering with De Vere for better models if he insisted on the look of silver halide printing.
Jul 25, 2019 08:14:01 #
rmalarz wrote:
Actually, AA was alive for 9 years after the digital camera was created. Thus, he probably heard something about the beginnings of digital photography.
https://blog.tomski.com/2012/12/30/ansel-adams-on-digital-photography-from-1983/
--Bob
https://blog.tomski.com/2012/12/30/ansel-adams-on-digital-photography-from-1983/
--Bob
Amazing! thanks for posting that!
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