Digital photography, color and the middle range
I picked this photograph because it struck me as an example of the remarkable changes in image quality that have been happening in digital photography in the past year. I am especially engaged by the color (his face and the red cloth, for instance) and the rich mid-tones (his suit and the seated violinist). These seem to me to be rich and subtle in color in ways that are not possible with color film and include a tonal range that hasn’t been seen since platinium prints done mostly before WWI.
For instance, William Eggleston is a very good photographer who works using color film. His photographs give powerful insights into a particular place and time, but I don't think his photos using film come close to what can happen with color and tonal range using a digital camera.
Below are a series of photographs - four by masters of the medium using film in different forms - Robert Frank, Alfred Steiglitz, William Eggleston and Stephen Shore.
I have placed work of mine taken with a digital camera next to theirs, not in any way to diminish their accomplishment, but to show in more detail the new and different possibilities are being opened up by digital photography.
First are three black and white images, beginning with this one by Robert Frank, taken with 35mm film.
The second, a digital photo of mine.
And third, a platinum print by Steiglitz, turned into black and white.
What I am asking the viewer to do is see if there is a much greater richness and variety in the midtones in both digital photo and the platium print than in Frank's silver print.
Next is a reproduction of the Steiglitz with the color that appears in the original print and a quadtone version of my photograph. Do both offer visual rewards that are different from what appear in the black and white versions?
Finally, a color version of my image, as an introduction to the comparison of three color photos - two film and one digital.
In these three I would like the viewer to look closely at the yellows and greens particularly and examine the differences the first two which are done with film and the third which is a digital photograph. (Open Image in a New Tab to see a larger version of these images.)
