I used to print all my B&W work back in the analog darkroom days. Since going color and digital back in 2016, my work has quadrupled at the very least- wish I coulda done it 40 years ago! But I literally don't have the room (live in micro-studio), patience or resources to print my work now- analog or digital. I have round about 2 dozen color prints, a small (very small) fraction of what I'd like. One of the reasons it's always good to print (even if just in cheap book form) is that it's the final, ultimate arbiter as to whether you nailed the exposure the way you want. The illuminated monitor screen, as efficient a miracle as it is, can mask close calls where the light and overall exposure is a delicate, nuanced balance- and lord knows, every monitor is to each its own, even when calibrated...
Case in point, the backlit photo below. I had already lightened the billboard, and on the monitor- it looked OK, at least to me... Then I put it on the back cover of P-A-N-D-E-M-A-N-I-A! and... Whoa! The billboard was waaay underexposed- the printed form revealed it's Achilles Heel to the hilt- what was I thinking!? The printed photograph is the finessed end product on which the photographic image is forever judged, appreciated and archived. That hasn't changed, analog or otherwise...
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| 'New & Improved' Photo: © Stan Banos |
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