Dark Room or Light Room

I found the above image online. A beautiful print with annotations, printing instructions, next to the final print. The printing was done by Pablo Inirio, the master darkroom printer who works or worked at Magnum Photos New York.

The Same?

Having a lot of experience with black and white printing in a darkroom and also with digital image processing and retouching, I can tell you there’s not much of a difference between the two ways of working. Or maybe I should say there IS a world of difference between the two. It’s both true.

It’s just like it is with photography. Analog or Digital doesn’t matter. There is a light-sensitive plate, film or sensor. This is exposed for a certain amount of time through a shutter, depending on the sensitivity, and there’s an aperture that lets in a certain amount of light. The exposure triangle, ISO, shutter speed and aperture is valid either way. The final result is an image.

Darkroom Work

The same principle is true for darkroom work. Of course when printing in a darkroom you project the negative image onto photosensitive paper, develop it and you get a positive result. A print. The same route is true for digital. You have bits and bytes from the sensor and you “develop” this in software to make an image. Completely different but also completely the same result.

The wonderful annotated prints from Pablo Inirio beautifully illustrate how much thought and work can go into making a great photo even better.

Image Manupilation

That is why I completely stand by image manipulation. Be it in a darkroom or in Lightroom, Photoshop or whatever software. Making a great photo even better is a good thing. Ask Henri Cartier-Bresson. He didn’t print his own work. He was too busy taking pictures. He happily left the printing to the print masters knowing that the results would be great because of two things: his eye and the craftsmanship of the print master in the darkroom.