This is a bit of a resurrection of an old activity that appears to have happened on here one time. See this thread. The basic premise is everyone who signs up gets sent one from a set of identical negatives and makes a print from it. The print is then scanned and shown to all other participants on this thread or posted in the dedicated Gallery.
I thought, in light of recent discussions, that it might be interesting to also allow anyone who wanted to scan the negative and digitally edit it to participate as well. That would not require a print to be made. The edited photo would be shared in the same way as the scanned print.
So, this morning I went out and took 17 identical exposures of the same scene. (I actually took photos of two scenes but I've chosen what I consider the most interesting.) That allows for 16 people to sign up to get mailed their very own 35mm negative. In making your final photo, any kind of manipulation you desire is allowed. You can make a straight uncropped print. You can make a severely cropped, ultra-high-contrast print. You can burn holes in the negative with a cigarette or grind it into the pavement under your heel. You're under no obligation to do what anyone else considers you should do - and you don't need to send anything back. So, no obligation other than showing a result.
Same goes for negative scans. You can show the output of your scanner. You can adjust any levels you want. You can layer it with a photo of a crocodile, if you wish. However you want the final photo to look.
I'll consider this the sign-up month (may be cut short if 16 people jump on all at once) and then I'll send the negatives. Then we should all wait another month or so for everyone to get it and indicate they're finished with it. We won't show any results until a majority says they're ready.
The negative is somewhat challenging, because it's a bit dense and the scene has some areas of greater brightness. You may want to dodge and burn. You may want to edit heavily. You may want to cut part of it out. You may want to bleach the negative. You may want to make a copy of the negative and print from that. You may want to give up - but you're not allowed to (not that anyone can stop you but feel guilty if you do).
No, you can't see the negative beforehand.
More information will be forthcoming if I happen to think of anything else.
Update September 17: by now, the negatives are arriving in the mail, which makes this a good moment to also release the digital scans for those who want to work with a digital file. Here are three versions:
www.koraks.nl/zut/PNX2509_4990_4800dpi.tif (Epson 4990 @ 4800dpi; 72Mbyte)
www.koraks.nl/zut/PNX2509_FTPII_6300dpi.tif (Flextight Precision II @ 6300dpi; 100Mbyte)
www.koraks.nl/zut/PNX2509_SDIV_3200dpi.tif (Konica Minolta Scan Dual IV @ 3200dpi; 28Mbyte)
The Minolta scan marked in bold is the one recommended to work with. The other two are offered to those who like to compare or perhaps want to optimize some aspect of the image that for some reason comes out better in one of the other scans. All files are 16 bit depth monochrome TIFF files with no layers or compression. If you have any trouble downloading or opening the scan of your choice, please contact @koraks.
The scans are uninverted, unsharpened and intended to capture the full tonal range of the image on the negative. No effort was done to try and match the scans in terms of contrast etc. Where possible, automatic corrections were disabled in the scanning software. Any dust or imperfections remain untouched in the linked files. It's up to you to edit, fix as you see fit.
I thought, in light of recent discussions, that it might be interesting to also allow anyone who wanted to scan the negative and digitally edit it to participate as well. That would not require a print to be made. The edited photo would be shared in the same way as the scanned print.
So, this morning I went out and took 17 identical exposures of the same scene. (I actually took photos of two scenes but I've chosen what I consider the most interesting.) That allows for 16 people to sign up to get mailed their very own 35mm negative. In making your final photo, any kind of manipulation you desire is allowed. You can make a straight uncropped print. You can make a severely cropped, ultra-high-contrast print. You can burn holes in the negative with a cigarette or grind it into the pavement under your heel. You're under no obligation to do what anyone else considers you should do - and you don't need to send anything back. So, no obligation other than showing a result.
Same goes for negative scans. You can show the output of your scanner. You can adjust any levels you want. You can layer it with a photo of a crocodile, if you wish. However you want the final photo to look.
I'll consider this the sign-up month (may be cut short if 16 people jump on all at once) and then I'll send the negatives. Then we should all wait another month or so for everyone to get it and indicate they're finished with it. We won't show any results until a majority says they're ready.
The negative is somewhat challenging, because it's a bit dense and the scene has some areas of greater brightness. You may want to dodge and burn. You may want to edit heavily. You may want to cut part of it out. You may want to bleach the negative. You may want to make a copy of the negative and print from that. You may want to give up - but you're not allowed to (not that anyone can stop you but feel guilty if you do).
No, you can't see the negative beforehand.
More information will be forthcoming if I happen to think of anything else.
Update September 17: by now, the negatives are arriving in the mail, which makes this a good moment to also release the digital scans for those who want to work with a digital file. Here are three versions:
www.koraks.nl/zut/PNX2509_4990_4800dpi.tif (Epson 4990 @ 4800dpi; 72Mbyte)
www.koraks.nl/zut/PNX2509_FTPII_6300dpi.tif (Flextight Precision II @ 6300dpi; 100Mbyte)
www.koraks.nl/zut/PNX2509_SDIV_3200dpi.tif (Konica Minolta Scan Dual IV @ 3200dpi; 28Mbyte)
The Minolta scan marked in bold is the one recommended to work with. The other two are offered to those who like to compare or perhaps want to optimize some aspect of the image that for some reason comes out better in one of the other scans. All files are 16 bit depth monochrome TIFF files with no layers or compression. If you have any trouble downloading or opening the scan of your choice, please contact @koraks.
The scans are uninverted, unsharpened and intended to capture the full tonal range of the image on the negative. No effort was done to try and match the scans in terms of contrast etc. Where possible, automatic corrections were disabled in the scanning software. Any dust or imperfections remain untouched in the linked files. It's up to you to edit, fix as you see fit.
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