Photographic Control Spiral

[Timberwolf]

it didn't take me a decade to develop film correctly, probably 1 roll ? and printing, IDK I did a test strip and picked the time. I've never really had trouble exposing, processing film or printing .. I guess my formative education on the mothership with Bootsy Collins and George Clinton helped
I agree there's a lot of people trying to get attention on the internet teaching us how to breathe but IDK I think a lot of it is to gain attention from younger people who have adopted the internet and the video fast cut as a way of life. some of it is pretty entertaining though, like that techn0-internet whizkid who couldn't figure out how to flip the tape in the Sony Walkman, whatever, I grew up flipping the tape, and my threshold for entertainment is low. I can't blame them for adopting you tube or Vimeo or ticktock or whatever, online forums tend to be tedious, hard to weed out the cranky.. ( as seen by the cranky and sometimes harsh responses to this thread LOL )
The OP has a point with the spiral, it's about finding one's balance and seeing the interconnectedness between everything. all too often people trying to learn how to expose or develop or print don't realize everything is interconnected .. I've always made it a point to suggest people bracket exposures and bracket development and then print or scan or whatever they like to do for presentation, so they can actually see what the OP is talking about. the whole medium is fluid, and sometimes hard to figure out, and then it's about people's personal taste and somebody telling them they did something (that can't be wrong) wrong, whatever... I have more to day but I better keep it to myself
I think people are too worried about the graphic instead of the message behind the graphic, or is it the message behind the graphic instead of the graphic, IDK. I find the OP's language and graphic to be OK, but I'm not fussy. but to be honest, I think it would have been even better if there were two spirals and they spun around in circles and we all were mesmerized, then there were subliminal messages that were broadcast right into our brains to send the OP some cash, you know like Soupy Sales did before he went on to hang out with Kitty Cariistle .. on black and white 1960s game shows.. what we really need is that song to start playing and a vivid meme of gene gene the dancing machine to start dancing around, much better !

Help me Mr. Wizard!

 

[Doremus Scudder]

Mr. Wizard! That takes me back.

As for the spiral (and in response to those who don't seem to understand it). It's just a graphic representation of the tone-reproduction matrix we see so often with the opposing H&D curves (one for the negative, one for the paper).

Once around the spiral gets you a lot of results. Then you start another, closer to optimal, trip around the spiral: Do you need to change your starting point (E.I.)? If so change that and move on to the next quadrant. Do you need to change negative contrast? If so, change that and move on to the next quadrant. Do you need to better evaluate your test strips to find a highlight density that works for base print exposure? Do that too and then go on to the print-contrast quadrant.

If you're still not happy with your prints, make another loop or two around the spiral.

Best,

Doremus

 

[BrianShaw]

It would appear that the first reaction of most respondents was to be annoyed at being presented with a simple graphic without any attempt at adding an explanation. It took until Matt's reply to (a) express any gratitude to the OP and to say that his graphic may have failed to explain whatever it was that the OP thought it explained. We needed a further explanation

The simplest initial response might have been to have been to have asked for a fuller explanation but we don't always go for open neutral questions in our responses.

A white haired German guy walks into a saloon and says he has discovered an equation that will change the world. He says the equation is very simple. It's e = mc squared.

The cowboys' reaction is that he's obviously a "wise guy" instead of asking him what he equation means and why he thinks it will change the world

The odds now are that matters will quickly go downhill

pentaxuser

LOL… I didn’t really feel motivated so just went away until now. It is fascinating to see how the thread evolved.

 

[pentaxuser]

Well, Brian from what might be described as hostile "stony ground" beginnings it has reached 54 posts with now some substance and life. Nothing really gets dead and buried on Photrio not even Koda...something. Is this one of its strengths or weaknesses or often both?

pentaxuser