{"id":9148,"date":"2012-12-18T16:14:23","date_gmt":"2012-12-18T22:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jbhphoto.com\/blog\/?p=9148"},"modified":"2018-08-22T10:57:56","modified_gmt":"2018-08-22T16:57:56","slug":"control-is-simple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jbhphoto.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/18\/control-is-simple\/","title":{"rendered":"CONTROL IS SIMPLE"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Transfer<\/a>Let me begin by qualifying what I am about to discuss by saying that I am a traditional B&W photographer.\u00a0 I shoot film and print in a wet darkroom using traditional materials and techniques.\u00a0 Whenever I talk about photography, I am talking about traditional B&W.\u00a0 I know little about color photography and even less about digital.<\/p>\n

I have often heard the argument that traditional B&W is so complicated.\u00a0 I actually heard that from several old-time wet darkroom color photographers.\u00a0 The truth is, working with traditional B&W, wet darkroom materials is very simple.\u00a0 But, there is sometimes a complex deception in simplicity.\u00a0 Keep in mind that the most complex machine, or procedure ever devised is little more than a lot of simple things all working together to create a seemingly complex outcome.\u00a0 True, as you add more steps, each step can interact with the others, but if you break each piece of the greater puzzle into less complex, bite-size pieces, it is understandable and controllable. <\/p>\n

When it comes to traditional B&W photography, you only have four basic controls to worry about.\u00a0 There are only four simple things that have power over the major aspects of the end product. . . the B&W photograph. <\/strong><\/h4>\n

    \n
  1. \n

    Film Exposure<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
  2. \n

    Film Development<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
  3. \n

    Print Exposure<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
  4. \n

    Print Development <\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    1.\u00a0 Film Exposure:\u00a0 This is the first, and is a very important aspect of photography.\u00a0 You can manipulate how a scene is captured through the way you meter and expose the film.\u00a0 There are numerous manipulations you can employ, including zone placements and filters.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h4>\n

    2.\u00a0 Film Development:\u00a0 The tonal range captured on the film at the time of exposure can be further manipulated by development.\u00a0 Different developers and times will yield different results, but so far as the film goes, this is all you can do. <\/strong><\/h4>\n

    3.\u00a0 Print Exposure:\u00a0 Next comes the process of printing.\u00a0 You can vary the way in which the paper is exposed.\u00a0 Matters not whether you are enlarging or contact printing.\u00a0 You can further manipulate print exposure by dodging and\/or burning, and you can adjust the paper contrast, either by paper grades or by using VC papers.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h4>\n

    4.\u00a0 Print Development:\u00a0 The only other control you have during printing is the choice of developer, dilution, time, and maybe some additives.\u00a0\u00a0 But in reality, these are the only two fundamental controls available for making prints. <\/strong><\/h4>\n

    Certainly there are numerous smaller adjustments and techniques that can be employed in B&W photography, but these four major areas are where you start.\u00a0 Anyone that tells you traditional B&W photography is difficult, simply does not have a good understanding of the process.\u00a0\u00a0 If you are interested in delving into traditional photography, do not be intimidated.\u00a0 It is not that difficult.\u00a0 What is difficult is learning the subtleties that make the process beautiful.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h4>\n

    You need to begin with the fundamental steps.\u00a0 You can only learn by doing.\u00a0 Fred Picker said, \u201c you can learn to talk about something by talking about it, but you can only learn to do something by doing it.\u201d\u00a0 These four basic areas are where you start.\u00a0 Then proceed to fine-tune your technique as necessary.\u00a0 You will soon find that you can easily control the basic processes and develop a photographic approach that suits your vision. <\/strong><\/h4>\n

    JB<\/strong><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Let me begin by qualifying what I am about to discuss by saying that I am a traditional B&W photographer.\u00a0 I shoot film and print in a wet darkroom using traditional materials and techniques.\u00a0 Whenever I talk about photography, I am talking about traditional B&W.\u00a0 I know little about color photography and even less aboutContinue reading →<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,12,9],"tags":[16,17,18,20,41],"class_list":["post-9148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-how-to","category-photography","tag-film-photography","tag-fine-art-photography","tag-jb-susan-harlin","tag-ulf-photography","tag-view-camera","no-thumb"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nCONTROL IS SIMPLE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Whenever I talk about photography, I am talking about traditional B&W. I know little about color photography and even less about digital.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jbhphoto.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/18\/control-is-simple\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CONTROL IS SIMPLE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Whenever I talk about photography, I am talking about traditional B&W. I know little about color photography and even less about digital.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.jbhphoto.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/18\/control-is-simple\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"jbhphoto.com Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-18T22:14:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-08-22T16:57:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/jbhphoto.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Curve01-400x298.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"JB Harlin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"JB Harlin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jbhphoto.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/18\/control-is-simple\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jbhphoto.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/18\/control-is-simple\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"JB Harlin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jbhphoto.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6041e95988ddc41210c0c9b10cf7d900\"},\"headline\":\"CONTROL IS SIMPLE\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-18T22:14:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-08-22T16:57:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jbhphoto.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/18\/control-is-simple\/\"},\"wordCount\":551,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jbhphoto.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6041e95988ddc41210c0c9b10cf7d900\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jbhphoto.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/18\/control-is-simple\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/jbhphoto.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Curve01-400x298.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Film Photography\",\"Fine Art Photography\",\"JB & Susan Harlin\",\"ULF Photography\",\"View Camera\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Commentary\",\"How-To\",\"Photography\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jbhphoto.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/18\/control-is-simple\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.jbhphoto.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/18\/control-is-simple\/\",\"name\":\"CONTROL IS SIMPLE\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jbhphoto.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jbhphoto.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/18\/control-is-simple\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jbhphoto.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/18\/control-is-simple\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/jbhphoto.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Curve01-400x298.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-18T22:14:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-08-22T16:57:56+00:00\",\"description\":\"Whenever I talk about photography, I am talking about traditional B&W. 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