Posted by Henry Butz on May 22, 2005 at 13:58:46:
Landscape photography is so very big. Several times, while photographing the lighthouses of New England, I started with the best of intentions. I would take notes, faithfully record the longitude and latitude of every lighthouse, and intended to add notes to the bottom of every image. The lighthouses spanned Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. Then, I tried to spell "Annisquam"... and, I'd give up. I never got past the A's. For two years, a pile of notes sat on my kitchen table with the best of intentions, trying to sort out all the landscape images. Finally, finally it's done. Now, clicking on the thumbnails of the landscape photos will correctly display the name of the lighthouse and where it is located. ahhhh.
Also, too, I've upgraded my scanner. I just couldn't stand it anymore. None of my B/W scans look as good as the prints. I attribute this to my 9yo SCSI scanner. While it was pretty good in its day, it just can't compete with the new 9600dpi 48bit color scanners of today. I've re-scanned some of my latest b/w nudes. Here's a before/after:
What a difference and so much easier, faster, sweeter.
As for digital... I finally gave in and see the advantage of shooting raw format, as opposed to jpg. It just seems to yield a superior image in raw, despite the inconvenience. So, I went one step further. I shot slide film in New England. My new flatbed scanner should do a good job scanning slides, rather than going straight to digital with a digital camera. Shooting chromes was wonderful - no color balance adjustments, no sharpening, no dust on the CCD to contend with - just a century-old technology of slide film. Stay tuned for the results.