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gth
26-Nov-2011, 18:43
Any of you experienced dark room mavens looked at the "Post Exposure" book by Ctein(?!) - Published by Focal Press?

It's copyright 2011, 2nd edition but I don't know if the information in it is current.

What's the scoop on the author and this book..... value and quality of the information in your (expert) opinion?

Daniel Stone
26-Nov-2011, 19:26
for anyone who's interested in reading the "book", here's a link to the free download from Ctein's website:

http://ctein.com/PostExposure2ndIllustrated.pdf

-Dan

cyrus
26-Nov-2011, 20:08
Ctein is a highly-respected author on things photography-related, and I made a point of purchasing his older book. Especially if you're interested in the science of it all. However as a practical matter you won't find anything in his book that is not in many other books, especially when it comes to the fundamentals. You can download the older edition for free I think

Oren Grad
26-Nov-2011, 20:33
However as a practical matter you won't find anything in his book that is not in many other books, especially when it comes to the fundamentals.

The material on RC print stability is based on Ctein's own research, and is unique to him. Several other sections are also either unique or reflect his particular twist on things. It's not a textbook - it's a collection of observations on a range of darkroom topics. Think of it as a supplement to standard how-to references.

David Karp
26-Nov-2011, 20:36
I think it is an excellent book. The information on enlarging lenses is also interesting and something that I never saw in another book.

Brian Ellis
26-Nov-2011, 20:52
I have the first edition, it's excellent. I don't think everything in it can be found somewhere else.

cyrus
27-Nov-2011, 20:16
I think it is an excellent book. The information on enlarging lenses is also interesting and something that I never saw in another book.

Yes as I said if you're interested in the science-y stuff, it is quite interesting. But if you want to just learn how to take a photo and make an enlargement etc, not much there. In fact I'd recommend Vestal's book over Ctein's if you're trying to learn darkroom work.

Michael Clark
27-Nov-2011, 20:42
cyrus,is that David Vestal? I remember reading a lot of what he wrote in the popular photo mags, what book are you referring to ?

Mike

Oren Grad
27-Nov-2011, 22:29
David has published two books - The Craft of Photography (~1975) and The Art of Black and White Enlarging (1984). Both are wonderful. "Craft" has a broader scope - not just darkroom - while "Art" feels much more up to date, even though there was less than a decade between them.

"Art" draws heavily on material that he published as articles in Popular Photography. I'm not sure about "Craft" in that respect - my own photo magazine reading goes back only to the mid-'70s.

cyrus
28-Nov-2011, 08:59
cyrus,is that David Vestal? I remember reading a lot of what he wrote in the popular photo mags, what book are you referring to ?

Mike

Yup - David Vestal. And there's Andreas Feininger too - "Darkroom Techniques" for example.

Brian Ellis
28-Nov-2011, 11:13
Yes as I said if you're interested in the science-y stuff, it is quite interesting. But if you want to just learn how to take a photo and make an enlargement etc, not much there. In fact I'd recommend Vestal's book over Ctein's if you're trying to learn darkroom work.

With respect - the "Post Exposure" title should tell anyone that it's not a book intended to help you "learn how to take a photo." And the sub-title, which is "Advanced Techniques for the Photographic Printer," should be a give-away that it's not intended for people who don't know how to make an enlargement. It's a book for people who want to advance beyond the basics of darkroom work and IMHO it's excellent for that purpose. Saying there's "not much there" because it doesn't tell you how to make a photo or an enlargement is like saying there's not much in an automobile repair manual because it doesn't teach you how to drive. That's certainly true because learning how to drive isn't the purpose of a repair manual.

Gregg Cook
2-Dec-2011, 10:48
I have had the first edition for quite some time and find it very useful. I view it as a supplement for the three Ansel Adams technical books, which cover almost nothing about color film, or the modern concerns about RC stability, etc.

I wonder how the second edition changed. I think some of the chemicals referred to in the first edition, lower contrast ciba stuff etc, may be no longer available....

Anyone with the second edition want to tell me what the differences are?

I also have his digital retouching book on my to buy list, but that is off topic....

Drew Wiley
2-Dec-2011, 15:54
You can always e-mail Ctein for specific questions. He continues to experiment with
this and that just to keep abreast of various changes, and there's simply no way to
even be fully up to date when a book even does get published. Quite a bit in the first
edition would be no longer functionally relevant. But so what. I sometimes fish through
photographic and graphics literature 75-years old and come up with a useful tidbit or
two. And given certain precedents one can also improvise current analogues.