The "Tradigital" transition.

Having gone back and scanned many old negs to print an upcoming show, I have not dev. any new negs specifically for scanning. But I have developed a sense for what I need in a neg. to scan well, which is a relatively flat and well exposed negative. My preference in the past has always been Tri-X in HC110 because of the midtone contrast, which I could never seem to get as well in any other combination. Mid-tone contrast is easy to achieve by manipulating the curve in Photoshop so that is no longer an issue. My sense is that a negative (exposed with proper ASA)with detailed shadows placed on Zone III and Zone VII highlights with normal dev. will give me a neg. with all the information I need to achieve almost anything I want in a scan. I no longer see the need for expanded developement as expansion is easily handled in Photoshop. Contraction though is still a necessity as blown out highlights are as unfixable as underexposure. Contraction though is actually well handled by blending two exposures, one for the highlights and one for the shadows.

How are people determining what is an ideal LF negative specifically for scanning?

There is an interesting plug-in in Optipix (Reindeergraphics) called "auto contrast" which gives you a histogram overlayed with a Zone Scale. It allows you to play with post exposure zone placements and development contrast and preview the results before it is applied. Assuming you start out with a negative with enough information, it allows you to explore almost any simulated exposure dev. combinations. For old Zone System farts like me, it is a useful tool for a kind of "post developement pre-visualization".

None of this is any easier or lowers the bar. I am spending far more time in front of a computer than I ever did in the darkroom. Actually my expectations of a good print have gotten higher. At the age of 55 I have gone back to 80 hour weeks like I did in my 30's. Part of that is the transitional learning curve, but a bigger part is the greater possiblities and my own growing expectations. I have been at this for almost 35 years now and I have to say I think we are living in the best of times. There have never been better options both traditionally and digitally. Digital has matured to a point of making some real artistic sense. Not as a replacement for traditional but as a new branch.

Just some thoughts from a "Tradigital" world.