3 ms·

GIMP has the tools to do anything you could do in a darkroom (and in color no less). finding those tools and figuring out how to use them is an infamous bitch.

GIMP has the tools to do anything you could do in a darkroom (and in color no less). finding those tools and figuring out how to use them is an infamous bitch. I did a little darkroom work a long time ago, i dont remember and couldn't characterize what the effects of different papers or overdeveloping would be, now. The digital generation would express it with a different vocabulary, and it seems to me what you need is a translator/ phrasebook. My search results [1] make me suspect the actual techniques of "darkroom effects" are lost knowledge now. [1] http://faculty.purchase.edu/michael.bell-smith/cwd_gte_2012/art/darkroomeffects http://faculty.purchase.edu/michael.bell-smith/cwd_gte_2012/...

roomey 5y ago
Yes, I think GIMP probably can do what I need, the issue as ever is how to go about getting there. There is a particular selenium look I'm trying to get, it bring out the highlights in tree bark really well, giving them an almost shiny silver grey appearance. Not sure how to emulate this in GIMP
- h2odragon 5y ago
  Edge detection / highlighting and color banding, maybe? "Selenium look" ... forgive me but even when every small town newspaper had a darkroom, how common a phrase was that? You might need to write a lexicon of what you're talking about just to help preserve some of that knowledge for the world.
  - roomey 5y ago
    http://photo-reactive.blogspot.com/2010/11/selenium-surprise.html?m=1 http://photo-reactive.blogspot.com/2010/11/selenium-surprise... This is an ok page about it. If you go to a black and white photo gallery you will see examples usually. I know I can't reproduce it exactly (because it's to do with the actual silver in the paper), but I thought there would be a way to imitate these darkroom processes a bit more. Edit: ah actually they say the scans dont do it justice. It's a beautiful look, if you can get to a gallery have peek and see if you can see what I'm talking about

roomey 5y ago

Yes, I think GIMP probably can do what I need, the issue as ever is how to go about getting there. There is a particular selenium look I'm trying to get, it bring out the highlights in tree bark really well, giving them an almost shiny silver grey appearance. Not sure how to emulate this in GIMP

h2odragon 5y ago
Edge detection / highlighting and color banding, maybe? "Selenium look" ... forgive me but even when every small town newspaper had a darkroom, how common a phrase was that? You might need to write a lexicon of what you're talking about just to help preserve some of that knowledge for the world.
- roomey 5y ago
  http://photo-reactive.blogspot.com/2010/11/selenium-surprise.html?m=1 http://photo-reactive.blogspot.com/2010/11/selenium-surprise... This is an ok page about it. If you go to a black and white photo gallery you will see examples usually. I know I can't reproduce it exactly (because it's to do with the actual silver in the paper), but I thought there would be a way to imitate these darkroom processes a bit more. Edit: ah actually they say the scans dont do it justice. It's a beautiful look, if you can get to a gallery have peek and see if you can see what I'm talking about