PHOTOGRAPHY-corollary 3

 PHOTOGRAPHY

 A COROLLARY – 3 TO PHOTO PRINTING

Though appropriate negative and paper grade can bring off the best desirable results, no print emerges without the dark room technicians’ effort which is one of intervention for regulating the ‘play of light ‘ over the sensitive face of the photo paper. But for such elegant interventions, the products would be less than impressive , in that the final image would be poor in details , because a certain volume and duration of light action together determine ‘image density necessary to reveal details to the right extent. If the image fails to appeal, the very purpose of photo sessions would be defeated and be just irrelevant . So, persons working in back ofice of studios/ printing houses are indeed masters of their craft. Ironically or curiously, we hear of tea masters, Dosa masters , parattaa masters and a few others dedicated to a specific stuff. In all my life of intimacy with photography spanning over 48 years as of now, nowhere have I ever been introduced to any dark room master , though they were merely called “Printers”.

 In my reckoning, all of them were very adept with dark room techniques and as such were GLORIOUS UNSUNG HEROS Some of them in Madurai were Mr. David Christopher [Photo Sylvia], Mr. Kandasamy [Bharath photo emporium], Mr. Lakshmanan [Asoka photo studio], Mr. Gopu [Gopu Studio], Mr. Manian [British Camera stores], Mr. Ramamoorthy [Jupiter studios], Mr. Raju [Athavan colour lab], Mr. Velu [JVC colour lab]. All the persons named here were working by Manual mode. So, I do not speak of persons in Automated labs. [Personally, I felt the need to recall names , more as my affection and respect to their skills –absolutely commendable.

Two strategies were employed for making ‘the best print’ from a negative. The purpose of the strategy is to provide optimum light to varied image densities , so as to get ‘a balanced’ print These  include a] DODGING and b] BURNING IN

DODGING :  As the name goes, the technician intervenes in the path of light reaching the photo paper by a finger or palm or fist or by thick opaque card board just enough to ‘dodge through ‘the light beam to contain the intensity / time of ineraction with papoer to ensure balanced play of light on a paper.  The intervening object for Dodging  is NOT HELD STATIC; instead it is wobbled to prevent sharp lines of segregation between the dodged and the open zones in a photo. Seeing the density differences across a print area, the technician quickly decides ‘where to dodge’, ‘how ‘and for ‘how long’.

BURNING IN : Means,  more time of action for light is permitted on areas which have rich image density and would not ‘print’ unless more time of light play is permitted. The worker recognizes such ‘dark areas’ on the negative and chooses to ‘burn in ‘ by allowing light to fall for longer time and the rest of the picture area is shielded from longer play of light. By closing the fist, the technician forms a pipe-like canal ; he uses the fist to let in proper volume of light by relaxing or contracting the fist suitably. At times, more areas may require burning in and technicians make the best judgement of exposure duration by sheer familiarity from experience. Stated in simple terms, human skill mattered the most in traditional photography.

K. Raman