dispatches: Mimicking the look of silver:
One of the problems I have with digital output from film is the chalky look from a scanned image. In making my silver prints I use a cold light head on my enlarger, which gives a soft, creamy look to the highlights. It is extremely forgiving to grain. When I see an image from a scanned negative, either from a drum scan or from my Nikon 9000, it looks like a print made with a condensor head enlarger. The grain is hard and granular. The highlights are contrasty and blocked up.
But I think I’ve figured out a way to get that creamy cold-light look.
I just got a flatbed scanner — lacking a power cable, sadly — so I’ll taking a look at this.