first time developing pictures

[artistsdad]

Daughter came home just now grinning from ear to ear and rattling on about 60 mph. She got to develop some pictures for the first time, just as a lark. She's been rattling on for 30 minutes now about how it works and how neat it is and how you can actually see the pictures develop and you have to do test strips and and and and and she's gotta stop for a breath sooner or later.

It's good to see her excited about something at school for a change. I suppose the fact that she thinks she did a good job on her finals is also part of it...

Is there much use for film photography in the design field anymore, or is everything digital?

[cornfed]

I still prefer film. It definitely has it's place. It bothers me a lot that so many people think digital is the be all of alls. I prefer to have a negative in my hand. It feels like insurance.

Whether it has it's place in graphic design is really inconsequential. I find that a lot of young designers don't know what dodge/burn is outside of photoshop or any other concepts related to traditional photography. A lot of the features in photoshop first started in the darkroom or behind the lens. Your daughter will understand these concepts and it should really help her out come image manipulation time, color correction time, etc! What's she shooting with anyway?

[Riya]

There are still some things that you can do with film that you can't do with digital...
And like cornfed says, it's good to know where your roots are.

[artistsdad]

Mainly she's shooting with a lot of hope. She has a friend in the photography class, and snuck in whilst the class she was supposed to be in was having a Christmas party. Daughter has been interested in photography for a long time, but could only sign up for som many courses. She signed up for graphic design hoping there would be some photography included. Photography has been part of the design class in terms of composing photos, but they haven't been involved in developing their own stuff. They are trying to convince the teacher that, as you mentioned, some techniques in Photoshop is based on photography techniques, so they should learn it from the ground up. It's a pretty laid-back system, so they may just get some exposure to it. In the meantime, if I know my daughter, she'll probably try to continue sneaking into the photography class whenever she has a chance.

She's played around with my old slr, but hasn't taken the time to "learn" what the camera is doing. She gets frustrated when the ensuing photo doesn't match what she saw in her mind when she took the picture. It's a matter of practice and paying attention. We'll try to keep her exposed to photography as much as we can, and encourage her to keep working at it. Unfortunately, developing film isn't cheap, and there's only so many $$ to go around each month.

[Riya]

She snuck into photography class! *laughs* I like this girl. She has spunk.

[tZ]

It wouldn't be worth it for a graphic design class to teach dark room photography.

With the amount of time it takes to learn photography develping techniques it needs to be a class in itself. In addition, it is WAYYYYYYYYY expensive.

In general though I think photography is going digital. Its good to know the fundamentals but, when it comes down to money digital is the way. yeah… some people might want hand developed photography but, I would say the majority would rather spend less and get more… sorry to say.

[cornfed]

I disagree with you TZ. Designers do need to understand dark room principles. If for nothing else than to understand the photographic possibilities. Learning isn't always cheap. Photography is expensive. But it is well worth it. When I was in school, I took every photography class I could get into. I actually took enough to be considered as having a minor in photography. It was very worth it. I bought a dark room and did all my own color and black and white development - except for color negative development. Designers need to take these courses so that they can understand the possibilities. Think of what photography classes offer in terms of composition alone. Everybody and their brother shoots people about eye level with the camera while they're smiling. Hopefully the flash doesn't give them the red eye. You don't get that in a photo composition class. You explore composition and space and objects within that space and how they relate to one another and contribute to the piece as a whole. Does that sound familiar? I imagine that you explore composition and space and objects within that space and how they relate to one another and contribute to the piece as a whole when it comes crit time in your class. Take it to the next page in your life when you're an art director at the top of an agency. It's time to contract a photographer for a shoot for a series of hospital ads. What are you going to tell the photographer that you want? A couple of head on shots? No. It's be great to be able to look at that photographer and tell them that you want a foreshortened, slightly contrasted image of the doctors as they are looking up at you. When he ask if the ads are going to be bright and merry or dull in color, you can tell him. He would then say something along the lines of "ok well I'm going to step it up once, step it down once and then do the cameras suggestion for this lighting" When he asks if you want a vignet filter, you'll know exactly what he's talking about and be equipped to make a decision right there on the fly. Everything I learned in photography class has spilled over into everything I do graphic designwise. I took so many classes that I am able to cut out the expense of having to hire one myself and shoot what I need - with my film camera. Sometimes with my medium format too. And then I get the fee that would normally go to the photographer.

[morea]

In general though I think photography is going digital. Its good to know the fundamentals but, when it comes down to money digital is the way. yeah… some people might want hand developed photography but, I would say the majority would rather spend less and get more… sorry to say.

that's kind of like saying that a designer doesn't need to learn how to draw, because most design work is computerized these days...

why pay an illustrator or a painter for a portrait when you can just take a photo and run a posterize filter on it, lol. why pay a logo designer when you can get software to design your own logo for $29.95?

there will always be a demand for quality. I guess it's just a matter of finding clients who recognize its worth and are willing to pay for it.

[Jackimalyn]

photography is going digital, however, itll be a while before its completely obsolete; Film is still more advanced in certain situations and until digital can catch up (in a way that doesn't completely break your wallet) and until the stubborn photographers who refuse to learn what a computer is "die out" film will still be around.

However, I was looking for a 35mm point and shoot fro someone for christmas. that was tough!! Everyone i asked looked at me like I was crazy...

I love the darkroom though. Wait til she developes a roll of film! i love it- I always wanted to make it a hobby, make my own darkroom, but damn! its expensive!

[artistsdad]

this has turned into an interesting thread all the sudden. Thanks for all the replies and thoughts. Not being in the biz, its all eye-opening to me.

One question raised by all this, though--Cornfed, you mentioned that my knowing the basics of photography, you could give more input to a photographer hired for a shoot. But would he/she not take your "meddling" into his job the same way you designers take clients who try to tell you what to design?:p Frustration with clients who "think they know what they're doing" seems to be an ongoing issue on these forums...just curious.

[cornfed]

I don't think so, Artists. Somebody has to be a project leader and that would be the art director. By the time the photographer comes into the picture (no pun intended!) the piece is comped and waiting to be produced. All the photographer is really doing is helping through their skill and profession to materialize a concept. I don't know that you need to say "Let's step down the f-stop by two levels so that we can control this shadow better and blah blah" but understanding that through various camera maneuvers we CAN control that shadow before hitting photoshop is more what is needed. An intelligent dialogue with the photographer is also helpful. She'll learn all that!

[budafist]

I loved working in the darkroom, but just for fun. It takes a long time to perfect, lots of it was trial and error (or is that just me??) and ended up very expensive for me.

Cool to see that she is excited about it. Lucky is one of those things you can teach yourself.