Darkroom to Digital: Black and White Photography with Photoshop - The Art of Transition (Paperback)

by Eddie Ephraums (Author) "I would not be true to myself or to the purposes of this book if I allowed it to become just another publication about techniques..." (more)
Key Phrases: traditional darkroom, digital darkroom

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
A leading photographer and fine–art printer addresses the questions that concern every black–and–white photographer who’s changing to a digital “darkroom.”

From the Publisher
Ten years after Creative Elements, his acclaimed book on traditional black–and–white photography, Eddie Ephraums now addresses the issues of switching to a Photoshop “darkroom,” exploring its creative potential for printing pictures digitally. He begins by examining the values of traditional black–and–white, then looks at how digital can build upon them. Next, he takes us through a digital portfolio of photos, discussing equipment and methods and showing, step by step, how these images were made. Explaining how he emulated and improved upon traditional darkroom techniques and processes, he concludes that, creatively, black–and–white photographers have never had it so good. Eddie Ephraums is a photographer and fine–art printer. He is the author of Creative Elements, Creative Exposures, and Gradient Light and leads photographic workshops for universities as well as corporations, including Kodak and Ilford.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Aurum Press (September 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1902538285
• ISBN-13: 978-1902538280
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 8.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #852,451 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Very little "hands on" digital B&W photography, August 31, 2005

By	Richard Drdul (Vancouver, BC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book has very little actual information about producing digital black & white images. Mostly it's a discussion of the author's transition from film to digital, and the benefits/differences of digital. There isn't much actual information on Photoshop techniques and other means of producing digital B&W photos, and what there is is very basic and can be found in countless other books/magazine articles/web sites. As well, the photos are not very inspiring, and certainly do not illustrate anything specific to digital photography. A much better choice for an introduction to digital B&W photography is Barry Thornton's "Elements of Transition."

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Book, April 27, 2005

By	Stanley R. Freedman - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you are looking for a book with nuts and bolts techniques on how to print high quality black and white prints from digital images this book is NOT for you. It is a journal of one man's journey from the world of black and white film photography to black and white digital. The book is eloquently written, with beautiful, artistic images, printed on high quality stock. It is thoughtful, creative and confirms the notion that black and white digital can be just as good if not better than film.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The best of intentions but too rambling and not very clear, July 20, 2005

By	D. Freed (Clinton, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Despite my high hopes for this book and the fact that Mr. Epharums is a talented photographer and print maker, and I trust had the best of intentions, this book is just not very good. The approach the author takes is inconsistent and confusing: at times he's rambling when you want simplicity and clarity; at other times he's sparse when you're hoping for detail.

For starters, the sections covering how to work with Photoshop are not very clear. And the figures and much of the text are so painfully small that they're almost useless. This is especially obvious when he covers duotones. I like what he's achieved, but he doesn't give much to learn from.

In another part of the book he offers his "guiding principles," a series of one-liners that I assume are supposed to convey a Zen-like teaching about his approach. Instead they left me baffled. Consider the phrase "A precision of feeling." It sounds nice, but what does it mean, (speaking of precision)? Or the phrase "Let the accident participate" which is accompanied by photos of boats beached at low tide. Again I was baffled: does he mean an accident in something he did in taking the photo or in working on it in Photoshop, or did he mean the "accident" of the beached boats (which were beached on purpose)? Again, a nice Zen-like sentiment (and believe me, I can get down and cosmic with the best of them), but not useful in learning about photography or about digital black and white image-making.

This touches on the essence of what's wrong with this book. It is trying to be both a guide to digital black and white printmaking and at the same time, a book about Mr. Epharums' approach and philosophy to image-making. Not that this can't be pulled off, only that he doesn't do it in this book.

I think that this book could have worked, if the author had partnered with a good Photoshop teacher, and if he had worked with a compassionate but ruthless editor, to keep the book on track and the ramblings at bay, and if he was committed to clear examples of how to make these types of images. But that's a lot of if-ing on my part.

What redeems this book somewhat are the images: they are wonderful, and do give one inspiration as to what is possible with digital image-making; just don't look to this book to show you how.

Regards, David