reels to develop many 35mm film strips at once speeding up the process.
Toronto. In the days of film, photographers developed the strip of film in a reel. Professionals could develop many reels of film at once using devices like that at left [photo courtesy of Patrick Gunn]. Once correctly developed, the best shots [frames] were enlarged in the darkroom and printed.
Mid last century, daylight tanks were marketed. Reels were loaded and dropped in the tank in darkness. A light trap mechanism allowed the various chemical solutions to be used in daylight for the traditional time-temperature development, stop, fix and wash before the strips were unwound and hung to dry.
Once dry, a contact print was made, select frames chosen, and those frames enlarged to create the final prints. During enlargement, cropping, and dodging and burning created the final image. professionals intending to replicate the final prints made notes of such cropping, dodging, and burning.
Today, with digital technology, software editors can make the relevant adjustments in very short time – if you understand the concepts and adjust the image with the correct software tools.
Artificial Intelligence [AI], while still in its infancy, makes such corrections much easier. For example using Topaz Photo 3 AI to ‘sharpen’ the digital image above makes it appear crisper. Digital cameras by their very nature tend to make slightly soft images benefitting from a very minor bit of sharpening.
Proper experience is still necessary to make cropping decisions and adjustment of the image’s H-D curve [exposure, brightness, contrast, etc.]. And to see the future, sunglasses may be necessary …
