Who needs Photoshop???

[Xia_Ke]

So I picked up some old Kodak videos on Ebay the other day and watched tonight. On one of the videos there is an interview with Jerry Uelsmann in his darkroom where he went step by step through how he made some of of his more famous prints. All I can say is WOW!!! If you're not familiar with Jerry's work, I HIGHLY recommend checking out his website:

http://www.uelsmann.net/

[mjs1973]

I have seen a few of Uelsmann's images on the history of photography podcast that I listen to, but I have never really took a good look at his work. I just looked through some of his images on his site. Wow, to say I'm impressed is an understatement.

[Xia_Ke]

Mike, it was really interesting. Talked about how he set up each aspect of the shot, masked off on separate enlargers. Said he mostly used 3 or 4 for his shots but, some he used up to 7. I think I might try some experiments. Looked so simple how he showed it but, I can imagine that wont be the case at all...LOL

[jgredline]

I was checking out his site. Impressive. Wish it had larger pics though.. I am just about ready to dive in. I have a corner set up in my Garage and have ordered the ''stuff''

[Xia_Ke]

A whole corner? You don't need all of that just to do negatives... unless you're making room for a whole darkroom?!?!

[scott4055]

really impressive!

but i was hoping to find a good (and free) photoshop alternative here in this thread. does anybody know one?! i've heard about gimp, but i think it won't work with Mac OS X...

[Xia_Ke]

Hi Scott, wish I could help you but, I don't know of any for Mac Have you thought about Photoshop Elements? It's not free but, you could probably pick up a previous version on Ebay for cheap. Try posting a thread in the Photography Software, Printing, & Computers forum. Someone there may know of one for Mac.

Aaron

[reverberation]

So I picked up some old Kodak videos on Ebay the other day and watched tonight. On one of the videos there is an interview with Jerry Uelsmann in his darkroom where he went step by step through how he made some of of his more famous prints. All I can say is WOW!!! If you're not familiar with Jerry's work, I HIGHLY recommend checking out his website:

http://www.uelsmann.net/

Great link Aaron, you can see how good a printer he is by the transitions. We really Should do a thread on great pre-photoshop photography. I think it would change the way some people use photoshop. Check this guy out. http://www.artnet.com/artwork/425089...-peasants.html

[Xia_Ke]

That would make for an excellent thread. I picked up a really cool book the other day off Ebay. It's from 1940 and is all about old school printing special effects. Should make for some fun in the darkroom. The video I mentioned about is awesome if you get a chance to pick it up. It's called "Creating The Print" and is from Kodak. In addition to featuring Uelsmann's work, it also features Scott Griswold who does more studio fine art and Kevin Higley who does sports photography and he also discusses photojournalism.

[California L33]

really impressive!

but i was hoping to find a good (and free) photoshop alternative here in this thread. does anybody know one?! i've heard about gimp, but i think it won't work with Mac OS X...

Several years ago I tried Cinepaint/GIMP, but they kept crashing. In the end I had to bite the bullet and buy PS, which I still don't like.

[Asylum Steve]

I've been a long-time Uelsmann fan, ever since I saw his first floating tree. What's cool is I almost got to study under him, when he was still teaching at the University of Florida.

When my parents retired to Florida, and I transferred college from New York, I applied to both UF and Florida State.

For various reasons, I choose FSU (which of course, I have never regretted!). They had a strong Art and Photo department as well, but I've always wondered how my life would have been different had I had the chance to study with Uelsmann... :idea:

BTW, I hope you see the irony here. Had Uelsmann arrived on the photo art scene today, I can almost guarantee he'd be a huge photoshop fan...

[Photo-John]

I discovered and was inspired by Jerry Uelsmann when I started college. I even used to use some of his techniques in the darkroom. However, the darkroom can't compete with Photoshop. It's no contest. The darkroom is dark and magical, of course. But Photoshop is much, much more powerful. Everything Uelsmann did with ten enlargers, lots of time, and probably numerous throaways, can be done with faster and better with Photoshop.

It's a good post, though :-)

And Uelsmann kicks ass. I still love his images and his darkroom techniques really are awesome.

[Xia_Ke]

I was by no means putting down Photoshop. Was more to show the crazy special effects in photography have been around long before Photoshop.

Steve, I'm sure he would have liked the possibilities of Photoshop but, he was definitely a lover of the darkroom and spent a good portion of the interview talking about his love of just spending time locked away from everyone, bent over an enlarger. It was his vice and how he cleared his head.

One thing that struck me odd though was he said 99% of his work was not previsualized. He shot scenes that he liked and later looked for ways to combine them.

[reverberation]

I find photoshop to be a must have tool for planning prints. I can get a very good idea of what a shot will look like, and this saves me huge amounts of time and paper. As powerful and indispensable as I find photoshop, I must say that I can make prints in the darkroom that I could not make in photoshop.

Uelsmann and his contemporaries made the darkroom a place of magical possibilities for me when I was in high school. I never really loved photography until I saw their prints.