Digital versus traditional photography

The intention of this article is not to malign traditional photography. Photography is an art and good photographers are consummate craftsmen with a complete understanding and control of the variables involved in the process.

That said, the digital process that Qoro uses to image artwork creates a file that is superior to traditional photography for reproduction purposes. First we need a basic understanding of the photographic process; one that is a little more involved than light, focus, click and develop.

In all photography light is reflected off of the subject and carries the color and tone information to a lens. The lens focuses the information and relays it through an open shutter, then in the case of traditional photography, on to the film located in the back of the camera. Film is coated with light sensitive particles that react to and record the information as it is relayed through the lens and the shutter.

The film is then submersed in a chemical formulation which removes the light sensitive nature of the film or fixes the information. Once the film is fixed it becomes a negative. The chemical formulation that the film is submerged in must be measured carefully and the amount of time the film is submerged in the bath must be accurately timed.

To produce a photograph or a transparency the negative is placed in an enlarger. An enlarger is another light source and a lens which projects the image onto light sensitive paper or reversal film. The process involves focusing lenses and timing exposure much like the original photographic shot. Once the paper or film has been exposed to the image it is submerged in yet another chemical bath to develop. The necessary chemical formulations must be carefully measured and kept clean. The amount of time the paper or film is submerged in the chemicals must be carefully timed as well.

The first major consideration in photography is light. Lighting the subject is critical to good photography whether it be traditional or digital. The color of the light is crucial for good color reproduction. The best result is achieved using light which has the fullest spectrum of color or balanced light. Artists refer to the optimum light as north light. In traditional photography not just the light has to be balanced, but the film and paper have to have balanced color properties as well.

Qoro technology for lighting uses tungsten halogen lights. The lights are actually a little red, but the camera color profile accounts for this and balances the light to insure the most accurate color. With digital photography there is no film or negative which means no mixing chemicals or timing the submersion of product.

There are two other major considerations when lighting artwork; the intensity of the light and the angle of the light source on the original. In traditional photography' once the object is lit, the amount of light hitting the film is controlled by how far the shutter opens and how long the shutter is open. If the shutter is open too long or too wide then the highlights will contain no detail. If the shutter is not open long enough or wide enough then the shadows will have no detail.

With Qoro technology the shutter remains open and the CCD (Charge-coupled device) records the image that passes through the lens, on to the camera back, line by line. Imaging a piece of artwork takes about 20 minutes, but there are no variables to contend with and no need for bracketing shots. Bracketing is when the photographer provides the client with several images with different tonal variations.

The angle of the light source hitting the original is also critical. Too much or too little of an angle results in flash across the surface or spectral highlights. Spectral highlights are tiny white flashes recorded from the elevated spots in the paint texture on the surface when the light hits it at less than an optimum angle. Not all spectral highlights are avoidable. Some photographers address the issue of spectral highlights by using a polarized filter. Unfortunately, polarized filters alter the hues in the final image.

At Qoro the lights are pre-set at the optimum angle and remain that way for all photographic shoots. Unavoidable spectral highlights can be removed digitally to provide the client with the best possible image while still maintaining color balance.

Finally, under the topic of lighting, there is the issue of bright spots on the surface. As you light the artwork, areas that are closer to the light source are brighter while areas that are further away are darker. In traditional photography, professional lighting techniques that use diffused lighting are used. The better your photographer is at lighting, the higher the premium you will pay for this service. At Qoro we use a program that maps the lighting and uses the computer to create uniform light across the surface of the original art.

Next, we need to address focus. With traditional photography the photographer looks through the camera and adjusts the focus by eye. Hopefully the camera is mounted to a tripod so any operator movement does not blur the image. Qoro uses a system that focuses to a target using the computer. As the image comes into focus a tone emitted from the computer alerts the operator to maximum focus. The higher the tone, the better the focus. This allows the capture and recording of individual hairs and even finger prints in the medium.

We also need to discuss the size of the area that the image is projected onto. 35 MM film has a light sensitive area of about 1" by 1 3/8". Medium format photography has an approximate area of 1.77" by 2.36" and large format camera backs use an area 4" by 5".

Because of cost factors, most transparencies are produced from 35mm film. To put this into perspective, to produce a 7"x 5" photograph, the negative must be enlarged 5 times. To produce an 8x10 transparency the negative must be enlarged 7.25 times. If the transparency is used to produce a 16"x20" print, the original image must be enlarged 14.5 times.

Qoro uses a large format camera back with an area of 4" x 5". To produce a 16"X 20" print the original captured image is enlarged 4 times. To achieve similar results using traditional photography, the transparency would have to be made from a large format negative.

Some issues we have experienced using transparencies to produce giclees include lack of resolution (blurred images), loss of detail in highlights and shadows, color shifts or color casts, colored rings that we assume occurred during the drying process and the most detrimental issue, debris on the surface of the transparency. Debris can be smudges, dust and lint. Even a transparency which has been carefully handled may pick up debris during the developing process caused by dirty or old chemicals. A small speck of dust embedded in the transparency becomes a large dark spot when it has been magnified 14 times.

To sum up, a Qoro digital image is produced using a large format back and computer assisted controls. The final image is one generation from the original. You can be assured that our experience imaging over 4000 originals and our state of the art system will yield the best possible record of your original artwork.