The Home of the Hybrid Photographer

Change, it is somewhat of a constant in life, as contradictory as that may sound. Since LifeInDigitalFilm’s inception about a year and a half ago, the blog has made many little changes, shifts if you will, but never strayed too far from the original purpose. That purpose was to distribute my film emulation presets. However, as with all things in life, its time for a change.

Over the past year and a half, the mere task of emulating film has led me back into the warm embrace of the darkroom arts. I actually shot multiple rolls of each film I emulated to get an accurate feel for each film, both objective and subjective. For a while I was shooting just for the purpose of emulation, but the old Minolta Maxxum 7000 felt wonderful in my hands, and when the test rolls came out of the rinse I started to feel that old magic reignite.

Since the inception of LIDF, I have went from shooting 100% digital to shooting 20% digital and 80% traditional (I truly loathe the moniker ”Analog” for film photography). I still shoot digital for my paying jobs mostly, but almost all my personal work originated in silver salts embedded in gelatin. Keeping a digital focus on LIDF became work, both because I was enamored with the old ways and a guest spot on X-Equals led to becoming a regular contributor to the site. With the gwoing interest in film and a constant workload at X-Equals, LIDF began to suffer.

So recently, while working with Brandon of X-Equals on some upcoming projects, we discussed the future of LIDF. As it is, I am a major part of X-Equals, both in writing and product production, but I didn’t want LIDF to fade gently into the night. We can up with a plan together, which I am going to lay out to you now.

• LIDF has a new direction, one I have been slowly shifting toward over the course of the past year. LIDF is now going to focus on the needs and issues of the Hybrid Photographer. Those who choose to meld the strengths of film with the abilities afforded us by the digital darkroom. Using traditional and modern tools hand in hand to take the art of photography to the next level.
• To further this direction, LIDF will no longer have any digital content. From articles on digital photography to presets, including my film emulation presets. My articles relating to digital will now find a home on X-Equals, as they have been for over a year now.
• The film emulation presets will continue again in the future, they will be found at X-Equals from now on. Make sure to sign up for the X-Equals+Digest to be the first to get your hands on future Cold Storage film emulations. Also, sales of Cold Storage are no longer being done through LifeInDigitalFilm, X-Equals is the sole provider of my preset endeavors. The “Presets for Sale” link at the top of LIDF still works, but all sales are routed through X-Equals infrastructure. Or you can go to the X-Equals Store, instead.
• As X-Equals and LifeInDigitalFilm come more instep with one another, one focusing upon digital whilst the other upon film, there will be changes to LIDF. A new theme is in the works, replacing the excellent Mono theme I have been using. Also a change in hosting is very likely as well. I’ll keep you updated on any expected down time as those events move closer.

So now you know what is changing, here is some of what you can expect.

• Fresh articles on the arcane art of scanning. I started a series a while back on scanning, but other issues prevented me from getting it moving along, however they are well on their way to completion and posting.
• More in depth coverage of the two preeminent pieces of scanning software on the market. SilverFast and VueScan. I have touched upon these before, but both will be recieveing 30-Day Reviews, where I review the software after an intensive month with the software, in the coming weeks. Beyond the reviews, look forward to in-depth scanning workflows for both of these fine pieces of software.
• I’ll keep you up to date on new scanner releases as soon as I find out about them. Plus I will have reviews for the hardware I frequently use and share my thoughts and techniques with you.
• I love Lightrooom, and I find it just as powerful for the Hybrid Photographer as the Digital Photographer. We will look at the non-destructive workflow Lightroom offers, as we use the tools made for RAW files upon our scans.
• Plus, I will completely outline my personal scanning settings, which in the end become my fDNG files. 48-bit TIFFs wrapped up in a warm DNG blanket to provide additional security for your images as well as a litany of metadata to help you utilize your scans in Lightroom.
• We will experiment with some alternative photography methods, from printing in the darkroom from digital “negatives”, “scanning” slides using a DSLR enabling the use of RAW and HDR, to some traditional techniques that you may have never encountered.
• Dig deep into the world of development, from B&W to Color. We’ll even take a look at compounding our own chemisty to take our control of development to the next level.
• And more that I haven’t thought of. There is over 100 years of traditional technique and everyday there is more technology we can apply to the old ways.

So hang around and see what you think.

So let’s see whats coming up in the next moth, as I copy from the draft panel in WordPress.

• The Hybrid Photographer’s Toolkit: A series of posts in which I share what equipment I use and recommend to fully setup both your traditional and digital darkrooms. The stuff I have to have every day for support my hybrid workflow.
• 30-Days Reviews: I got both SilverFast and VueScan on deck and I will share my thoughts and observations made over a full month spent with each of these killer pieces of software.
• Film Photographer Profiles: As I recently introduced, I will continue to choose some of the most talented film photographers and share their work with you. To see what I mean, look back at my profile on the talented Nick Shere.

So keep dropping by and find out for yourself what I have in store for everyone. And don’t forget to add X-Equals to your required reading as well, especially if you were here for my presets and views on the digital world. Its been a great ride so far, I can’t wait to see where we go next.

Forgot to mention, LIDF now has a Flickr Group. Join up at the LifeInDigitalFilm – The Home of the Hybrid Photographer group and lets talk! If you want to hang out and wax poetice over the digital realm of photography catch me at the X-Equals flickr group, X-Equals on flickr – share, interact, inspire.

Michael W. Gray