Digital Darkroom
My working process has been inextricably linked to the computer since 1995, and with my switch to working with digital cameras exclusively in 2005, it is now the core of all my image creation. The link between digital images and the computer is obvious, but even with film images, all cataloging and printing is now done in a digital darkroom, as opposed to a conventional optical darkroom.
The Computer
My primary computer is a desktop using an Intel 3.0 GHz dual core chip, 4 GB of RAM, and two Dell 24” Ultrashapr monitors, one horizontal, and one vertical. The OS I use is Windows Vista 64. I have a DVD burner for transporting images and archiving files, and use external drives for easy data access - a 4TB Drobo for my photographic data, and three external 500gb drives for other data.
My monitors are calibrated using a ColorVision Spyder3Pro colorimeter system.
I also have a I also have an HP laptop (2.13 ghz dual core processor, 4gb of ram, and a 16” screen, Vista 64), which I use for teaching, scanning and storing images then traveling. When I use this approach, I store three copies of each day’s work - one copy on the laptop’s disk drive, one copy on an external hard-drive, and a final copy burned onto a DVD disk.
Data Storage
Unlike conventional film, which can be stored with only moderate care at room temperature and be expected to last for decades, digital media and files change rapidly, and require a different approach to storage. While I have a copy of my digital original files stored on an Drobo system attached to my computer, my digital files are archived carefully with multiple duplication to ensure the photos are as secure as I can make them. Each image is archived on four DVD disks, in two different file formats, using two different DVD brands, and two different burners (one in my laptop computer, and one in my desktop). This mixture of different file formats, burners and DVD brands should help insure my digital images against loss in the furture. One copy of the disks is stored onsite, while the three other copies are stored off-site for increased security. I regenerate these DVD copies every two years, to avoid the chance of physical media failure.
Scanners
To digitize my film images, I use two scanners. For 35mm and 120 film, I use a Nikon 8000 scanner, while for my 4"x5”, 5"x7” and 8"x10” film, I use a Microtek Scanmaker i900. The Nikon 8000 can scan images at 4,000dpi, which will permit me to print 35mm images at 13"x19”, and medium format 6x9cm images to a size of 30"x45”. The Microtek has a resolution of 3200dpi, which is more than enough to give me 40"x50” prints from my 4"x5” film, and 80"x100” prints from my 8"x10” film. I don’t expect to very often print to these sizes, so the two scanners give me more than enough resolution for my purposes. Both scanners are used through VueScan, which is able to work on Vista 64 (unlike the Nikon software, which only works on Vista 32)
For cataloging purposes, all the film images I like (a very general category) are scanned, corrected, resized to be 1920 pixels on the longest size (this matches the width of my monitors), and saved as best quality JPEG files. These images are then cataloged as reference images on an external hard drive. This permits me to have easy and ready access to my film images for basic computer use without having to rescan them every time.
Software
RAW Conversion
I produce all my digital camera images in RAW file formats, which must be converted into digital images before use. To do this, I currently use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, where I maintain several catalogs; one for new work, and a master catalog for finished images (because I stitch and blend so many of my images, I cannot catalog original files, but must instead catalog finished image files). For the master catalog, I make lower resolution (1920 pixels on the long size) JPEG versions of all my images, which are added to the master catalog, and then keyworded extensively aid in later retrieval.
Image Editing
All my image editing and modification is done within a combination of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop CS4, which are by far the best image editing software packages on the market. Photoshop is memory intensive, and recommends the user have three times as much RAM as the size of the largest image they will be editing. While my web imaging is all low resolution and small file size, I do occasionally work with images images as large as 2gb (2,000mb) in size for printing, which is why I need as much RAM I can get.
Image Database
I use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 to organize and sort my images, both scans and digital originals. The database contains more than 92,000 images (as of April 2009), all of which have a minimum of 5 keywords attached to them (file format, date, location, model, folio etc).
Internet
This website is created using Expression Engine as a CMS, and designed by Headspace Design.
Printing
All my printing is done with an Epson 4800, which can print images up to 17” wide by any length. This printer uses the Epson K3 ink system, which provides stability of 75+ years for colour , and 140+ years for black and white prints (which compares to Kodak Royal Gold colour chemical prints at 27 years of stability). I use Epson’s Premium Lustre paper for all my printing, preferring its rich tonal range and sharp detail for my work. In the past I did my black and white printing in a darkroom .