Quote:
Originally Posted by JMitchell
I can get away with it, as I'm possibly one of the only frequent posters who regularly uses a darkroom + film! I'm now bored of hearing the words 'tonal range' (I shoot exclusively BW film) ad infinitum  |
Errr, not quite Jack! You won this week's Photo of the week with a colour photo and I remember a few others in colour so you don't shoot exclusively BW film!
Tonal range has always been one of the major aspects of photography that concern us, take a look at some of the old books and you'll see it again and again. Different film has different ranges in much the same way as different profiles like sRGB or Adobe 1998 do.
It does though bring up the bigger and more relevant on here of how much terminology is helpful and appropriate. I don't want to take the thread too far off-topic but it's worth considering.
If comments are to be as accessible to everyone as possible, including beginners, some terminology is going to be a hindrance. However, I do not suggest we should not use any terminology as it exists simply because it is important within this field of art and explaining things another way would be difficult. Also terminology is something that is easily learnt and we have a good glossary here on Pixalo for people to look things up if they are interested.
I mean, a technical term that is commonly used is Chromatic Aberation. It has to be used because explaining it every time would be a real pain but it's hard to discuss the merits or otherwise of lenses without alluding to CA at some point given its importance. But prattling on about the inverse square law every time we mention flash distances would, to my mind, be little more than showing off and would not be that helpful to most people, whilst of course the odd thread might require its discussion which is fine.
But if I want my posts to be comprehended easily and helpful to people who are perhaps seeking to learn, then I have to keep my terminology to a minimum. It sort of reminds me of my old preaching tutor when I was at Bible College. He used to always say: 'When you're preaching, don't speak to old Rev Simpson at the front, speak to old Mrs Brown at the back.... and make sure she can understand you!'
Anyway, I'll shut up now and let this thread come back on topic. I would point out that I only went so far off because it was my own thread so wouldn't be upsetting someone else
Cheers,
Rob