>>> To: DJ. When you discuss some property of the film-developer combination, don't you hold lighting condition fixed while you vary film and/or developer? It is true there is a lot to do with lighting and subjective judgement in real images, but that's not what we are concerned about when we discuss tonality and accutance of film- developer combinations.(posted 8137 days ago)But isn't that the problem - that all of these variables including type of subject interact in sometimes pretty complicated ways? After all, one scene (let's say something with plenty of local contrast but also smooth greys e.g., skies) provides the best 'tonality' in D23 while another scene (say limited local contrast especially in highlights e.g., snow and ice patterns under uniform light) provides the best 'tonality' in pyro.
I agree that there may not be a solution - we're apparently talking about something that everyone recognizes when s/he sees it but can't put down in measurable ways and that's fine - this is an art form we're talking about, not paint-by-numbers. I'm merely saying that I think clarity in terminology is a good idea because it helps. If nothing else, it makes communication a little easier and there are clear grounds for agreeing to disagree. One isn't guessing what someone means. Some terms have a common shared vocabulary/meaning, some terms deal with subjective areas that requires personal experience to make judgments. But one is clear about which term is which. Cheers, DJ.