Revisiting an old neg

[wfournier]

I've been looking over some of my old negatives in anticipation of doing some printing and would like to get a little feedback. Living in an apartment now means that I am looking at a hybrid workflow,scanning and printing digitally (Epson V700 scanner and R2400 printer).

Here is a darkroom print of a file I have been working on:



And this is the digital version I have been working on:



The crop is not finalized (as you can see there is still a little bit of the frame in there) but I wonder if the foreground on the digital version makes the image more focused or if I am losing too much information there. This negative takes quite a bit of dodging and burning in the darkroom and I am finding the photoshop dodge and burn tools a little more difficult to use than a sheet of paper or a darkslide like I would do in the darkroom.

[Scott]

FWIW, I like the digital version much better.  "Focused" is a good word for it.  And you're not losing too much info, IMO.

[Julio1fer]

Both are nice. The background in the digital version is a bit too dark for my taste - I'd try to experiment retaining some of the texture in the OOF background, maybe making it just a little darker grey than in the original, and pruning out the dark branches in the mid top (and maybe the highlighted one in the digital version as well).

In any case, of these two I'd choose the digital version.

[radiophoto]

I like the darkroom print better - the foreground is much brighter in that one, and like Julio I like the background in that one as well.

The digital one emphasizes something shiny in the upper center that is distracting. 

[BurninFilm]

I'm with Scott, I like the digital version much better. Too much drabby gray in the darkroom print, and alot of junk in the background. I like B&W to be just that... black... and white. Gray&Gray just doesn't have the same ring to it.