Not sure if this belongs here or not...but by way of introduction:

[Bill Ballard]

I'm Bill Ballard -
I've been a photographer since I was a kid, for 30+ years. I've been a pro, semi pro, and hobbyist. I'm gallery represented. Primarily, my work is with the nude form and figure, but I also shoot landscapes, still life, etc. I consider myself an arts shooter.
Through all of that, including a short and very unhappy stint as a commercial shooter, I have never lost the passion for my photography until recently. Perhaps that's not an entirely accurate statement; I still had/have the passion, but was plauged by a "mental block" which I only recently acknowledged and grasped.
You see, I'm an old school film guy - and I do mean old school. B&W film in all formats, professionally equipped darkroom, graded papers, my own "brews" for perfect contrast and tonal range. The works.
In 2004, Agfa stopped producing the films I had been shooting for a decade, and Kodak stopped making the papers that I adored and had printed on for over twenty years. The realities of maintaining the darkroom and equipment grew to be overwhelming. In spite of that, I was slow to embrace digital. I tried. I bought a Canon DSLR; in fact, I bought two. I hated them at first, and even though I have done good work with them, I wasn't happy.
I longed for my darkroom and film. I honestly felt that digital would never, ever work for me. In time however, I've come to understand one simple thing:
My problem is not with digital photography. My problem is with PhotoShop.
I'm very intimidated by the post shoot side of digital. No matter what I do, my workflow seems wildy out of control. I don't seem to grasp levels and curves. And I don't care what anyone says, but "dodging and burning" on a monitor ain't nothing like what I did in the darkroom!
A year or so ago, I ran into Craig on River Street in Savannah. I had taken several of his workshops when I was working in Atlanta, and after quick reintroductions, we chatted for a bit. I talked about film, he talked about LensBabies. He told me about Radiant Vista and suggested I check it out. As he was teaching a workshop, (when isn't he teaching?), our conversation was short. A few days later, I looked at the Radiant Vista site; eventually, I registered. Then, I started to follow some daily critiques. On a side note, I even re-read "The Artist's Way."
This was motivating. I upgraded my old version of PhotoShop to CS3. Soon, possibly tonight, I'll start the Radiant Vista PS3 video tutorials. I've also made the acquaintance of a SCAD graduate student that is redesigning my old and outdated web site and is helping me with some of my post production work issues.
This is sure a sign of progress: in May of this year, I opened a show of all new nude figure work, all shot digitally, and all post processed by me. The only thing I didn't do was the printing, (I don't have a suitable printer - yet - I'm working on creating my digital "darkroom" now), and the presentation work. Fifteen pieces were hung in the show; three sold at the opening reception and two sold a week after the show finished.
It's wonderful when the light bulb comes on. The beginnings of a "disillusion" with digital had been taking hold, but in the end, that was what was required for me see what I needed to see in order to break the bond. After all, if experiencing "disillusion" is in fact experiencing the abscence of "illusion," then that is good.
So, here I am.
I apologize for the long, if not rambling, first post. I'm genuinely looking forward to learning and participating here.
Best regards to all -

[tonebytone]

Hi, Bill - welcome to the RV community as a poster.

I'm glad you've already met Craig. And I'm glad you've made the switch from film to digital. Some dyed in the wool film people had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into digital work. Most of them have survived and learned to deal with Photoshop Elements or CS2-3, and are now happy. I'm sure this will happen to you, too. You just need time to mourn the death of your old way of doing things and to learn the new way.

Friday I was at my favorite local photo lab. I met a woman who still uses film - but since she's into color, she has a little more choice in films. She says she'll NEVER go digital - you should have seen the fire in her eyes when she proclaimed that!

Some places, like the Rocky Mountain School of Photography, are even teaching the processes that are older than what you used to use - like bromoil, platinum/palladium, etc. You might want to think about hooking up with them.

Black & White Magazine, the one published in the USA, from time to time has an article by a film printer who has tried out new papers and chemicals - and films - and reports on them. The magazine also in each issue, has an article comparing how two or 3 printers handled a particular negative. Or maybe I'm thinking of the Black & White Magazine published in the UK? Anyway, B&W film is still alive and well, should you ever want to go back to it.

Do you plan to have any of your negatives scanned and then work on them in PS SC3?

[Bill Ballard]

Hi Flo -
Thanks for the reply and for your encouragement.
In truth, I was not one that proclaimed I would never transition to digital. I felt that my hand was being forced by entities beyond my control, and that generated major feelings of resentment as well as a bit of fear.
I do miss the darkroom days and I am scanning negs so that I can continue to print/sell/exhibit the images. Many of my old film images will be on my site when it's finished.
And unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately!) I am old enough to have worked my share of palladium and platinum, along with gum, etc.
I already read both the American and UK issues of Black and White magazine. They seem to complement each other nicely; the American version is geared more towards galleries and collectors, whereas the UK version is far more technically oriented.

[Jrrsk]

Hey Bill,

Welcome to the RV community. I am a fairly new member myself and so far have found the folks here to be very friendly and helpful. I can't speak to film as I have never shot film, (new to photography as well and started with digital) but I can say that this site has SO much to offer on how to work with digital files that it should make the transition that much easier. Looking forward to seeing some of your stuff.

J.R.

[MurryG]

I found that the transition from film camera to digital camera was quite easy but the learning curve on Photoshop was keeping me from doing what I wanted to do in the digital darkroom also. I tried reading, messing around, community class, etc. and nothing worked until I took an eight week basic Photoshop online class at BetterPhoto.com and the light bulb finally came on (after three years of fussing). Now I do not miss the old wet and stinky darkroom at all and I've been able to pump new life into my old negatives and slides as well as the digital images. Now with all the video tutorials available it makes the jump to Photoshop very convenient. So like any thing the secret is perseverance. Sights like Radiant Vista and people like Craig, Mark, Marti, etc. are real magic for photograhers! Good luck!!

[wes]

Great to see you here, Bill. I hope you will the community as much as I have. Thanks for your story. You sure are way ahead of me in the photography field. I have never been anything but a hobbiest, so can't quite feel your aches and pains in getting into digital shooting. I love photoshop so never had any problems with that either. It just takes some time and patience with ones self to learn it. It is one of those things where playfulness and fun helps in the learning.

You have already met Craig, who is the backbone of Radiant Vista and a great teacher, as well.

I have a feeling that you are much further ahead of me, as far as understanding the technical aspect of photography (I am trying to learn as fast as I can) and I think your darkroom experience must add to your understanding of light.

I can't imagine you having any problem with photography at all so I am hoping you will share some of your work with us here in the RV community and also share your photographic experience by telling me what might be wrong with my images should you wish to comment on them when I post.

I will be looking forward to seeing your posts.

A very happy camper at RV,
Wes

[Peter]

Welcome Bill,

I made the transistion from film to digital sometime in 1999-2000 and have never looked back.

IMO, The present gear has reached the same state if not better than the equivalent 35mm film gear.

As for using Photoshop, the only way to learn is by playing and watching someone else like Mark Johnson.

You can not hurt anything, just be sure you follow the process of non-destructive edits.

If I could make a suggestion, I would consider starting off with Adobe Lightroom. I suspect that with your experience, you may have less need to make some of the edits that less experienced photographer have to make to correct the initial capture.

Adobe created Lightroom for the Professional Photographer who did not want to be attached to a computer.

I ,for one, have gone from 100% post processing with Photoshop to close to 10 % of what I am shooting. I do all my global processing in Lightroom and if required object removal,combining and artistic effects in Photoshop.

I can also recommend a few books -

Mark Johnson's e-book on Photoshop
Layers by Matt Kloskowski
Lightroom by Martin Evening
Photoshop for Photographers by Scott Kelby
and a real good read for transitioning from Darkroom to Digital Processing- The Creative Digital Darkroom by Katrin Eismann and Sean Duggan.

Again welcome, the people here are great.

[Bill Ballard]

Thanks to everyone for their warm welcome and kind words of encouragement -
Thanks also for the book and class recommendations. I am considering the "Digital 101" online course at the "Perfect Picture School of Photography," along with the tutorials here, to jump start things.
Someone suggested getting Lightroom. I plan to in the future. At the moment, I'm working on an "old-ish" system and I simply don't have enough memory to expand. I will, hopefully, be upgrading my system by year's end.
Thanks again -