Expert: Don Wood - 5/1/2005

Question
Don--Thanks so much for the information.  What I like about writing is that I can control the world there!  My hero will be a "famous" exotic wildlife photographer (spending lots of time in Africa) whose services are sought after for magazines and coffee table books.  Is that likely?

Is it likely a photographer might also get into video taping and selling footage to National Geographic, etc.?

There will be a market for numbered prints of my hero's work.  Would those prints be made from transparencies, negatives or what?

How do you file and store transparencies and negatives?

When you refer to "scanning" a photo and then working with it on Photoshop, what are you scanning from--the transparency, negative, a print or digital file?

What exactly is a "proof" that might be printed in a dark room?

Again thank you for any information you can give.

Karen

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Followup To
Question -
Don--I am a published romance writer and I am working on a book with a hero who is a wild life photographer.  I know digital cameras and computers have made a difference, but I don't know how they apply to this type of career.  Could you please answer these questions?  

Are photographers in the field still using traditional cameras as well as digital?

What type of cameras might a wildlife photographer use?

What type of film (if any)?

Do photographers still use dark rooms to develop?  What is the difference between a b/w darkroom and a color one? (I'm more interested in the color darkroom.)

Can photos be enlarged in a dark room or are they sent out?

Thanks so much for any information you can provide.

Karen Rose Smith
Answer -
Karen,
Cameras are used according to the circumstances of the shoot. A short jaunt or one with plenty of access to an electrical charger might be shot with digital whereas the extended stay in the wild might indicate problems with digital and the traditional film would be indicated.
Choice of film would vary according to the light, overcast or low light situations would require a greater speed film than might be available with the digital camera.
Dark rooms are probably only for those who are very particular with their prints. Perhaps they want to enlarge their pictures to an unusual format, emphasize certain areas by burning in or lightening a particular area. From the standpoint of economics, unless you are doing a lot of work or anticipating a lot of work, the investment in chemicals, paper, equipment might be better used in the next expedition. An outside lab might be a better choice, their paper, chemicals would be well-maintained and most likely would do a better job of developing. The afore-mentioned answer would do both for the color darkroom or b/w darkroom. Perhaps he might use the darkroom strictly for processing his film, proof printing, then negatives would be sent out to be enlarged.
Choice of a camera kit would probably include several sizes of lenses, ranging from the longest telephoto lens to the wide angle lenses. He might have need for 4-5 different lenses, both fixed focal length or the variable length of zoom lenses.
In my personal work, I have been in my d/r 5 times in the past 5 years. It isn't worthwhile to use it even though it is both color and b/w. Difference between color and b/w is that the b/w can use a dim red light while developing your prints. Both must have absolute darkness while developing film.
Color d/r must have a color enlarger. Theory, all color film is actually several layers of color sensitive emulsion. One is sensitinve to the yellow spectrum, one sensitive to cyan, one sensitive to magenta. The combining of images from each layer makes the final image which appears to the eye as a color picture. Would suggest that you check the library or the internet for further information on the formation of the image.
Thanks for asking. I'm getting some really unusual questions lately rather than the usual questions about the choice of photography as a career choice. If I can help further please let me know.
Don

Answer
Please reread my answer as to what cameras are used according to the assignment. Some photogs are completely digital, some are mixed, some are strict traditionalists. After all if you are successful using tools you don't change the tools just to do something different. We use the tools that we are comfortable with, using the tool that we know will bring home the assignment successfully.
In earlier days, transparency film was judged to be the best for reproduction. Then that view gradually changed with the advent of better negative film.
Negatives are generally filed in see through film sleeves, you will have to have an acceptable filing system for the storage and retrieval of these films. Transparencies are stored possibly in loose-leaf binders with special pockets for the transparencies.
Be prepared for your photographer to go with twice as much film as he expects to use. Accidents may happen, particularly in the tropics (Africa), film could develop fungus, be ruined by improper storage, (heat can cook film and cause images to be ruined). He will have to have a way to store the film in a cool place, removing only what he needs for that day's shoot.
If he uses digital film and has access to the Internet, he may transmit his best images to his publisher.
Scanning a photo, scanning a negative, scanning a transparency are all means to digitize pictures shot with traditional equipment. After the scan, the image can then be manipulated in Photoshop to enhance the image, lighten/darken the appropriate areas, you can put clouds into the picture which weren't there in the originals, you can remove intruding objects such as the telephone poles growing from someone's head, etc. I took a picture of a fellow in an open field, combined it with the image of a creek bed so that it appeared that the fellow was walking on water. Many times the photographer will use tricks to enhance the image. He can lighten the darkest areas or make a portion of the print daker. The tricks he can use to enhance the print are quite numerous. Suggest you go to the library and get a book on photography to learn the basics, examine some pictures in the travel books, Ntl. Geographic, Travel, AAA. Go to museums and examine the pictures. You can learn from the oil painting, watercolor artists just as well as from the photographer. The principles are the same, only the tools are different.
National Geographic photographers are generally sent on assignments and funded by the magazine, they might even furnish the equipment.  If your hero is on his own, he could be shooting on speculation, hoping that the images he returns with will pay the bills for his trip.
A proof is a quick and dirty print pulled just to check the focus, composition, it isn't meant to be used as a final print. In the early days a proof print was printed using sunlight sensitive paper which kept getting darker the more it was looked at. It was the proof that the photographer did take a picture and that it was for sale. If the recipient didn't return the proof, the picture would be unusable in very short order.
Hope this helps, glad to be of assistance.
Don