File formats for saving "original" photos -- Part Three

Continuing the discussion about image file formats, you may have noticedthat I put the term "original" in quotes. The reason for that issimple, what is an "original"? In pre-computer, pre-copy machine days,the concept of an original was very much an issue. For example, in courtproceedings, we would often get into discussions about whether or notthe original document was being presented in court and whether a copycould be substituted for the original. Those categories of discussionsare long gone just as handwritten and typed copies of documents aremostly gone. It assumed now that there are copies of all documents andit is extraordinarily rare to get into a discussion about producing anoriginal document.

That said, the same thing applies to photographs. In pre-digital times,there was an original photo. Film cameras made one individual photographwith either negative film or positive film i.e. slides. The only way toreproduce the photo was either make multiple prints from a negative oruse a camera to make a photographic copy of the original. My originalslide copier was a device that hooked to my camera so I could takeanother photo of the slide. If multiple prints were made from onenegative, each print was a separate original but because of variationsin the development process, every print was slightly different from thelast. But the real question, usually not asked, was whether or not theoriginal was the negative or the print? This issue became the idea inthe plot of many movies and TV shows. Remember the scene where theoriginal photo is destroyed but, aha!, they still had the negative?
Read more...

Member Blogs

File formats for saving "original" photos -- Part Three

Comments