Originally posted by Porffor: I must remember soft images are OK.
The interesting background about Weston's Pepper Image was it was a mistake! Based on his Day Books, where he documented a great deal of his work, he was experimenting with very long exposures (like 4 to 5 hours) to see if he could get more depth and tonality out of a negative. If you are familiar with film, and long exposures, then you know that Reciprocity Law Failure (see more on this here:
Understanding Reciprocity Failure in Film Photography » Shoot It With Film ) is a concern. Nevertheless, when he developed the image, he found it to be slightly soft. He had worked hard to make it very much in focus and sharp, so the softness puzzled him. As it turns out, during that 4-5 hour exposure, the pepper moved! Not from wind or earth shake (he was in the San Francisco area) but from the pepper shriveling, ever so slightly, during the 4-5 hours it was being exposed! It is interesting to also note that this "mistake" became a classic B&W image!
