Hi Rob ... I am, and will sometimes burn them down a bit in the darkroom, or use some other technique to reduce their intensity. Not all highlight, for that would be folly and would reduce the realism of the photo in some instances. Still, there are times when a strong highlight can be a distraction and is not even close to representing how the scene looked, due, of course, to the latitude of the film and what has to take place in the development.
In this photograph http://home.earthlink.net/~my-pics/woman-sitting.jpg you'll notice a vehicle on the left side of the pic. I toned down the headlight reflection and a couple of bright highlights. They are not gone completely, for that would have created a "dead space" but they are reduced enough so that they don't intrude. There's also a small button on the woman's chair that was a scosh bright, so that was toned down as well. The answer to your question, of course, depends on the size, location, and brightness of the highlight, the subject and composition of the photograph, and the story one is attempting to tell. However, I do think a photographer should be ~concerned~ about such things, and all small details about how a photograph looks and is presented, but not every highlight or every flaw or idiosyncrasy needs to be dealt with. Do you recall our conversation about the double reflection in the eye of one of your photos? Shel > [Original Message] > From: Rob Studdert > My question back to you is; do you think that we ever that concerned about > burnt specular reflections in film based images? And just to be specific I'm > not talking about generally avoidable nasties like flash problems in portraits > but metal or bright white objects reflecting full sun. Maybe a question for a > new post and image?
