In the darkroom, a master was able to manipulate, through years of experience, the sense of presence by turning the flat Luminance image into the faux 3D Luminosity image. This is what Ansel was talking about when he talked about presence. To do this manually, in the darkroom, with primitive burning and dodging tools, requires intense complex technical and intuitive skill. Most photographers think that this inherent Luminance vs. Luminosity problem goes away with the advent of Photoshop and Lightroom. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the problem is compounded, because we have more tools with which to create more mistakes and confusion.
