alt Hacker NewsExactly - film photographers heavily process(ed) their images from the film processing through to the print. Ansel Adams wrote a few books on the topic and they’re great reads.
And different films and photo papers can have totally different looks, defined by the chemistry of the manufacturer and however _they_ want things to look.
Excepting slide photos. No real adjustment once taken (a more difficult medium than negative film which you can adjust a little when printing)
You’re right about Ansel Adams. He “dodged and burned” extensively (lightened and darkened areas when printing.) Photoshop kept the dodge and burn names on some tools for a while.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IoCtni-WWVs
When we printed for our college paper we had a dial that could adjust the printed contrast a bit of our black and white “multigrade” paper (it added red light). People would mess with the processing to get different results too (cold/ sepia toned). It was hard to get exactly what you wanted and I kind of see why digital took over.