One of the real learning experiences of my teenage years involved the darkroom that Dad and my older brother, Jack, put together. I was about 15 when they built it and was allowed to participate in the darkroom processes and, eventually, to use it on my own. It was so interesting to learn the in’s and out’s of the photographic process. Learning about exposure, the development process and chemicals was a real thrill.
For those of you who have not had the experience, enlarging negatives is a lot like taking a picture with a camera, only the scene is in the enlarger, light is shining through it down on the paper and you have to decide how long to expose it to make it just right. Unless you have some automatic system, you rarely get it right the first time. It usually takes a few attempts to get the exposure just right. If there is too little light the picture is all washed out. Too much and you either have all dark or the contrast is so high it looks like an inkblot.
Dad taught us a method of reducing the number of attempts it takes: When underexposed, double the time you exposed it. If that makes it overexposed, cut the time difference in half. So, if five seconds was not enough, you would then try 10 seconds. If that was too much, split the difference and go with seven and a half, and so on. By doing this, you could save several attempts from the old add-a-second-and-try-again routine.
As it turns out, this is some sort of standard mathematical process for determining a solution. I’m sure it has a name. It’s probably named after some Greek mathemetician. I’ll just call it Dad’s algorithm.
Another place where controlled correction is essential is in driving. For instance, if you accidentally allow your right wheel to fall off the pavement on to the shoulder, you have to handle the situation just right or you’re in trouble. If you jerk the wheel back to the left, you can cause the momentum of the car to result in flipping the car across the right wheel and rolling over and over. However, if you move too slowly, you’ll chew the inside of your right tires to pieces and cause an eventual blowout.
The right way to correct in this case is to travel down the road a little while you get your bearings. Next, look for a level place to re-enter the roadway. If you can’t find one, “bump” the car up on to the pavement by using a gentle, yet firm, slight, turn to the left until the wheel is on the pavement, then turn back straight.
In each of these cases, the main idea is to correct… but gently. Overcorrecting others can really cause some nasty problems. If you don’t believe me, then next time someone close to you makes a little mistake, try jumping up and down and yelling and screaming at them that they did it ALL WRONG! Then stand back and see if they point a gun at you. (Warning: First read the Wizbit about guns!)
