From a Press Release for a March 1999 show at the Ansel Adams Gallery,  Pebble Beach titled  "An Evolution in Color Printing:  From Dye Transfer to Digital"...

Charles Cramer is recognized as not only a skilled photographer, but an extraordinary printmaker who mastered the legendary Kodak Dye Transfer Process.  For 15 years he labored mightily with this complex and time-consuming process to produce superior prints.  Dye Transfer offered incredible control over every aspect of a color print---controls available in no other color printing process.  But now, with the maturation of digital imaging, Cramer has switched to a color printing method with even greater control and more astounding results.

With Dye Transfer, making a first print would take at least a whole day.  Contrast masks, separation negatives, highlight masks---all had to be exposed and developed with exquisite precision.  These were combined to make "printing plates" which were dipped in trays of dye and then transferred to a sheet of white paper, akin to silk-screening.  Three different colors were transferred, requiring critical registration.  The resulting print (after 10 years of practice) was stunning in its purity and saturation of color.  To further refine and "tweak" the image required additional days of labor.  For example, since creating his most popular Yosemite image in 1982, Cramer estimates the time spent in the darkroom refining this one print alone could add up to five months.

Charles Cramer taught DyeTransfer at the Ansel Adams Gallery Workshops in the early 1990's.  Among his students was Bill Atkinson, a member of the original Apple Macintosh design team, and a pioneer in graphics software.  Atkinson thought that, although Dye Transfer images were beautiful, there had to be a better (and easier) way to create prints.  Fast-forward to 1997, and Atkinson now mentors Charles Cramer in that "better way"---digital imaging.  And it's been quite a change!  Instead of long nights slaving over trays of noxious chemicals, Cramer now sits in front of a large color-calibated monitor.  His experience in the darkroom has proven to be invaluable as he works with his images---from scanning the original transparency, to digitally applying traditional photographic techniques.  Refinements in a image that used to take half a day now take half an hour.  The tremendous time-savings allows for even finer adjustments, presenting an image at its strongest and most compelling.

Image: Trees, Foggy Morning, Shenandoah