U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: more and more and more solarplate

Re: more and more and more solarplate



 Speaking of that... are you using color
>positives or black for these polymer plates?  Isn't PDN all
>about color negatives for UV blocking?

Susan,
Yes, PDN is about color negs, however, you can do a curve
calibration with all inks, black ink etc.  You still need to
find a standard printing time, you still print a 101 step
palette in your process of choice and measure densities to
plug into the spreadsheet which in turn gives you the curve.
 The only thing you would not be doing is finding the
appropriate color to print that process in with the CDRP, so
one step less.

That said, in side by side all inks vs a colorized tonal
palette, it appears to my eyes that the colorized printed a
smoother print than all inks.  I have not gone back and
redone this test to see if it is a fluke, but it totally
makes sense.  All inks is laying down individual dots of ink
color, and solarplate or KM73 plates respond drastically
different to different colors--some rows on the CDRP are
white, some all black.  It stands to reason that these
individual dots of color will print side by side individual
dots of different density in the plate.  Whether that
dottiness is visible or, in fact, helps the plate work
better to hold more ink is up for grabs.  If you have lots
of plates to work with, when you find your PDN color to use,
just print a 101 step palette side by side with an all ink
and see if you notice a difference. 
Chris

Assistant Professor of Photography
Photography Option Coordinator
Montana State University
College of Arts and Architecture
Department of Media and Theatre Arts, Room 220
P.O. Box 173350
Bozeman, MT 59717-3350
Tel (406) 994 6219
CZAphotography.com