U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: continued solarplate notes

Re: continued solarplate notes



Very different.  Is he using 5K, 3K, or 1K watts?
If I could read the language I could tell ya but I can't...


Is he using inkjet
positives on Pictorico or imagesetter film?
ditto.

If he's using the Dan
Welden screen and imagesetter positive, the density of both those things is so great he could probably do 15 minute exposure times and get away with it.
I used Dan Welden screens and also Elizabeth Doves and didn't find that Weldens was so dense (?)


I think there is an ideal set of times and conditions, but since people have different printers, printer settings, screens, bulbs, etc., etc. there's little chance it will be identical from person to person. I try to get the blackest black I can get without creating mushy plates with basic screen/image times, then start working with a curve from there, tweaking exposure only if absolutely necessary, but once I've found the ratio for a particular system, I try never to change it, and instead change the curve if, for example, the heads in the printer need replacing.
Jon
You're absolutely right here, that there are so many variables that affect exposure time, but what I am doing is comparing my exposure times to each other so that all variables except that one varies. Hey, it's sunny today--maybe today's the day.
Chris