Re: my first two gum prints
Charles, You should entere the Sister one in shows--what I call a "portfolio piece". It is a really excellent image. I can't figure out what is going on there! So funny. It seems a little strongly yellow to me on my monitor--what yellow pigment are you using? If it is Rowney Yellow PY138, cut it wayyyyy down. If it is azo or another, cut it down, too, but Rowney I have to dilute the most or otherwise it gets clown yellow. But it could be my monitor. Anytime you get too strong one color, take its opposite and do a thin coat of that on top. I learned that in painting classes, but for some reason never applied it to gum until it was emphasized for me in Marek Matusz' gum prints I saw in Houston a year ago. For instance, this might need a thin coat of blueish red to add both warmth and to tone down the yellow (ultramarine with a drop of magenta). Or, you might do a light magenta coat first and then do a blue overtop. Watch that whatever you choose is transparent over those darks. If you are not getting detail in your highlights your curve is too drastic. But you could always cheat instead of doing new curves and use a very lightly pigmented coat of the color and a longer exposure to get those details in the highlights with the same negative. That's the nice thing about gum is there is always tweaking that can be done with resources at hand. I can't tell from the picture which color is not being printed in the hat, but there is no reason not to have complete detail in the highlights of an image if it is there in the original image. Don't burn the original image--"adjust your curve" either by printing a new neg or using the existing one and lessening your pigment and increasing your exposure. The image should look good on screen and then the curve will make it fit. How exciting for me to see you do such great gums your FIRST TIME!!!! But the images are also what is so wonderful about these. Chris ----- Original Message Follows ----- From: ryberg <cryberg@comcast.net> To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca Subject: my first two gum prints Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2007 15:19:42 -0700 >Folks, > You may see my first two gum prints at >http://home.comcast.net/~cryberg/index.html > > This is a pretty unsophisticated site--no flash, no >java, just cookbook html and hopfully fairly quick to >load. > I would appreciate any advice, but especially what to >do about the total lack of texture in the woman's hat and >sleeve. Do you think my curves need adjusting? Should I >go back to the orginal, burn in the hat and reprint the >negatives?. > By the way, this is three color, unsized Fabriano >Aristico. Thanks, >Charles Portland OR > 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
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