Re: Ruined 3rd tricolor gum print! Grrrr...
Loris, what a great way to check on the tonality of your layers; I'd
never thought of doing that, but excellent idea. Well, it looked
like too much blue on the face to me, for tricolor; skin tones tend
more to yellows and reds, with just enough blue to tone down the hues
and to cool the shadows, but not seeing the other colors with it,
and not knowing what your intentions were, I couldn't be sure (if you
intended a very low-key portrait, that much blue might be just what
was needed). But checking it against the channel itself is a good
check on how you're doing, no matter which channel you print first.
Katharine
On Sep 24, 2008, at 4:46 AM, Loris Medici wrote:
There's still too much pigment definitely. I splitted the channels
of the
original RGB file again yesterday evening, then and painted with the
respective color. The print color is too strong compared what I see
on the
screen.
In the next try, I will halve the pigment amnt. again + will
decrease the
dichromate amnt. to 10% (from 20%) and expose ~ 1/3 - 1/2 stop more
for
more open highlights and shadows + better contrast. (Since cyan
makes the
"bones" of the image, I definitely need more contrast.)
However, paper negatives give me grainy results both because of 1)
paper
structure (that's why I'm trying tricolor; I wanted to see what
happens
when I print from three different negatives -> hoping that blending
three
different negative's texture will give a more homogenous result)
and 2)
printer's more visible dithering on plain paper negative (it lays much
less ink, relying more to the dithering pattern in order to give the
impression of continuous tone).
Will share how I progress.
Regards,
Loris.
23 Eylül 2008, Salı, 8:24 pm tarihinde, Katharine Thayer yazmış:
Hmm, it looks more like pigment coarseness than paper coarseness to
me, but I'm not going to argue about it; I could be wrong. It's easy
enough to determine, one way or the other, by noticing whether it
lessens as you reduce the pigment load or not; if so, the coarseness
is probably a pigment concentration issue; if not, the coarseness is
probably a paper issue. But if it proves to be a paper issue, if
your paper negative really gives you that much graininess in
printing, I'd suggest using a different paper, unless the graininess
is an effect you especially value.
By the way (not for Loris particularly but for anyone who's
interested) I have a visual here
http://www.pacifier.com/~kthayer/html/tonality.html
(second visual down the page) that illustrates how coarseness/
graininess increases with pigment concentration.
But yes, I think it's a good idea to follow this print through and
see how the layers work together in the final print; that's the key
for tricolor, and the more prints you do, the more you'll understand
about that interaction between the color layers. You're doing great,
carry on. The reason I've commented so much is that I'm interested,
not that I'm trying to drive you crazy or anything.
Katharine