U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: Tricolor gum, order of layers

Re: Tricolor gum, order of layers

Loris, the next one will be a lot easier.

Two comments: (1) I was interested in the pointillistic effect, the
breaking up of color into bits. (I'm assuming that's in the print and
not a scanner artifact). Not sure if that's a function of your
paper negatives (although I've used paper negatives a great deal in
tricolor and never seen that, but I've always oiled them, so maybe
that's the difference) or whether it's due to your cleaning effort,
but it's a very interesting effect, like some vintage autochromes. I
think it's fascinating, and unique (and I'll be really disappointed
if it turns out it's just a scanner artifact). The only time I ever
got an effect like this was once when I did some pencil work on the
paper separations, the color broke up like that.

I wasn't sure I understood what you meant about erasing the cyan
layer... it sounds like you were saying you erased the whole cyan
layer, but obviously you didn't, as there's significant value added
between the two-layer and three-layer print.

(2) I read somewhere that with color printing, the eye and brain have
a wide tolerance for perceiving a color representation as "right."
The main thing is getting the values right; if the tonal
relationships are right, then you can hang any kind of color on that
structure and it doesn't matter, the image will work. This is not
to suggest that there's anything the matter with your color palette,
at all, but just that my first impression was, "it works," and then I
got to looking closer at the pointillism and the imperfections that
you mentioned. They don't detract anything, in fact add interest,
because the image works as a whole, because you've got a good tonal
structure there. Sure, room for improvement if you say so, but
definitely "can be considered as good" and besides, isn't there
always room for improvement, for all of us. Thanks for sharing, that
was quite interesting.
Katharine





On Sep 28, 2008, at 6:10 PM, Loris Medici wrote:

Thanks! It's finally done. It has flaws and quite a lot room for
improvement but I think I'm finally there. See it here:
http://tinyurl.com/3njqgz

I've made a mistake in registration of the final C layer and had to
erase
it by brush (you had to see me while cursing like crazy in the
middle of
the night!). Therefore, it's a little bit harsh (the underlying layers
lost some delicacy during the cleaning process + there's some cyan
pigment
stain here and there) but can be considered as good - especially
for the
first finished print... Besides, portraits aren't easy - with all that
delicate tonality (unfortunately paper negatives aren't the best
media for
bringing out those delicate tones - at least to my current
experience). I
guess it would look much better if it was a landscape...

Thanks all for your valuable help!

Regards,
Loris.


29 Eylül 2008, Pazartesi, 2:41 am tarihinde, Katharine Thayer
yazmış:

On Sep 28, 2008, at 3:02 PM, Loris Medici wrote:



BTW, you can see the last print (with yellow and magenta layers
only) here:
http://tinyurl.com/5xdn3t

Will do the cyan layer now... (it's 01:02AM local time, can't sleep
while
this one is waiting to be finished!)


That's dedication.  :--)  Hope it comes out well,
Katharine