From: TERRY KING, 101522,2625
TO: INTERNET:SPGraphic@aol.com, INTERNET:SPGraphic@aol.com
DATE: 01/05/96 21:02
RE: Copy of: Re: large internegatives
Dennis
> >RC paper without stripping the back off works very well as negative
> material,
> >although in order to cut down on exposure times it is worth making separate
> >negatives to cover the tonal range.Three pieces of RC are likely to be
> >cheaper
> >that one sheet of direct dup,
> >Many of my best prints are made using paper negatives.
>
> Could you explain a bit more? specifically:
> 1. How do you use separate negs to cover the tonal range?
Say you need three, one for the shadows,one for the middle tones and one for the
highlights. That should be enough to give you the full range of tones from
detail in the highlights to rich detail in the shadows. That is how you would
use your film neg. You can use the paper the same way but for the paper negative
to transmit the same information as a film neg you will need some very long
exposures. To avoid that, expose the paper on the base board to the positive (
made from FP 4, sheet film is best) in the neg carrier for a short time. This
will give you the high light detail neg. Double the time for your second sheet
for the middle tones and double that for the shadows. That is pretty broad brush
and it is going to vary from image to image. It is the cheapest way to produce
the best. What better combination !
> 2. Are you using the paper for an interpositive as well?
You can if you want to. Make the very best print you can with all the dodging
and burning in that you need and then use that to make contact negs on RC grade
1.
> 3. And could you describe the "look" of a print made this way?
Good gradation, good tonal range, ideal control. You can make them look like
what you want them to. Sharp, evanescent, pictorial, modernist, urban lanscape,
documentary. A friend came off one of my workshops in London and promptly sold
her output of gum westerns for the week in Albuquerque. Another Whistleresque
image of the Thames at dusk from Battersea bridge, somebody told me, prevented
him from committing suicide. You choose the tones, you choose the colours. Often
people do not believe that they are gum prints. Other gum printers often don't.
In fact they seem to live in a different aesthetic. They have often appeared in
magazines. I would put some on the net but I do not have a scanner.
I want to see the ones you produce using this method.
Please do and more power to your elbow !
Terry King