Re: Luminosity

Luis Nadeau (nadeaul@nbnet.nb.ca)
Sat, 07 Jun 1997 01:58:39 -0300

At 7:30 PM -0400 97/06/06, Judy Seigel wrote:
>On Fri, 6 Jun 1997, Luis Nadeau wrote:
>> Most, if not all woodburytypes you saw were varnished. The carbon transfer
>> process -not for beginners- is superior to the woodburytype in many ways.
>> Since multi-pigmented layers are possible in carbon one could also add a
>> *non-pigmented* gelatin layer where the gelatin would be applied
>> proportionally to the amount of light that was allowed through the
>> negative.
>
>In my experience, for gelatine to increase the "luminosity" of a print,
>the pigment has to be suspended *in* it (as in Drtikol's carbon prints)
>not *under* it as you suggest here.

In my *considerable* experience (thousands of prints since 1974 that led to
4 books plus the acquisition of the Fresson process) with pigment prints
the answer is not that easy. For starter, I won't even touch the definition
of "luminosity".

I have made carbon prints where the pigment would easily rub off on one's
fingers when touched, while others looked like perfect facsimiles of Agfa
Portriga papers. I have often taken pleasure in showing a wide variety of
prints to visitors, asking them how many different processes they could
identify. After they'd say 4 or 5 they were always stunned to learn that
only one process, carbon transfer or double transfer had been used. They
had no idea that such a wide spectrum of effects could be achieved out of
one process.

And what they saw did not even include full tricolor prints nor photoceramics.

Luis Nadeau
NADEAUL@NBNET.NB.CA
Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
http://www3.nbnet.nb.ca/nadeaul/