Carl Fransman (salto@salto.be)
Fri, 02 Apr 1999 20:37:43 +0100
Judy,
the reason for using a pointlight with digital negs is simple. Since the
film is made up of either clear or totally opaque spots, light that
doesn't come to the film straight is allowed to 'creep under' the black
dots (we call this, sorry for the litteral translation 'underlighting').
This has two effects: it changes the characteristic curve of the process
( and this is already such a problematic issue with digital - remember
the numerous discussions about graylevels) but also does it make the dots
on the positive image look bigger. This is a problem when people don't
have access to fine screens. I've done tests at 600 lpi and the screening
was visible with the naked eye - when this is not the desired effect,
it's kinda annoying...
As for sharpness - how do you define that??? What I'm personally looking
for is very fine detail, smooth tones but not 'artificial' sharpness
(local contrasts).
If you want picturalistic images, print the negs on a lowcost inkjet
printer - these have a stochastic screening and when you put some mylar
between the neg and the paper, the sharpness of the dots vanishes. The
result is what we call 'fin de siecle' images.
Greetings,
Carl Fransman
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Printing & Lithography
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tel +32 89 73 18 70
fax +32 89 73 18 30
salto@salto.be
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