Re: gum neg


Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Fri, 07 May 1999 23:04:18 -0400 (EDT)


On Sat, 8 May 1999, Julian Smart wrote:
> .... A
> soak of 24 hours on either the first or last coats will not clear the
> highlights to white from either neg- hence my saying that as the entire
> tonal range of the
> scene falls along the straight line portion of the char.curve, there is

Julian, even I would say that a 24 hour soak is enuf ! But that's why it's
so helpful to stick a 21-step alongside the image, or in a separate patch
with the same paper-emulsion combo -- because you can see at a glance if
lack of clearing was that the negative was too flat, or the exposure was
too great, or maybe just this mix didn't feel like clearing, in which case
nothing on the 21-step clears either.

Let's say your improved neg cleared after step 10 -- but nothing in the
first exposure apparently probably had that much density (like a piece of
masking tape or a negative edge)... so you make an assumption, probably
right -- but, especially for starters that 21-step tells instantly.

> nothing outside either range to produce pure white or a maximum density
> other than was in the original scene. There is no dichromate or pigment
> staining. I feel the real problem with the print could be either my coating
> method not being subtle enough, or the wrong dilution/concentration of

That's an interesting point... A couple of times I noticed that the
21-step cleared beautifully, but the print didn't. I realized in
retrospect I had *ground the emulsion into the paper* in the print area
trying to get the coating smooth, the test area I just slapped on.

> dichromate(maybe the proportion of dichro. in the emulsion mix). I am now
> starting to experiment with altering the proportions for the various
> layers.

well, obviously the higher the ratio of dichromate, the less exposure you
need... but you're probably safe with 1:1 in any event.

> The paper neg, unfortunately, behaves exactly the same way as the film
> neg.- the exposures being elevated accordingly. I feel I have already
> produced what I wanted from the neg and am happy with what I've got. It
> just seemed to be an anomoly- though nonetheless challenging.

I like to think *subtle*..

cheers,

Judy



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