Melvin Dorin (mdorin@beckman.com)
Mon, 02 Aug 1999 09:41:15 -0800
To this discussion on peeled RC, I would like to add that I (last week)
made an enlarged neg from a "bulletproof" pyro developed neg that got away
from me. This "bulletproof" neg would not print for Pd/Pt, but printed for
Ag (after a Grade 0 session) on Ilford Multi III RC. Using the Ag positive,
I exposed a sheet of Agfa N31p as a contact neg. The results were quite
good, and the resulting Pd print was quite pleasing. Very small loss of
sharpness--almost unnoticed. This saved the negative, as far as I was
concerned, and I didn't peel anything. Exposing through the RC print took
15 seconds using an enlarger source as the light with full aperture on the
lens.
Mel Dorin
Judy Seigel <jseigel@panix.com> on 08/02/99 08:03:38 AM
Please respond to alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
cc: alt-photo-process-error@sask.usask.ca (bcc: Melvin Dorin/BII)
Subject: Rethinking: RC peel appeal
On Mon, 2 Aug 1999, Jack Fulton wrote:
> Dea Ginger
> Peeling is simple.
> RC print. Tray of fairly hot (115?+ ? what you feel is okay for your
hands) and
> let the image sit for , oh, say, 3 minutes.
> Either take the photo out of the water and by slowly rubbing a corner
with your
> forefinger toward you. i.e.: pull your finger slowly from the point of a
corner
> toward you ?? the corner will lift slightly from the paper underneath.
Sometimes
> this works beter while remaining submersed in the hot water.
> By continuing in this manner, under the water, you will peel the total
'skin'
> from the paper.
> After, you can continue to rub, under the hot water, all the pieces of
paper
> still sticking to the RC vinvl photograph.
> You ought not to worry much as the material is rather strong.
I have never peeled a negative and I never hope to peel one... but I tried
once (see the archives), at which time there was, as I recall, some
mumbled agreement with my protests.
Firstly, although granted my technique was not as advanced as Jack's, and
it sounds like Jack's is pretty well devised, the fact is the effort is by
no means certain, reasonably tricky to do, and time consuming. Then, it
seems to me, assuming success, you have lost one of the great advantages
of the RC paper -- stability. So my first question would be, how much
"quicker" in exposure is just the film part as neg than the entire RC
sheet, which my students used for gum with about 15 minute exposures.
The other advantages of RC paper are variable contrast capability and
being relatively cheap in large sizes... but Freestyle lith film is
cheaper and probably larger, although it isn't VC. However, near-variable
contrast flexibility in reversal of lith film is laid out by Liam Lawless
in his two articles on reversing lith in Post-Factory Photography issues
#2 & 3. Number 2 also has an article by Dave Soemarko ("FotoDave") on
taking Freestyle lith as positive and negative to the desired contrast.
(That's not even counting the articles about making your own gold chloride
and the maestro Mortensen's acreage of bosomage, etc. etc.)
Equally important, to begin at the beginning, Issue #1 tells how to match
the enlarged negative to your process, with a $5 21-step sensitivity guide
(with educational discount it costs about $2.70... every student should
have one), & the 2 white cards with the holes punched in them. The H & D
curve is explained generally ("make it your slave") in an article titled
"Sense and Sensitometry." That department, "Negative Thinking," is one of
P-F's reasons for being.
I mean even waiting for P-F by snail mail, it's got to be quicker even in
the short run than that peeling business. P-F #1 also lists 16 other
routes to the large neg and is slowly (but surely I hope) working its way
through them. "The Paper Negative" as manifested & permutated in our time
is scheduled for #4.
Ginger, I'll send you a couple of adorable E-flyers for this publication
offlist. Also, needless to say, to any others who volunteer.
Judy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| Judy Seigel, Editor >
| World Journal of Post-Factory Photography > "HOW-TO and WHY"
| info@post-factory.org >
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Thu Oct 28 1999 - 21:40:39