Re: TO ALTERNATE THE B&W NEGATIVES


Wayde Allen (wallen@boulder.nist.gov)
Wed, 13 Oct 1999 13:55:07 -0600 (MDT)


On Mon, 11 Oct 1999, Judy Seigel wrote:

>
>
> On Tue, 12 Oct 1999, lawless wrote:
> >
> > Gum printing needs a different type of negative, I believe, but others can
> > tell you about that.
> >
>
>
> It does & it doesn't. If you want a one-coat gum, then you have to
> compress -- no more steps in the neg than gum will print at one time (like
> maybe 6 or 7). But if you plan several coats, you can use any kind of neg
> you want -- getting more of the range with each coat -- or actually the
> other way around: start with the whole range in a light color, then print
> less with each following coat, each a bit darker & shorter range than the
> one before, finishing with shadow detail.

This has always confused me a bit. I can see printing a negative for the
shadows (clearest areas in the negative) since those would take the least
amount of exposure. What bothers me is that the highlights (darkest
regions in the negative) need the most exposure to print. It has always
seemed to me that printing the highlights should make the shadows overly
dark.

I guess that printing the highlights with a lighter pigmented coat
(or maybe even a thinner coat) would help. Still, I worry about making
the print too dark this way. How is this prevented?

- Wayde
  (wallen@boulder.nist.gov)



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