From: Sandy King (sanking@clemson.edu)
Date: 04/13/03-07:02:28 PM Z
Enjoyed the weekend visit with some alt photographers from the
Chicago area. Thanks to Michelle Holevar for hosting the activity and
to all who showed up.
Took along with me some recent kallitypes made on Pictorico with the
Epson 2000P. There have been some reports on this list that it is not
possible to print with pigment inks on Pictorico so I brought some
examples to show that it sure is possible, at least with the pigment
inks of the Epson 2000P. I know this topic has already come up
several times in the past but thought it might still hold some
interest at this time
So what about quality? Well, really outstanding in my opinion. I am
scanning 5X7 negatives (to about 4"X6.8" size) with the Epson 2450 at
maximum resolution, then resizing to 360dpi at the print size. I am
basically following the instructions in Dan Burkholder's excellent
book.
1. Scan
2. Corrections in Photoshop, such as tonal controls with level and
curves, cleaning, applying unship mask, etc.
3. Resize to 360dpi at the print size and adjust the image on screen
to the best possible print.
4. Apply one of the platinum curves in the CD that accompanies Dan's
book. I actually got better results with this curve than with the one
on his website for the Epson 2000P. I found that the platinum curve
works perfectly for kallitype and also works very well for carbon
printing.
5. Invert the image, and adjust orientation by flipping horizontally
if necessary.
6. Print on Pictorico, but using the glossy photo paper as the
medium, with mode set to color.
The result is a negative with a DR of approximately 0.20 to 1.85
(effective UV reading) that prints beautifully with outstanding
sharpness. If the printing is on art paper, as we would expect with
kallitype and platinum, the paper rather than the negative is the
limiting factor in print quality, not the negative. On Stonhenge, for
example, there is no visible sign of the random pattern of the
printer. The same is true with carbon prints on art paper. On glossy
or matte surface photographic papers, however, it is possible to see
the pattern of the printer with a 10-15X loupe. The bottom line for
me is that if you are printing on art paper with a process such as
cyanotype, vandyke, kallitype, or platinum there is nothing to be
gained by using a service bureau to print your files as the desktop
negative, at least the ones I have done on the Epson 2000P, give you
as much quality as the paper can handle. In fact, in comparing
contact prints made directly from in-camera 5X7 negatives with prints
made from negatives on Pictorico printed from scans of the same
negative it is pretty clear to me that I can actually get better
quality, at the same printing size, with the Pictorico negatives
since these can be corrected for tonal values, burned and dodged, and
sharpened with the unship mask. I am so convinced of this that I now
plan to scan some of my 7X17 negatives and make same size Pictorico
negatives after corrections and enhancements.
In addition to the obvious advantages of being able to make tonal
corrections and apply unsharp masks, etc. another of the real
beauties of printing with different digital negatives that are made
following similar procedures is that printing time and contrast is
almost identical for every negatives so that once you get the image
adjusted as you like on screen printmaking is something of a snap.
One additional comment about Pictorico. I recently acquired a
densitometer that reads UV density (at 373nm) and what I have
observed is that a UV reading of the clear Pictorico is about log
0.14 more than a similar Visual reading. In an actual reading I
measured 0.04 with an X-Rite 811 in Visual mode, and 0.18 with the UV
reading. Until someone else proves me wrong I am going to assume that
Pictorico adds about one-half of a stop to the basic exposure over
what one would see with get with the polyester base we see with most
films. That is, a negative on Pictorico with a Visual density range
of 0.05 to 1.65 has an actual printing density with UV light of about
0.20 to 1.80.
Sandy King
.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : 05/01/03-11:59:54 AM Z CST