Re: Kallitype exposure and negative dmax

Michael,

Working back through your process of measuring the density before
inverting the negative and then printing is too complicated for me.
In my work I aim for a final DR of 1.8 on the negative and adjust the
amount of potassiumn dichromate to compensate. A negative with a
final DR of 1.8 generally allows me to print the full scale of the
negative when adding about 2-4ml of a 5% solution of potassium
dichromate per liter of developer.

The cause for your problem is as you have surmised: i.e, the DR of
your digital negatives is too high. Therefore, the final solution you
propose is correctly reasoned. However, you could also extend the
tonal scale by printing to the same DR and using less potassium
dichromate in the developer. If you tell me how much you used in the
situation below I can suggest an adjustment that might solve the
problem without having to re-print the negatives.

Best,

Sandy

>I'm working on some kallitype images using printed digital
>negatives. I've been using a dmax curve of 1.8 on the images before
>I invert the image and print the negative. The resulting
>prints have the shadows becoming overexposed before the highlights
>have been exposed properly. If I expose for the highlights,
>the blackest parts of the print get overexposed to the point of
>solarizing during development. If I expose the black correctly,
>then the highlights are underexposed causing an ugly posterization.
>Will using a lower dmax on the negatives correct this problem....say
>1.5 - 1.6 or so?
>
>Regards,
>
>Michael
>
Received on Fri Dec 5 17:30:37 2003