Re: PT/PD and humidity redux

Hi Carl,

I knew humidity was a factor in giving a longer scale, I guess I didn't
expect that much difference with the "re-humidification". Well, it sorta scared
me.... hehehehehe Just imagine doing this with some Palladium with no
restrainer at all... hmmmmm Let's see, I'll need a negative with about 5.0 density
hehehehe

The tonal range just seemed to stretch out in all the steps.

I did notice more printing out effect, which I suppose increases the self
masking to a degree.

I am not sure what you mean by "veiling" of the blackest values? What would
I look for?

I humidified and re-humidified with my trusty Holmes cold air humidifier.
It has a watersoaked filter and a fan. I did not put the chemical in the
water that they give you to preventing liming... I thought it might do something
to the print having that in the moisture. The fan directs the humidified air
straight up, so you can sit the paper on it's edge between the louvers and it
just floats vertically by itself, since the air pressure is equal on both
sides. It's kinda fun to watch. Sometimes I sit for hours watching it and
forget to make my print. hehehehe

I wonder if thicker papers hold more humidity? That would make sense.

I was going to borrow Chris water spritzer and spritz the rubber matte in the
vacuum table of the Nuarc just before I put the print in... maybe just the
area around the print... and see if that cooks up a little steam with the
Nuarc....maybe if I do all these things I can get a perfectly black sheet of paper
with no image whatsoever hehehehehehe

Mark Nelson
In a message dated 3/2/04 5:52:11 AM, cweese@earthlink.net writes:

> Mark,
>
> Longer scale with more humidity is expected. You say the Dmax remained the
> same, so did the extra range come in the form of three more steps in the high
> values? Did you notice any veiling of the blackest values? Also, did you
> notice an increase in printout--pre-development image formation? You don't
> mention what equipment you humidified with, but two minutes of added treatment in a
> 60% environment could have made for a really humid sheet. Finally, you'll
> find different papers have different humidity reactions and different 'ideal'
> humidity levels.---Carl
>
Received on Tue Mar 2 10:06:58 2004