Re: Digital Carbon Negatives

on 3/7/04 3:33 PM, Don Bryant at dstevenbryant@mindspring.com wrote:

> Hi Michael,
>>
>> I am planning on doing carbon prints from both digital and pyro
> developed
>> negatives this fall. I am wondering if anyone has done side-by-side
>> comparisons to the pyro color-balance formula Keith is using, and an
>> actual
>> pyro stained neg.
>>
>> Just curious.
>>
>> Did we meet at APIS?
>>
>> :)
>
> No Michael, I don't think that we did meet, I was very low key this year
> and not very out going that week since I was still grieving over the
> loss of my Norwegian Wood cat in May. :(
>
> When you use the phrase pyro generically I'm not clear what developer
> you are using. Assuming that your 'pyro' negs have the proper contrast
> index then they should work fine for carbon. If you mean PMK pyro than I
> would recommend not using it at all for any process used with UV
> printing, since the B+F levels required for proper contrast levels
> usually gets excessive.
> And PMK stain is too effective at blocking UV light causing
> extraordinarily long print times. According to Sandy King, PMK developed
> film to the proper contrast for carbon have very high levels of B+F.
>
> I know Sandy King has been quite successful making carbon prints using
> digital negatives produced by an inkjet printer. If you have not tried
> making alternative prints using inkjet negatives then you are in store
> for quite a surprise as they can print very fast. Contrast control is
> achieved through adjustment to the digi neg contrast rather than
> introducing a contrast agent of one sort or another.
>
> Specifically in the case of carbon printing with film based negatives
> contrast can be controlled by adjusting the dichromate concentration or
> as some printers do, by changing the proportion of gelatin to pigment
> percentage. If you are purchasing your carbon tissue the latter method
> of course isn't possible, so using a digi neg made be more desirable.
> Carbon prints made from digi negs look very nice but they don't have
> quite the presence of a print made from an original in camera negative,
> although most viewers will never notice.
>
> Perhaps our carbon experts can provide much more detailed information
> and correct any mistakes I've made in my reply.
>
> Best,
>
> Don Bryant
>
>

Don,

One of the reasons I will be trying to develop in PMK is the 'edge effects'
that I love when using that developer.

I have had good success printing in gelatin silver with PMK negs, and also
limited experience in printing PT/PD with PMK (only one print so far).

Years ago I was making my own carbon tissue, and quite a bit of it, had a
blast doing everything from 35mm negs up to 8x10 carbons. Loved it to
death.

I want to experiment with the 'edge effects' I get from the PMK negs along
with the 3-d relief I loved so much with carbon prints.

If the exposure times are longer than normal I think I can live with that as
long as the results are what I envision.

I have not made any digital negs yet, but envision stitching together Nikon
D1x frames together vertically (still learning about that actually), and/or
getting the new Sinar back for doing 12x20 digital negatives.

My goal is to amass a body of work that is both digital and in-camera
negative, carbon and PT/PD prints, all of which are 12x20. This is a
project I am proposing for my masters thesis when I enroll in the University
of Utah this fall for my MFA.

Please, if you feel that the PMK negs will be totally detrimental, say so.
I am certainly not beyond taking others experiences to ease my learning
curve.

Thanks in advance,

Michael Slade
Tawàyama Safaris Inc.
www.tawayama.com
Received on Sun Mar 7 18:45:33 2004