Re: Base for enlarged negs.

>>> emjayhealy@earthlink.net 03/14/05 12:15 AM >>>...
>>First of all, you will face the very basic problem of how to get a
digital negative that
works for you at all. Don't waste expensive material on this!..<<

Mike et. al.,

I will respectfully take the opposite side and recommend that a novice
maker of digital negatives might be better off bighting the bullet and
investing in the high quality and higher priced Pictorico OHP. I think
the path to a good digital negative would be shorter, although perhaps a
bit more expensive initially (though maybe not in the long run) to use
the better material. Pictorico doesn't seem to have anywhere near the
problems of the other transparency materials I've used and so I believe
I (and others just starting out) will use fewer sheets to get a higher
percentage of good negatives with less fuss, fewer rejects, and
ultimately less frustration. In addition to the cost of the substrate,
other considerations include the cost of ink and investment in time
redoing failed efforts and ultimately, I would presume, recalibrating
previous results to other materials. By keeping careful notes and
consulting with the larger percentage of us that use Pictorico with
certain processes, it may be that many more shortcuts and suggestions
could be found as well. There will be more of an established knowledge
base with the Pictorico than the other materials.

Better materials also make things easier, especially when learning. I
remember watching some of my fellows in various oil and watercolor
painting classes struggle with cheap papers or canvas, student grade
paints, and most of all brushes that would not hold a point or media. I
know that simply investing in a better brush made my painting
experiences much more productive and enjoyable. Likewise, my photo
students with their 35-300 f/5.6 Craptar zoom lenses suddenly experience
a great increase in technical quality of their photos when they switch
to the OEM prime lenses. The switch to a high quality fiber paper from
that plastic RC stuff also seems to produce a similar effect. "You get
what you pay for."

One of these days I may actually buy that #10 Series 7 W&N sable
brush...

Joe
Received on Mon Mar 14 15:53:22 2005