Re: Opaque v Transparent Pigments

Hi

>From my experiences gained from Temperapint, I would just like to share some
of what I have come to understand regarding opaque v transparent.

With transparent colours I have found that each coat darkens the print
overall. The print is going toward the black, coat by coat as each subtracts
more light, its a one way road where I have to keep an eye on what the black
is doing lest it creep up the tonal scale. I find that transparent colours
are only a real problem when I tried to do all the work with just CMYK. I
feel that these printers need transparent colours to work well. For me they
do the bright chromatic colours well but don't work so well for shadow
colour

Opaque don't seem to work like this. It allows some ability to lighten an
image so that if a shadow falls dead you can bring some colour and
definition back because of the opacity. I also find that the range of the
colour is wider because many opaque pigments if rolled out thin are
effected, to a greater or lesser extent, by the colour below. If I chose a
suitable opaque colour to put on, then the colour below can work really well
producing a rich result that CMYK would be unlikely to give me. This
resultant colour can then be further moderated by a later transparent layer
on top

I feel that it's horses for courses. I like to use each for what they are
good at. Transparent for bright and lively colours and opaque for subtle and
rich colours. Together for me they give a rich and wide diversity of colour

Alex

----------
>From: Hellena Cleary <hellena@hncleary.plus.com>
>To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
>Subject: Re: Opaque v Transparent Pigments
>Date: Mon, Jan 9, 2006, 5:13 PM
>

> I would like to add my own bit of information on the use of transparent
> pigments, as I use them in the Tempraprint process. As Temperaprint is a
> multi-coated process, for me it is vitally important to use transparent or
> at the very least translucent colours in order to be able to predict how the
> colours will merge with each other in the final image. An opaque colour
> simply sits on top and can prevent the other colours from coming through and
> blending properly to produce the final desired colour. I use acrylic
> colours to mix with the dichromate and the transparency, translucency or
> opacity is written on the container. My preferred choice is Liquitex.
> Hellena
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Katharine Thayer" <kthayer@pacifier.com>
> To: "alt photo" <alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca>
> Sent: Sunday, January 08, 2006 7:07 PM
> Subject: Opaque v Transparent Pigments
>
>
>> Hi Folks,
>> It occurred to me that I didn't really have to wait until I have time
>> to reprint these prints wiith a better color balance, to demonstrate
>> the difference between opaque vs transparent pigments, since opacity
>> vs transparency is after all a different issue from color balance or
>> tonality. So I've simply enlarged a part of each of the prints, to
>> show the difference I was trying to describe, that I could see in the
>> prints but that I wasn't sure translated to the electronic
>> reproductions.
>>
>> I've always said that in my own experience, to my own eye,
>> transparent pigments shine through each other in a way that forms
>> clearer, brighter color blends than opaque colors can possibly make,
>> and that's why I prefer transparent pigments, especially for
>> tricolor prints but also anytime I want to use different colors and
>> have them form clear color blends. I think these enlarged details
>> show those qualities quite well, and maybe I'll just use this for
>> the page on pigment opacity and transparency, without spending any
>> more time on it.
>>
>> These test prints that the enlarged details come from are the same
>> ones I showed the other day; the same separations were used for both
>> prints, and both prints were most probably printed on the same sheet
>> of sized Arches bright white, as I was cutting larger sized sheets
>> into small pieces for these small test prints, and these two prints
>> were done consecutively.
>>
>> http://www.pacifier.com/~kthayer/html/optrans.html
>>
>> Katharine
>>
>
Received on Tue Jan 10 18:48:06 2006