Re: Opaque v Transparent Pigments

Thanks for this description, Alex, and Hellena and Katharine for your
opinions on opacity and transparency.

I have seen Sam Wang's casein prints, which if I am not mistaken have an
opacity inherent in the process already. They are very bright and
jewel-like. I think I saw all your temperaprints in the traveling
portfolio, correct? And they look similar to this brightness of which I am
talking. Makes me want to try the processes.

I used to think opacity was a problem and is why I didn't use cadmium yellow
or cadmium red. (also the tendency of cads to darken) But in doing a bunch
of side by side prints, I don't see opacity as a great issue, just a
preference thing. But until you described the "lightening of the shadows"
it didn't hit on me as to what benefit they might actually have in tricolor
processes...I'm gonna have to think about this more.

It must be a saturday; I've posted three times!!!
Chris

From: "Alex Chater" <alex.chater@macunlimited.net>
> 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>
>> 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
(biggy snip)
>>> 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.
http://www.pacifier.com/~kthayer/html/optrans.html
>>> Katharine
Received on Sat Jan 14 11:28:55 2006