Re: Shadow and High Key Contact Printing

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Koch-Schulte" <mkochsch@shaw.ca>
To: <alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca>
Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2006 8:58 AM
Subject: Shadow and High Key Contact Printing

>I stumbled across the terms Shadow Printing and High Key
>printing in the context of making contact negatives (ok
>I'll admit it, it's part of a workshop that, for logistical
>reasons, I'll never be able to attend). Is this a new idea
>or an old one? Can someone explain this technique and
>theory in general terms? Does it involve making two or more
>seps instead of a single negative?
>
> ~m
>
   Do you know if this is in reference to Photoshop
manipulation? Presumably, it is. I've found a couple of
references using Google. These are about modifying the curve
of the image so that either highlights or shadows dominate,
i.e. distorting the gray scale. This is not quite what the
terms "high key" and "low key" mean in traditional
photography. The traditional meaning refers to the scene
itself, high key being one where bright areas predominate,
low key being one where shadows predominate, but due to the
tones and lighting of the original scene rather than to
distortion of the gray scale.
   Of course, the terms may mean something else here.
Perhaps some version of the multiple exposure system that
was used with the old half-tone method of makign printing
plates. In this separate shadow and highlight exposures were
made with the addition of over all fogging exposures in
order to control the tone reproduction.

---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@ix.netcom.com