Re: Gum Curves, new topic please????

On Apr 30, 2006, at 8:25 AM, Christina Z. Anderson wrote:

>
>
> In reference to curves, I thought of summing it up this way, Yves:
>
> "No curve can transcend the limits of the process, but sometimes
> what is
> termed "the limits of the process" can, in fact, just be an
> improper curve."

Chris, I sat in front of the computer last night staring at your
"Mobile Home" (very cute title) for about an hour. I wasn't really
thinking about the prints; rather I was weighing the pros and cons of
a particular house I'm thinking about. But as I was falling asleep
later, I thought, "wait a minute. I think maybe the problem is the
pigment, not the curve." So this morning I got up and came back to
your original post to see how you determined the pigment load. If
I'm reading the below paragraph right, you chose the pigment load by
making a print with each of 1, 2, and 3 g powdered pigment to 100 ml
gum, using a negative that held back thel DMax (as evidenced by the
difference between the curved and uncurved print for the final
emulsion), and visually evaluating the print. Given the way the final
print looks, and the way you chose the pigment load, I would be
willing to bet that you would get a better print, that might
approximate the contrast in the platinum print better, and eliminate
the sootiness in the sky and in the whiter areas of the house, if you
used 2 g pigment and gave that a "correct curve." At least on the
screen, the DMax for 2 g and 3 g aren't that different, but the
highlights are much smoother, and it just looks intuitively to me
like a better choice, although it's real hard to tell with the
strange negative.

Whether the blocking of the shadows on the final print is an
illustration of the limitations of the emulsion or of an improper
curve, I couldn't say. If it were me, I'd want to find out, but it's
not me, and it's just a thought for whatever it's worth to you.

Katharine

>
>
>
> What I then proceeded to do was take 1 g. carbon powdered pigment
> to 100ml
> of gum--Dave Rose's formula, and do a print. Too weak. Then I
> upped it to
> 2g. Still too weak. Then I upped it to 3g. Fine. Then I
> developed a
> curve based on 3g carbon powdered pigment to 100ml gum.
>
Received on 05/03/06-07:17:36 AM Z