Does anyone here do color printing?

[helvetica]

Question for you guys singing the praises of RA-4, how much manipulation can do you while printing? Obviously you can mask and dodge, but what about the contrast and "intensity" (vibrance) of the print?

With B&W you can do all kinds of crazy stuff with split grading, but obviously color paper cannot be formulated to be multigrade. If you had a very colorful picture (say bright red and orange autumn leaves) how would you print so that you got maximum vibrance and "wow" factor? I've heard some of the super-gloss Fuji papers are nearly as good if not better than Ilfochrome.

 

[lic4]

I go to Printspace New York every now and then to make a few C-prints. You don't really have a choice in contrast or color intensity, but I've found that C-prints have a natural vibrance when I balance the colors right. The more I move away from the natural colors of the scene, the less vibrant and contrasty the image seems. When I'm scanning my negatives, I feel like I have to increase the contrast and vibrance to match what I get with a C-Print.

I also rate my films 2/3 stop lower so that I get a denser negative. When I print the exposure down to adjust, I feel like the colors pop.

Aside from that, yes, you can dodge and burn, and if you're very anal, you can change the color in parts of the image that you burn. This is something I've started doing recently, and I like the subtle variances in color you can make across an image.

It takes so much time though that I might just go with a completely digital printing workflow starting next year.

EDIT:
One more thing. I was just Googling after writing my post. Here's a discussion about increasing contrast in color: http://www.apug.org/forums/forum40/39440-any-way-significantly-increase-contrast-ra4.html

 

[helvetica]

Hydrogen Peroxide, eh? Interesting. I will have to look up more on that.

I appreciate the reply, this subject has been particularly tricky to google anything other than the basics. anything with RA in the title tends to return links about Rheumatoid Arthritis!

 

[Fotohuis]

RA-4 since 1993. I am using a FEM-Kunze CFL-4012 color analyser and a Thermaphot ACP-252 roller machine. In combination with a Dunco II 67 enlarger with CVC color-VC head.

 

[elmarman]

I have been doing color printing since the Paterson 'Pavelle' system in the late 1960's using the 'Addtive Filtration'-- then to the AGFA system then to the Kodak EP2 and then the RA4 System -- I use a 16x12" British 'NOVA' slot procesor taking 2 litres of solutions at 35Oc it takes 45 SECONDS to develop, 30 secs to Stop and 45 secs to Bleach-fix then 90 secs to wash.
I will see if I can find some scanned EP2 prints to show done for the LEICA Postal Portfolios I used to be a member --
1965 LEICA M2, 1957 90mm f4 Elmar, AGFA Optima film, Kodak EP2

Hula Girls by pentaxpete, on Flickr
1965 LEICA M2, Kodak Gold 200, Kodak EP2 paper

Car Buffs by pentaxpete, on Flickr

 

[shadowfox]

I'll try color darkoom printing when I'm bored with B&W printing, which is probably never 🙂

Plus I don't think my brain can wrap around the number of variables involved.

My admiration to those who choose to do this for their art.