Nick De Marco
Well-known
2 questions really.
Today I spent a long and productive 8 hours in the darkroom
I realised why most people use resin coated paper - I was using both and fibre based - whilst nice - is a lot more high maintenance if you are making a lot of prints. In particular drying prints without having any curling is something I haven't quite mastered so far. How do you guys do it? I was using a special fibre based dryer, and had washed the prints for 45 mins before doing so, but I found that if I didn't leave the print in for quite long enough it wasn't dry, but if I left it in longer it might start to get a bit creasy.
Second question. As all you darkroom regulars must appreciate, making a very good darkroom print is something special in itself, and is a unique, individual work. Do you scan your favourite prints to then display on the web? I have previously scanned negatives and worked in PS, and continue to do so, but if you have a print you really like do you sometimes scan that instead, and if using something like the Epson 750 vuescan is it possible to make a good print scan with the resolution you can get from e neg scan on the same equipment?
Thanks for any tips in advance
Nick
Today I spent a long and productive 8 hours in the darkroom
I realised why most people use resin coated paper - I was using both and fibre based - whilst nice - is a lot more high maintenance if you are making a lot of prints. In particular drying prints without having any curling is something I haven't quite mastered so far. How do you guys do it? I was using a special fibre based dryer, and had washed the prints for 45 mins before doing so, but I found that if I didn't leave the print in for quite long enough it wasn't dry, but if I left it in longer it might start to get a bit creasy.
Second question. As all you darkroom regulars must appreciate, making a very good darkroom print is something special in itself, and is a unique, individual work. Do you scan your favourite prints to then display on the web? I have previously scanned negatives and worked in PS, and continue to do so, but if you have a print you really like do you sometimes scan that instead, and if using something like the Epson 750 vuescan is it possible to make a good print scan with the resolution you can get from e neg scan on the same equipment?
Thanks for any tips in advance
Nick
Freakscene
Obscure member
I use gummed tape to tape the print face up to a sheet of glass. Let it dry, then cut it off and trim the tape away. This method means using a size larger paper than you normally would, but the prints come out flat, like REALLY flat. In summer here they're dry in a couple of hours.
Sometimes yes, but generally I can do in Photoshop in a few minutes what takes longer in the darkroom. For very thick negatives, I print them on RC paper and scan the print. For negatives with a very long tonal scale where I need to capture the full scale I either print with a lot of dodging and burning or use multiple pass scanning.
Marty
clayne
shoot film or die
I started out with RC as a lot of others do. These days I barely ever use it. Fiber is just it for me, has that feel and gloss always goes well. Once you get in a groove with fiber it's only marginally longer in process. However, I also have a print washer, seal press, and other things to handle the process. If one doesn't it definitely takes longer to deal with.
Honestly if you have the space for it there is no better way to flatten fiber than a press. They're quite cheap used and very reliable. Remember that you only need one large enough to handle what you print regularly. Oversized prints can be pressed in sections.
If I have a print I scan it well before a negative. Actually I rarely scan negatives these days. The occasional color roll but my LS-5000 sits pretty idle most of the time.
The grain of silver gelatin paper is incredibly fine. Provided you scan at a suitable resolution and are using quality enlarger lenses with an aligned enlarger your scanned prints will look just fine. I have a few "prints" up on my flickr stream right now that were even scanned right off contact sheets. One thing *I* personally do is scan at max resolution for my V700 and then use Vuescan's RAW/TIFF downsizing value to shift it down after it's been optically scanned. A lot of people will tell you there is no need to scan above 300 dpi but personally I think there is.
I always prefer to have prints as a tangible representation of a frame. Of course negatives are the ultimate thing to protect - but I protect my prints and contact sheets pretty well - as they represent a time and energy investment.
Honestly if you have the space for it there is no better way to flatten fiber than a press. They're quite cheap used and very reliable. Remember that you only need one large enough to handle what you print regularly. Oversized prints can be pressed in sections.
If I have a print I scan it well before a negative. Actually I rarely scan negatives these days. The occasional color roll but my LS-5000 sits pretty idle most of the time.
The grain of silver gelatin paper is incredibly fine. Provided you scan at a suitable resolution and are using quality enlarger lenses with an aligned enlarger your scanned prints will look just fine. I have a few "prints" up on my flickr stream right now that were even scanned right off contact sheets. One thing *I* personally do is scan at max resolution for my V700 and then use Vuescan's RAW/TIFF downsizing value to shift it down after it's been optically scanned. A lot of people will tell you there is no need to scan above 300 dpi but personally I think there is.
I always prefer to have prints as a tangible representation of a frame. Of course negatives are the ultimate thing to protect - but I protect my prints and contact sheets pretty well - as they represent a time and energy investment.