[LargeFormat] Big Old Cave

[Richard Knoppow]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Leigh Solland (on Chickadee)" 
<solland at telusplanet.net>
To: "f32 Large Format Photography Mail List" 
<largeformat at f32.net>
Sent: Saturday, June 04, 2005 4:18 PM
Subject: Re: [LargeFormat] Big Old Cave


>
> This is my question, if anyone has stayed with me this 
> long.  Is it reasonable to make positive transparencies 
> onto sheets of normal film (say 120 ASA, panchromatic) 
> from a negative mounted on an enlarger?  I haven't been 
> able to find any good information about time, aperture, 
> etc.  My only experiment to date was a dismal failure. 
> Also, I found something that hinted that film can be 
> developed quickly in paper developer -- any comments or 
> suggestions?
>
> Thanks,
> Leigh
>
   Its practical but the best film for it isn't available 
AFAIK in sheet film any more. This was Kodak Fine Grain 
Release Positive. Essentially a fast enlarging paper 
emulsion on film.
   There are other approaches if you want to do the kind of 
manipulation that Mortensen did. The easiest and one of the 
best is the paper negative process, once widely used by 
pictorialist photographers. This works by making a positive 
print from the negative. Then a negative is made by contact 
printing this paper to another paper. The final print is 
made by contact printing the paper negative. Retouching is 
done on both the original positive print and the paper 
negative. this allows making dark marks on both rather than 
trying to bleach or etch a positive. Retouching can be done 
in any medium suitable for printing paper. If done on the 
front the results are sharp, if done on the back the 
retouching is diffused by the paper.
   It takes some experimentation to find the right contrast 
and density for the original positive and paper negative. In 
general the first positive print will be a bit contrastier 
and darker than a print meant for viewing by the eye. The 
paper negative will also look a bit dark and be somewhat 
high contrast. Remember, when looking at a reflection print 
the light must go through the emulsion twice. If you look at 
the print by transmitted light it will look both lower in 
contrast and in density. Since both the original positive 
and paper negative are to be printed by transmitted light 
they should be printed accordingly.
   The paper negative process is very powerful. All sorts of 
manipulation of the image can be done, even replacing parts 
of it. It really requires no special equipment other than a 
printing frame of suitable size. A printing frame can be 
made of a sheet of plywood or similar and a sheet of glass. 
A real spring loaded frame is nice but can be done without.

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