contact print approaches

[alessandro_magni1]

It's again me, the current forum newbie (I see low traffic here, so I

abuse your patience asking for help!)

 

I'm starting to understand which alt.processes I'd like to work on

(cyano, salt paper, albumen), but <what> to print still eludes me:

I photograph exclusively 35mm and 6x6. I guess that contact prints

from those negatives would be too small.

 

There are ways to obtain from a small negative something intermediate,

to be used as a matrix for contact printing???

 

If the question seems too stupid just don't flame me...

 

 

Alessandro

[martin_pistor]

Yes there are. Pls. excuse, I'll let you do the search through prior threads yourself. I can promise thers's a lot.

Martin

[yance_marti]

Use your enlarger to project your 35mm negative onto 8x10 sheet film and then contact print that film onto another sheet of film to get an 8x10 negative. That is probably the easiest way.

[randall ellis]

You have a couple of choices. You can either have your negative enlarged or have it scanned and made into a digital negative (inkjet on transparency), either of which can then be used to make a contact print. Try searching for 'digital negative' for more details on that option, or contact your local lab about enlarging negatives. You can do it yourself, but your enlarger will need to be sealed against light leaks, which can take a surprising amount of time. Here is a link to an article on making enlarged negatives.

<BR><BR>

<A href="http://www.ephotozine.com/techniques/viewtechnique.cfm?recid=130">Mike Ware article</A>

<BR><BR>

-Randy

[alessandro_magni1]

Randall: from what I saw concerning digital negatives, it seems that I have to scan the printed positive, invert it, and print it.

I didnt understand on what to print though: projector slides are OK?

 

thanks! Alessandro

[alessandro_magni1]

(P.S. on digital)

... and I keep on reading about inkjets: is it possible to use laser printers too?

 

Alessandro

[allen_friday]

I have seen many beautiful medium format negtives contact printed. There are several threads regarding contact printing medium format on the Michael and Paula Smith web site.

 

You are just learning. You will learn as much from printing the small negs as from printing bigger ones. Plus, you will use fewer chemicals with the small negs. Alterntive processes are dependent on using a properly exposed and developed negatives. Why complicate the learning process by adding a layer of complexity--i.e. enlarging negs--when you don't yet know what a good alternative process negative looks like.

 

My advice: Learn the processes with small negs. Then you can learn to make enlarged negs later on. There are two good articles on the B&S web site about making enlarged negs using different types of film. Once you have the process nailed, go to that site and try enlarging negs.

[magic1]

Not from any laser I've seen (baring lightjets).

 

Go to either www.danburkholder.com or www.precisiondigitalnegatives.com for information on the two main systems for creating enlarged negs digitally. You can also create them using film. It think that's tricker but even you already own a darkroom the cost and learning curve might be less.

[grinder]

If you have an enlarger it is really easy to get a bigger negitive as said above. Check this out http://www.freestylephoto.biz/sc_prod.php?cat_id=406&pid=1201

This is what I use with good results and its not that expensive.

Good luck and enjoy

[david_f._stein]

Allen has some great advice. What about a sequence of 3-4 6x6 negs printed intact. Can make a beautiful and interesting work. I have seen this done with palladium and it works well. Another simple system: project a 35mm transparency in your enlarger onto litho film; develop in dilute developer and you can achieve nice tonalities. You will have a "direct negative" to then contact print on cyanotype, brown print, etc. I did many in that manner. Also, check Photo Warehouse. They stock reversal graphics films, so you can go negative to negative.

[lex_jenkins]

For many decades the prints our forebears got from labs were b&w contact prints from among several varieties of medium format films and cameras. These prints were often as good as anything I could produce at home, as long as the negative was exposed and developed properly.

 

The ideal medium format aspect ratio for contact prints would be something like 6x7 or 6x9. This can be done fairly affordably since cameras ranging from simple, "quaint" older folding cameras in these formats, to "obsolete" press cameras and bellows cameras.

 

However, it's not terribly difficult to produce basic 8x10 negatives on an ordinary inkjet printer from scans of 35mm film.

 

Now, then, producing *satisfactory* enlarged negatives via inkjet printer for contact printing on light sensitive paper? That's another matter that requires finesse and lots of practice. Fortunately there's lots of information online.

[alessandro_magni1]

thanks - everybody!

I guess I'll follow the advice on learning step by step starting from my 6x6 negatives - it will be more than enough!

Meanwhile I'll also experiment on inkjet printing.

 

Anyway I still don't get <why> it should be impossible to bypass the contact step, simply projecting a negative with an enlarger, possibly using a UV source in lieu of the ordinary lamp? Just guessing...

 

Alessandro

[magic1]

The problem is how do you get a UV light source in your enlarger. They are usually very bright and would fry for neg and a lot of lens coatings block UV.

 

That being said there is an enlarger head you can buy. I think its sold at Michael & Paula's site, but it runs about $2K. Several others have been expermenting with using BLB bulbs. I hope to try it someday, just haven't gotten around to building the head yet for my Beseler 45 and inkjet negs have been working fine for my alt process stuff. Now Azo thats a different story.

[allen_friday]

The processes you want to try, cyanotype, salt print, etc. are contact processes only. The two main reasons are 1) the emulsions are only sensitive to UV light and 2) the emulsions are very slow. A silver gelitin paper is somewhere on the magnitude of 1,000,000 times faster than the processes you mention. It is almost imposible to get that much light through an enlarger--although Durst makes one that cost $20,000 that will print platinum.

 

The UV light mentioned above is for silver chloride paper (azo), which is slower than silver gelitin, but not nearly as slow as platinum or salt prints. The UV light is specially manufatured in the UV spectrum to match the sensitivity of Azo. It is not recommended for other processes.