Digital BW, The Print

There are some really nice images on your website.

Making wet prints and scanning those is a very good alternative and in
some cases I like the look better that way.

Polaroid 55 needs some attention. If you develop it for a good print you
will get a thin negative. If you want a better, denser and slightly
contrastier negative, it should be developed longer, about twice as long
if I recall correctly. The Pol55 negative should be cleared as soon as
possible after development, and some people prefer to fix, wash, wipe,
and dry them traditionally. Watch out as the film is extremely thin and
the emulsion is fragile. Experiment with some scraps if you go this
route.

You should try using levels and/or curves rather than brightness and
contrast as it gives you so much more control over where and how the
tones will be re-distributed. For example you can tweak the shadow
contrast and keep the highlight contrast pretty much the same. In
problem cases, 16-bit scans can help in tweaking levels and curves
somewhat better.
A negative, like "Frappucino" where there is lack of contrast in the
shadows looks like a typical case of underexposure, so check your
negative and what you did there. Extended Pol55 development will help
somewhat in boosting that shadow density and contrast, but exposure is
still critical. Good knowledge of the Zone System comes in handy to
pre-envision the end results.

TigerShark





-----Original Message-----
From: Joe's Mail [mailto:joe@...] 
Sent: Wednesday, October 01, 2003 5:59 AM
To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Digital BW] OT: PS Elements guidance request.

Try making an 8.5X11  low contrast conventional wet print , then
scanning it on a flatbed scanner. I've been doing that for all my b/w
negs and the results are fabulous.