Digital BW, The Print

I didn't take offense Steve, or even think you were being critical.
I tend to jump big when I go, and I don't always look first.

I make digital negatives for cyanotypes...so I think I'm a bit 
covered by the limited capabilities of that process.  I may move on 
to do van dykes in the future, but I don't have any plans for the 
higher end processes.  
I actually like the very basic alternative processes.  I find it a 
nice contrast to the "perfection" of silver/platinum etc...  Which is 
just as well since I don't think I have the attention to detail to 
really excel at those more demanding processes.

Link to one of my cyanotypes...  
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevemphoto/347434952/in/set-
72157594360326487/

Thanks for your input and willingness to help.

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Steven 
Karafyllakis" <stevekphoto@...> wrote:
>
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Steve" 
> <dazedgonebye@> wrote:
> >
> > I jumped on the generations so quickly, because I did not want to 
> > calibarate my digital negative process to epson inks, then switch 
> to 
> > aftermarket inks later 
> 
> Sorry, I didn't mean my remark as a criticism, it's just that very 
> few people on this list use the Generations inks, so we have no 
real 
> help to offer.
> 
> >  I need to 
> > get that working with the stock color inks and then I'll worry 
> about 
> > a dedicated black and white system in the future.
> 
> I don't know how much of this you've done so far, and what 
processes 
> you use the negs for, but I feel I must comnplicate your life a bit 
> more: many processes, if not all, are sensetive to the color of 
light 
> you're exposing with. Ergo, if you make a neg with color inks, each 
> set of dot colors will register differently on the paper. This can 
> often produce a much 'grainier' print than you would expect looking 
> at the negative. My take after repeatedly trying to produce silver-
> gel quality negs, is that the best solution is to use QTR to mix 
two 
> curves: one 3K curve composed of PK, LK, and LLK, and a second curve
> composed of magenta, yellow and LLK, or magenta, red and yellow. 
The 
> primary work would be done by the gray curve, with the color curve 
> adding density or in the case of VC papers, contrast, where and 
when 
> needed. But again, everything depends on your process and its 
> spectral response.
> 
> At any rate, best of luck, and keep us posted on your progress. One 
> of these days I'll take another whack at it myself, seeing as how I 
> have a fair quantity of (free!) Sihl film I need to test.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Steve Karafyllakis
>