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SanMiguel


Friend

Registered: June 2014
Location: Portstewart, Northern Ireland
Posts: 341
users gallery
I just wanted to share a print with which I am very pleased - my first attempt at using pre-flashing to get some tone in the highlights (sky) with a high-contrast neg. This was taken with the camera pointing almost directly at the sun so I knew I was in for a hard time come the darkroom. The first, straight print was pretty much as expected with the sky paper-white. After reading up about pre-flashing and doing a test strip I gave it a go. Next print was better, with some tone coming into the sky but the bottom half of the print had lost all sparkle. I read some more and increased the contrast by a full grade, lowered the exposure and with a couple of extra burn-ins on the sky at different grades and a bit of dodging around my friend's face I ended up with the print you see. Mind you, it took me two fairly long darkroom sessions to get there (and quite a few 'learning prints' along the way). Still, I changed my position from 'I never want to see this negative again' to 'I actually got there' so all in all I'm feeling very happy with how things turned out. I've a few other high-contrast negatives in my mind to go back to now, armed with my new skills.


My motivation wasn't just that I could see some tone in the sky from the negative but that I had scanned the negative in order to email the image to my friend. I rarely scan anything these days (apart from prints). The digital image looked good and I thought to myself 'I'll be damned if I'm going to admit that a scanner and some software can do a far better job than I can in the darkroom' Smile


The photograph was taken in Derry/Londonderry last weekend - my friend's rather thoughtful pose and the Sinn Fein posters in front of the 1927 War Memorial provided an interesting commentary, I thought.
· Date: Wed, 10, May, 2017 · Views: 4708
· Filesize: 52.4kb, 164.3kb · Dimensions: 959 x 1200 ·
Additional Info
Keywords: Pre-flashing
Film make, size & rating:: HP5@400asa
Film developer & temp:: ID-11, 1+1
Lens focal length, aperture & speed:: 35mm
Tripod used Y/N:: N
Paper:: Ilford Warmtone RC
Paper developer & temp:: Fotospeed WT-10

Author
Thread  
Tony Marlow
Friend

Registered: September 2008
Posts: 1,282
Wed, 10, May, 2017 6:27pm

Just a point I find you don't need to always pre-flash the whole of the paper just the part where you have a problem, large or small. This doesn't flatten the parts of the print where you want a bit of sparkle. The accuracy of the mask doesn't need to be very precise just keep it moving.
Flashing has worked fine for you here.


Tony
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SanMiguel
Friend

Registered: June 2014
Location: Portstewart, Northern Ireland
Posts: 341
Wed, 10, May, 2017 6:58pm

That's a very good suggestion Tony and in hindsight might have helped me a lot with this negative. I will certainly think about localised flashing in the future with difficult negatives.
Michael
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RichardWarom
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Registered: June 2010
Location: Longton, Lancashire
Posts: 712
Thu, 11, May, 2017 3:59am

Well done Michael.
Richard
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SanMiguel
Friend

Registered: June 2014
Location: Portstewart, Northern Ireland
Posts: 341
Thu, 11, May, 2017 8:32pm

Thanks Richard - appreciated.
Michael
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