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The Power of Split Grade Printing and Post Flashing
Les McLean
Les McLean
25th April 2009
The development of simple split grade printing has given traditional darkroom workers the ability to quickly and consistently produce high quality prints from well exposed and developed negatives. However, for various reasons, we don’t always get it right at the exposure and...
  #10  
By DavidH on 17th February 2012, 07:42 PM
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Reading this article has made me wonder if I should revisit some negatives that I never really got a satisfactory print from. I think I must try to cultivate a scientific and repeatable approach to split grades and re-reading this will be of great help.
Many Thanks
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  #11  
By JohnB on 17th February 2012, 07:53 PM
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Thank you for the article. As a relative beginner I didn't realise how much work goes into printing.

I'm confused on how you do the post flashing, how can you see the image while you are doing it?
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  #12  
By DougHowk on 18th February 2012, 12:06 AM
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RH Design flasher is separate from the light source thru the negative, so it does require some memory of the scene if you're doing dodging/burning with flash. Maybe that's why Les does the flashing after regular exposure.
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  #13  
By RH Designs on 18th February 2012, 09:37 AM
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If you're using a separate flashing light source you can project the image onto the baseboard using the enlarger's red filter, so you can see where you're flashing. Make sure the filter is safe though - the one on my LPL isn't, particularly!
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  #14  
By Tony Marlow on 18th February 2012, 12:12 PM
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If you are flashing the whole sheet then there is no problem but if you want to flash only part of the print then I find Dave's method useful. I tape a sheet of clear acetate down one edge onto the arm of the easel so it hinges then project the image onto the acetate and mark with a felt tip pen where you want to flash. Cut out a mask from say a piece of cardboard and when you have made your exposure with the acetate folded back, flap it on to the paper and use your mask to allow the flashing light on to the area outlined on the acetate. I keep the mask close to the paper and keep it moving, I don't think it is critical to be too precise on the area being flashed.
If the area being flashed is not too complicated I cut out a mask and put a couple of white labels on the easel arms to mark where I need to position the mask.
The RH flasher makes it very easy to do, wouldn't be without mine.

Tony
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  #15  
By JohnB on 19th February 2012, 09:05 PM
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I understand better now, thanks. I looked at the RH paper flasher, it looks a very handy tool.
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  #16  
By Mike O'Pray on 19th February 2012, 09:32 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnB View Post
I understand better now, thanks. I looked at the RH paper flasher, it looks a very handy tool.
It is. It makes getting the correct flash exposure easy and once you have the correct pre-flash exposure it is instantly repeatable if the flasher is set at the same height as used for the correct exposure.

You can also use it to get the min exposure for max black and repeat this for black borders on the print or indeed any shade from light grey to black borders.

Mike
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  #17  
By photomi7ch on 20th February 2012, 06:18 PM
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I have also enjoyed the article. it has also made me think above revisiting some old negs.
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  #18  
By dsallen on 20th February 2012, 10:08 PM
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Pre-flashing doesn't require anything special, no separate enlarger or the removal of the negative or special equipment.

You can simply hold (or, if like me you never use the red filter under the lens, you can replace the red filter with something suitable) an opaque piece of glass / perspex under the lens and make your pre-flash. If you don't have anything to hand, you can get away with a tissue or a bit of plastic that throws the entire image way out of focus. The basic idea is to have a diffuse light-source to do your pre-flashing and using the enlarger with negative in place is the easiest because you usually only know that you require a pre-flash once you have set-up and made your first test print.

I find that, with modern multigrade papers, pre-flashing is rarely required but, within the range of tools available to a printer, it remains a useful technique for the rare image that requires it.
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  #19  
By WillShade on 24th February 2012, 11:41 AM
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Being a new printer (post-film era to be exact), VC papers have always been available to me, so I came by the split-grade technique by experimenting; not even knowing what it's called at that time.

But this article brings clarity and the post-flashing technique sounds really useful.
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