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  #11  
Old 10th December 2008, 07:03 PM
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Just to add a bit more

We must not forget the creative use of toners with contact prints and expecially the creative hand washing of POP papers to reveal their image. Although I am not an expert on this I know a lot of the toners used by photographers of years gone by, in the production their contact prints, were probably home brews and their formulas were often kept secret by those who used them - as they produced their mark. A lot of these toners are now used by those who make contact prints today and it is worth noting that these toners are not widely used with projection printers in the same way, but of course there is no reason why they should not be tried. As far as I can see the photographers who use alternative processes to make contact prints also may use a selection of toners to get the creative result they are looking for.


Neil.
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  #12  
Old 10th December 2008, 07:12 PM
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the original question seems to come from the viewpoint that an image should be unaltered, but that is impossible. The camera always lies. After that it depends on what your purpose is. Documentary where, as a photographer, perhaps you have a duty not to manipulate but that is debateable. Or fine art, in which case anything goes. Since when was anything creative limited to being unmanipulated.
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  #13  
Old 10th December 2008, 07:53 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Les McLean View Post
Ross, I was always suspicious of your eye, particularly the right one.
The right one is getting a bit squiffy these days certainly. I may have to go AF ...

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Perhaps Richard should pay a visit to the borders and we could make some comparisions between contact prints and enlarged prints of the same size using both LPL diffusion and Cold Cathode enlargers. We could also murder a very nice bottle of single malt I have just waiting for his visit. Obviously we drink the malt after all judgements have been made and agreed.
We'd best post them here before we open the bottle then, Les . It would be an interesting comparison though, if the enlargers can print small enough to make a 1:1 "enlargement" which is the only valid comparison with a contact I think.
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  #14  
Old 10th December 2008, 07:56 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Les McLean View Post
SNIP; Obviously we drink the malt after all judgements have been made and agreed.
Les, I think you should drink a fine single malt before AND after any tests are carried out.

I've noticed since I've stoped drinking spirits my work has taken a down turn
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  #15  
Old 10th December 2008, 08:51 PM
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I helped Tim Soar make some plt/pd prints from 10x8 in camera negs earlier this year. He has a uv light source that comes from three uv bulds inside an overhead canopy above a vacuum contact printing frame (Parker?). As the light is shaded one could get your hands between the light and image in much the same way as you do under an enlarger - so yes manipulate away - just judiciously
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Old 10th December 2008, 09:37 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Trevor Crone View Post
Les, I think you should drink a fine single malt before AND after any tests are carried out.

I've noticed since I've stoped drinking spirits my work has taken a down turn
Trevor, Been there done that! A friend and I drank a bottle of Highland Park once when we went into the darkroom to print. We took the bottle into the darkroom with us when we started and the first prints looked excellent as we were making them. When we went back the following morning we found an empty bottle and a tray full of crap prints which we destroyed immediately. The darkroom smelled like a distillery too.
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  #17  
Old 11th December 2008, 08:39 AM
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[QUOTE= .......The darkroom smelled like a distillery too. [/QUOTE]


Les, have you thought of improving the darkroom's ventilation system

Cheers - !!! Neil.
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  #18  
Old 11th December 2008, 09:43 AM
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Thanks. There are some interesting thoughts/comments here.

The reason for me asking the question was to take a view on the relation of the contact print to the negative. For smaller formats (as I see it) contacts are 'simply' a utilitarian means to assess an image prior to deciding whether to print from it or not.

As has been pointed out in previous posts, large format contact prints can (and do) also have an aesthetic quality to them and seem to be viewed as distinct from enlarged prints. I was canvassing the views of contact printers as to how they saw them and went about making them.

If I've caused people to stop and think about the "why" as well as the "how", maybe that's no bad thing.
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  #19  
Old 11th December 2008, 02:39 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mono-inthedark View Post
Les, have you thought of improving the darkroom's ventilation system

Cheers - !!! Neil.
Ventilation!

He’s even plugged the keyhole. Anyway it would distract from the ambience.
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  #20  
Old 13th December 2008, 11:39 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Armadillo View Post
For want of a better expression, is there a particular ethos attached to contact printing?

I'd be interested to know how much time/manipulation people use in producing contacts. If it works for an enlarged print, is it fair game or is there a point where the 'purity' of a contact print is lost?
I'm not sure whether contact prints have 'purity' as such. But I do think that choosing to contact print has implications for the way you work, how you see, and hence what you create.

In all fields of human endeavour, specialism leads to depth. If you want to go deep into a subject then you need to specialise in it.

Choosing to contact print is one way of specialising. Contact printing imposes a number of constraints, such as having to consider the size of your print when you make your negative, and, depending on your process, it can make print manipulation difficult. But at the same time it can be liberating because there are fewer decisions to make.

I think that labelling contact prints as being somehow more 'pure' than enlargements is perhaps more about marketing than photography...
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