photography – Page 4 – Koraks tinkers

Perfecting primaries – Another look at LED wavelengths for RA4 paper

Way back I explored the best wavelengths for exposing RA4 paper. In that blog entry, I pitched an idea of optimal wavelengths that I hadn’t tried yet. Well, I picked up the glove myself and I think the results could be pretty relevant. Read on, especially if you’re looking to purchase or build a LED exposure system for color enlargements.

Shine a little light – A brief note on UV output degradation in LED floodlights

I’ve been using cheap & cheerful UV floodlights to expose my alternative process prints for a little over a year now. Since then, a few people have remarked that there’s a problem with these LED flood lights: their power output reduces as the unit operates due to the LEDs heating up. How bad is the problem, really, and what to do about it?

Feet of clay – My first impression of Harman Phoenix

The recent introduction of a color negative C41 film by Harman Technology (of Ilford fame) was both unusual and gutsy. Entering the market with a color product with a strong reputation specifically in black & white is a surprising move to begin with. Doing so in a way that resembles a 2020s startup more so than a firm rooted in the early 1900s is even more surprising. But what gives? Let’s look at some pictures! In particular, some optical RA4 enlargements.

Ogling curves – Comparing salted paper, Van Dyke and DAS carbon

Earlier today I posted a blog with analysis of curves and especially hues of salted paper prints. I mentioned a comparison of curve shapes with some other processes as well, and since that’s fairly easy to do, I thought I could follow up on it right away. In this brief blog, let’s have a look at the H/D curves of salted paper, Van Dyke and DAS carbon.

Shades of grey – A look at the tones of a salted paper print

Last night I felt like doing a salt print. Why not do some measurements on it? Just having fun with the photospectrometer, really! And sometimes, just playing can give some insights. Perhaps a surprise, here and there?

Skyfall – A first impression of 4×5″ Kodak Aerocolor IV

Shooting color in large format is for the rich and very dedicated. I’m certainly not the former, and the latter…nah. Well, I can always try to cut a corner here and there, so I splurged on some Kodak Aerocolor IV film, conveniently cut to sheets by Reflx Lab. Here are the results of my first four sheets shot on this film.

Big ugly no longer big (still ugly) – RGB LED head for color printing revision

As soon as something sort of works, I generally leave it as is and use it as is. Until the shortcomings become annoying enough to actually do something about it. Which is the story of my color enlarger project in a nutshell. A story that hadn’t see much development lately – after all, it sort of worked, right? Well, the annoyance got the better of me, so I did another iteration.

Crossroads – A closer look at Kodak and Fuji digital RA4 crossover

Earlier, I wrote about digital RA4 papers suffering from crossover. I feel it’s time to revisit this topic, because I stumbled across some illustrations that make the issue more tangible. Let’s have a look at some theory and split some hairs!

Upside down – How color film and paper are fundamentally different

This is a story about chromogenic color film and paper that’s not a secret at all, but it remains untold much of the time. Perhaps because it’s rather technical and it goes beyond what an analog photographer or darkroom printer needs to know. But once you start thinking about the structure of C41 (and ECN2 and E6) film and RA4 paper in particular, it becomes an unavoidable topic. It’s the question how massive color crossover is in these materials. And in RA4 paper in particular, despite the absence of substantial color filtering in the emulsion layers.