Between the lines – The importance of interlayers in RA4 color paper

‘Today I learned’…a lot, in fact! More than enough to fill a couple of blogs, but let’s start with this one. Did you know that color paper has layers that you can’t see, that are actually designed to be invisible, but that play a huge role in the visual aspects of the paper and the images on it? Well, now you do! They’re the interlayers, and they are quite essential, as it turns out. I’ll try to explain.

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DAS right! – Solving the teething problems of DAS carbon transfer

Previously I wrote about trouble I was running into with DAS-incorporated carbon tissue. I just couldn’t get those tissues to transfer properly. Well, looks like I figured out why. In the process, I received some useful advice to boot, and perhaps there are some myths being established as well. Are you starting out with DAS and running into issues? Maybe some of the info in this blog can be of help.

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Color carbon made feasible part 2: sensitizer-incorporated tissue

Earlier, I’ve signaled the challenge of achieving sufficient consistency for a feasible color carbon process. Part of that would be aided by halftone negatives, as discussed in the previous installment. The other part I’ll highlight here is about the tissue itself, and how to sensitize it. Applying sensitizer to a pre-made tissue doesn’t seem to be ideal, and it would work better to incorporate the sensitizer into the glop. But what are the possibilities and challenges of doing so?

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Color carbon made feasible, part 1: halftone screens

In my previous blog post, I outlined a couple of tough challenges I met in the color carbon project. These challenges are partly inherent to the carbon transfer process, and partly stem from working with digital negatives, in particular continuous tone negatives. In this blog, I will outline the two main components to a solution to these challenges: halftone screen negatives and sensitizer-incorporated tissue.

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Color carbon and digital inkjet negatives: challenges

It’s been awfully quiet on the color carbon front, hasn’t it? Well, that’s partly accurate. I haven’t done as many test strips these past two weeks as I’d been doing before, and the reason is that I’m at a crossroads with this project now. Having learned lots, it’s also becoming clearer now what I’m dealing with. The question is – how to proceed? Let’s start with exploring some of the challenges I’m currently facing, which all happen to revolve around consistency and linearity.

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Potato, potato – Making an old Sigma lens work on every Canon EOS body

Right, the “potato, potato” thing probably doesn’t work that well in writing, but you get the point. Or at least, you soon will. I got my hands on an old Sigma ‘Super Wide’ 24/2.8 a couple of weeks ago. I came across it and just couldn’t resist; a wide-angle prime is a convenient thing to have, after all. Upon receiving it, I immediately tried it out and…it didn’t work properly. Drat. Well, it did on my old Canon EOS 50e, but it didn’t work on an EOS 7D or an EOS 30. Turns out it’s a well known-compatibility issue. Turns out also that, guess what? It can be fixed!

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Some images – Tractor tracks

No long story this time, just some images. By far the most photos I make are taken in the immediate vicinity of the house, within walking distance. The same is true for these two, which I took when exposing a test roll of Fomapan 100 to see how the Sigma 24/2.8 I received recently works.

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Easy way out – Inkjet on ‘DIY’ papers

No, I haven’t given up on color carbon yet. But as I was messing with the inkjet printer anyway, making hundreds of digital negatives and greyscale tests, at some point I got experimental in that direction as well. You see, the thing with inkjet is that I just don’t like most inkjet papers. They’re very high-tech and offer great gamut and dmax. But they don’t have much subtlety to them and the paper surface is always lifeless to me. The exception is the (rather pricey) inkjet baryta papers that indeed resemble fiber-based B&W papers. But couldn’t we expand our choices a bit, perhaps by trying something ourselves? Well, turns out, we can…read on!

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To stain, or not to stain – Acid and pyro developers

There is a very controversial topic on the Internet. It’s in fact so controversial that I almost don’t dare post about it. It’s that thing about pyro developers and the dye image (‘stain’) they produce. This is seen as a desirable trait, as it apparently helps to mask film grain, and it adds substantial UV density, which is great for processes like carbon printing. Now, the question is – is it OK to use an acid stop and fixer with a staining pyro developer, or will this obliterate this precious dye image? Come in and find out!

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Black is the new black – Pigments for B&W carbon transfer

No, I haven’t given up color carbon just yet, but neither will I leave B&W alone. One issue I’ve been having is that of hue. After all, there’s black, and there’s black: black pigments tend to come in all sorts of hues, so there’s lots to choose from. But a satisfactorily neutral black has evaded me for quite some time – until now!

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