"I consider it essential that the photographer should do his own printing and enlarging. The final effect of the finished print depends so much on these operations. And only the photographer himself knows the effect he wants. He should know by instinct, grounded in experience, what subjects are enhanced by hard or soft, light or dark treatment." - Bill Brandt -
"In the history of photography, one process has always replaced another. The tumultuous realignment that's going on in the photography now is really just a natural evolution. The irony is that none of the processes that have been replaced have disappeared. More people than ever are practicing every approach to shooting and printing." - Keith Carter
What to do with your film shot at Coney Island last week:
Take your film to a reputable and professional lab for processing...not CVS! I suggest the following labs which are within proximity to campus:
Sunshine Color Lab
Say hi to Jesus for me at the front counter. ;)
138 W 31st St
New York,
NY 10001
212-290-2239
*?% discount with student ID
L&I Photo and Digital
1W 22nd Street
New York, NY 10010
212-645-5300
*20% discount with student ID
- Color Negative: Instruct the lab to process "C41" and "Normal". Ask for 1 set of contact sheets as well. *Note that it will take at least 24 to 48 hours to develop and contact, so please drop your film off no later than Monday morning so it is ready for Wednesday's class!
- Reversal Film (Chrome): Instruct the lab to process "E6" and "Normal". Ask for them to be cut and mounted as well. *E6 processing should only take a few hours.
- Digital Images: Each student selects 1 image to print at least 8"x10" for critique. *Please refer back to Week #8 Notes as well as the Handout on Printing in order to follow the proper procedure for an accurate color management workflow.
Free Webinar explaining the ColorMunki monitor and printer calibration system
Use link above to register for next Tuesday, April 17th at 11am or 1pm
Notes on traditional film and the development process
Color Negative film (often with "color" in its name) has 3 layers of emulsion each sensitive to one of the RGB additive primaries. During
development, the developer oxidizes and combines with color chemical
couplers in the emulsion to create the CMY dyes in our negative. The
blue-sensitive emulsion layer basically forms the yellow dye and so on.
Once all the light-sensitive silver is removed (different than
B&W!), you are left with a negative image created solely from CMY
dyes.
Reversal film (often with "chrome" in its name) produces a positive image called a chrome, slide, or transparency.
Exposure latitude
is the extent to which a light-sensitive material can be over or under
exposed and still achieve acceptable results. This makes it somewhat
subjective.
It is not to be confused with Dynamic Range, which is the range of light intensities a medium can capture. A
recording medium with greater dynamic range will be able to record more
details in the dark and light areas of a picture. Latitude depends on
dynamic range. If the same scene can be recorded using less than the
full brightness range available to the medium, the exposure can be
shifted along the range without clipping data values in the shadows or
highlights. Greater exposure latitude allows one to compensate for
errors in exposure while retaining quality.
Push Film Processing: (brightens the film, and adds a bit of contrast) Over-development of the film, compensating for under-exposure in the camera.
Pull Film Processing: (darkens the film, and flattens
the contrast a bit) A technique that compensates for overexposed film
by under-developing it at the processing stage
Cross-processing is developing color print or slide film in the wrong chemicals.
- Processing positive reversal film in C-41 chemicals (normally for negs) results in negative image on a colorless base
- Processing
negative print film in E-6 (normally for chromes) results in a positive
image with the orange base of a normally processed color negative
Field Trip to My Own Color Lab
to learn color darkroom printing
Rental of the facilities and printing paper requires $15 from each student to be collected in class
My Own Color Lab - Color Darkroom Rental
18 West 27th Street - 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10001
