Seeing negatives as positives without making a Print
Hi, what is a quick way to see my B&W negatives as positives without doing any chemistry, scanning, or making a print?
I just want a quick and instant way of seeing how my picture looks like, as a positive. I do send some of my pics to be developed as a positive slide film, and they tell me how my pictures actually look like. But positives are too expensive to develop, so I'm wondering if I can just develop my pictures as negatives (which is cheap and fast to develop) and view them as positives.
I repeat that I don't want to have to make a print. I want to see how much picture looks like using the original negative film.
Re: Seeing negatives as positives without making a Print
I guess another solution is to develop my own positives, but the chemicals for that seem very expensive compared to developing negatives (Rodinal is dirt cheap!). If anyone knows of a cheap way to develop positives, then that would be an alternative solution for me.
Re: Seeing negatives as positives without making a Print
Some video cameras can be set to invert to a negative image, if you have one try it. Otherwise you should simply scan the negative and look at it in Photoshop. This may or may not be a very fast process
Re: Seeing negatives as positives without making a Print
If you look at the emulsion side of a B&W neg against a black background, you can see it as a positive, but it's not a terribly good indicator of how a print would look.
The normal way of previewing negs before printing is to make contact prints, which aren't too expensive to make yourself. You don't need an enlarger.
Re: Seeing negatives as positives without making a Print
I have looked at negatives for so long my brain turns them into positives -- it is not something I consciencously do. Other than gaining that experience, try laying them on a mirror or on a white piece of paper -- at the proper angle they can appear as a positive.
Vaughn
Re: Seeing negatives as positives without making a Print
Put it in a cheap flatbed scanner and invert the image in Photoshop.
Re: Seeing negatives as positives without making a Print
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gary Beasley
Some video cameras can be set to invert to a negative image, if you have one try it. Otherwise you should simply scan the negative and look at it in Photoshop. This may or may not be a very fast process
Thanks for your response. I do scan my negatives, but the problem is that I have to adjust the contrast and curves so I don't have any reference as to know it is supposed to look like. It is also slow, as my scanner sucks. If I can see the film as a positive, not only would I be able to preview but I would also have a reference for contrast balance and such things.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
David A. Goldfarb
If you look at the emulsion side of a B&W neg against a black background, you can see it as a positive, but it's not a terribly good indicator of how a print would look.
Really? Doesn't seem to be working for me. Maybe it's because of the film I'm using? It has an anti-halation layer.
Quote:
The normal way of previewing negs before printing is to make contact prints, which aren't too expensive to make yourself. You don't need an enlarger.
I don't have a permanent darkroom though, so it would be hard. I develop my film in a dark public restroom (in a bag). I think it would be difficult to fit all that contact print equipment in my backpack.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Vaughn
Other than gaining that experience, try laying them on a mirror or on a white piece of paper -- at the proper angle they can appear as a positive.
Vaughn
Thanks for your response, Vaughn, but unfortunately it doesn't work for the film that I am using. If I look at the film at an extreme angle, it simply becomes really shiny. It remains a negative.
Any other suggestions? I appreciate all the responses so far. Keep them coming. There must be some special trick somebody might know.
Re: Seeing negatives as positives without making a Print
I think you are asking for the impossible. There is no quick and easy way to see the positive in traditional B&W printing. Thats why they invented Polaroid and Digital for all those impatient people:D
Seriously though, printing out paper will give you your positive image by just exposure to UV light, though you would need to 'process' it if you required permanence.
Re: Seeing negatives as positives without making a Print
The "proper" angle may not be an extreme one...but a combination of the angle of the light and one's eye. I have my own curiousity up now...I'll have to play around with that next week.
Vaughn
Re: Seeing negatives as positives without making a Print
I was thinking about this and some thought came into my head. What about glow-in-the-dark paper? Like this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Glow-in-the-dark...QQcmdZViewItem
Anybody ever tried it?