Looking at playing around with masking and am trying to find any instructions for doing a variety of masks. There appears to be plenty of info on how to do unsharp masking. I haven't had much luck tracking down things like how to do highlight masking, contrast reduction, SCIM, etc. Know of any sites or articles that cover such things in more detail rather than just giving examples?
Black and white or color? I seem to recall a series of articles in View Camera magazine within the last couple years about several different types of b&w masking.
What's SCIM?
Brian Ellis
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them you'll be
a mile away and you'll have their shoes.
On second thought, the masking articles may have been in Photo Techniques magazine.
Brian Ellis
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them you'll be
a mile away and you'll have their shoes.
I've got quite a few articles in Photo Techniques magazine (back when their name was slightly different...man has that magazine lost a lot of meaty stuff it used to have).
If you like, I can dig them up, scan them in and email to you? I won't be able to get to them until tomorrow though.
"man has that magazine lost a lot of meaty stuff it used to have"
Glad someone else thinks that. I get my issue, I look at the headlines for the different articles, think "great, some of these should be terrific," then I read them and there's nothing there.
Brian Ellis
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them you'll be
a mile away and you'll have their shoes.
I don't even subscribe any more. I go to Chapters and have a look at it. If there is an interesting article in it, I'll buy it. But usually it just stays on the shelf.
Another thing that annoys me is that they list their contributing editors like John Sexton, Jergens, the chemistry guy (forgot his name), and Phil Davis...when was the last time they wrote anything?? Years ago!
Count the number of digital vs traditional articles...guess what is slowly taking over.
The meat that we once fed off of has moved over to the "other" side...
Lynn Radeka has done quite a lot to describe the techniques for "sharp" masking techniques. You can Google his site if you wish.
The techniques that you describe all require pin registration capability on your enlarger equipment. I designed and built my pin registration equipment on my Saunders 4550 XLG...it does require very good precision.
There is a fellow in Canada that builds pin registration neg carriers etc. I think his name is Ingallis (sp?)
On a separate note, I wrote an article for PT magazine on sharp masking. They rejected the article and the now defunct Photo Vision magazine did pick it up and published it. It was on Sharp Masking for Local Contrast.
Last edited by Donald Miller; 4-Oct-2006 at 08:28.
I've been using masking techniques for years and never used any pin registration system...just my eyeballs and tape. The gentleman in Canada is in Vancouver, BC. His name is Alistair Inglis. His website is www.alistairinglis.com
SCIM is a shadow contrast increase mask. In B/W printing SCIMs are used to open blocked shadows and deepen blacks. Often used on conjunction with a contrast reduction mask.Originally Posted by Brian Ellis
If you can find any of the old literature by Condit or Bob Pace - I think some of Pace's
material is now on line. Of course, the exposure levels, developers, and film itself will
have changed. A lot of this will be related to dye transfer printing; but the basic techniques can be applied to simpler applications too. Howard Bond gave basic courses in unsharp masking for black and white original negs. There is probably nothing
in print which details modern color film masking. Better to ask if that's what you've got
in mind. Exact techniques keep changing because the availabilty of suitable films also keeps changing. One has to be willing to do a fair amt of experimentation.
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