Not me. Tracking shows that it's here in town, but it doesn't say "out for delivery" yet. If last week was any indication of how things work around here, it should be here by Monday.Originally Posted by venchka
Not me. Tracking shows that it's here in town, but it doesn't say "out for delivery" yet. If last week was any indication of how things work around here, it should be here by Monday.
Yikes!
Wayne
Wayne
Deep in the darkest heart of the North Carolina rainforest.
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Just picked mine up at the front stoop!
Was working since midnight last night on extended network maintenance and need to finally sleep so more comments will gave to wait but... YAY!
I guess I need to give credit where it's due. Prints have arrived here in my office!
What I need now is a good long teleconference so I can enjoy these at work. It's too bad I don't have any scheduled for today (I never thought I would ever say that). Water seems to be a common theme in this group. A quick pass through these prints tells me I need to step up my game. This group and the other I participated in have been an eye opener into how others present their work. I've never really offered mine for viewing to others besides a few friends and family. In my opinion, I have a long way to go.
Many thanks to those that contributed their work, and especially to Darr for coordinating this exchange.
Chris
I have the same feeling of "I have a long way to go." As far as technical and photo improvements I already knew what I wanted to work on, but like you I've not presented my photos to others much, and when I have I have had them professionally mounted and overmatted.
I expected to be really impressed with the image quality and feel a bit out of my league, and that's exactly what happened. But now I have a better idea of how to at least present my prints next year.
1. How did you folks who printed on FB and sent perfectly smooth flat prints manage it? I have a dry mount press that was given to me but the temperature control is bad and it only works on "full blast" which I didn't figure was good for print flattening. I suppose I could try it for a short time then turn the heat off and leave the weight on for a while. I've been "flattening" by putting air dried prints between layers of photo blotter and leaving them in the press with no heat for a few days. Slow to do a stack of 11 prints! (I made one for myself and one for Darr.) What's more, it works somewhat but certainly not as well as these. I've never considered this a huge problem - if I mount them they will be flat and if I don't, the image is still fine. But I'd like to get prints that look like these others if I'm going to send unmounted FB prints.
2. Almost everyone typed the info on the print forms. How?? The .pdf I downloaded was not a .pdf form that I could type in, at least not with Acrobat Reader. Did I get the wrong version, did you folks use Acrobat Pro, or some other method? Many included a lot of info and I'd have included more but I didn't want to write it out by hand nine times!
More comments on images and certainly some via PM as time permits. This was a great experience. Already looking forward to next year!
Were mine flat when they arrived? Because of time constraints, I had to improvise. I printed my set about a day and a half before leaving town for a few days. They dried for a day at home, then I packed them into sleeves and put them into a cardboard envelope, which sat under a large box full of electronic parts in the front seat of my truck for two days while I tended to a few different job sites in east TN. They looked pretty flat when I shipped them to Darr. I was hoping the humidity didn't make them curl up again.
I got hit with the same thing on the first one I did. This time, I copy/pasted the pdf to a Word document, then it allowed me to type the info. On the first one, I just wrote it out by hand, then made copies.
I finally got a chance to sit down with the family last night and go through both sets I received in this exchange. While they bickered over which were favorites and which looked better and why, I found it amusing that I just sat back quietly and enjoyed them all. I look forward to next year and I'm thinking this can be a fun family event, as long as I get the corner seat with a cold drink, good lighting, and the arguing left to others.
Almost completely flat, just a tiny amount of curl toward the emulsion along the edge and less than I sometimes see with RC paper. Yours is on 8x10 paper so it would curl a bit less than my 11x14 and it's also possible that your Emaks paper just curls less than the MCC 110 I used, though MCC 110 handles well before and during processing, not quite like RC paper like one of the people quoted in Freestyle's promotion of the paper but certainly like a premium FB paper - it's slight stiffer than my other current paper, MGWT, or example.
If this forum had the forehead-slapping smiley that one of the others I hang out on has, I'd use that for your last sentence. Write it out once then make copies - d'oh! But I had printed them and set them aside, then decided I wanted to print a different negative if time allowed, so I hadn't packed them to ship. (These were actually ready with some time to spare, I just delayed because I was going to do a different photo if I'd had time.) So when I finally conceded I just wasn't going to have time to print a different one and these had to go, and the deadline was already somewhat passed and I had promised Darr, I was frantically packing the things. I printed nine of the information sheets and sat in the darkroom frantically scribbling in the info. The idea of writing out all I wanted once then copying it would have probably occurred under other circumstances. As it was, frantic brain had kicked in and didn't think of the obvious.
I'll try the pasting to Word. If that works for me that's what I'll do next year.
Since it's just my wife and me I didn't have the option of sitting back while others discussed and debated, but she and I did go through them last night. We almost completely agreed, though I liked some a bit more than she did for technical reasons, how a certain paper looked, a certain paper/toner combination, that sort of thing. All the ones I liked she did as well, some just prompted a bit more enthusiasm from me of the "wow, that looks awesome, I'll have to try that!" variety.
I'm pretty happy with the results I get flattening FB prints. This is my procedure;
After the final wash, lay the print face down on squeegee board (3/4 inch thick hardboard with smooth laminate surface) and squeegee off all excess water using a very stiff squeegee usually 2 or 3 passes, lift the print and squeegee the board before laying the print down face up. Squeegee the image surface with a soft squeegee then lay it face down on a drying screen.
I allow the prints to dry about 12 hours before flattening.
To start the flattening process I cut two pieces of new, smooth surface rag board to fit the dry mount press exactly. I clean the press to ensure it can't contaminate anything and put the two pieces of rag board in after cleaning them of any debris from cutting. I clamp the press shut which is set to 275 degrees Fahrenheit and let it warm up for about an hour.
Open the press and slide a print in between the two pieces of rag board face down, clamp it shut and wait for 5 minutes.
Remove the print and quickly place it face down in about the middle of an unused, smooth surface, bristol paper, sketch book, one size larger than the print, then immediately place the sketch book and print under a piece of smooth surface hardboard (the one I use is 3/4" x 24" x 36") for 5 minutes.
Next remove the cooled print from the sketch book after 5 minutes and place it face down on a sheet of smooth surface bristol sketch book paper the same size as the print (removed from the sketch book).
Repeat the procedure until you have flattened all your prints and you have a stack of prints each separated by bristol.
Place the stack of prints all face down under the piece of hardboard for at least 24 hours before spotting, spot the prints and return them to the stack and put the stack back under the hardboard until it is time to trim and mount them. After spotting and leaving the prints under the weight of the hardboard for an additional 24 hours they are nice and flat with absolutely no curl and ready to dry mount or go into storage. Or to send to Darr for a print exchange
The prints arrived. I broke my standing rule: "Do not open the envelope at work." I was promptly busted. Prints returned to envelope. Lesson learned. Tonight will be a treat.
Wayne
Wayne
Deep in the darkest heart of the North Carolina rainforest.
Wayne's Blog
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To Group 5 members....
Wonderful, inspiring work! Thanks so much for sharing!
For Darr, once again, thanks for pulling this together. There is a place in heaven with your name on it.
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