Masking and the use of scanners

[swmcl]

In one of my recent threads Drew speaks of masking processes that are as complicated again as any straightforward development processes. I am sure there is a lifetime of knowledge to be gained and I'm sure there are several of us on LFPF who are extremely competent at it but just as an aside ...

If one were to shoot on analogue to print digitally then one could do a contact exposure of a second (or third!) negative, give it less development and then scan both the original and the negative to be used as a mask.

The registration that Drew speaks of is of course a digital process and quite exact.

Has anybody tried this technique ?

[Jac@stafford.net]

[...] If one were to shoot on analogue to print digitally then one could do a contact exposure of a second (or third!) negative, give it less development and then scan both the original and the negative to be used as a mask.

Of course. There is a lot of literature addressing exactly that approach and it does not require adjustments in development, but only mucking digitally with the mask, or just cumulative adjustments to make the final digital negative which is wet printed.

I dunno. I'm too friggin old to care. Give me some great straightforward photography so that I can believe I could have been there. Be real or be digital.
.

[Drew Wiley]

I don't do any digital masking. Mine is all done completely in the darkroom. Numerous people do simple digital masking via a scan of the original. You have to output exactly 1:1 size on translucent polyester sheet, then must register the mask manually over a light box. I know only one person who uses a large format
pin-registered film recorder for this purpose. He's an electrical engineer who designed the device himself at considerable expense. There are also techniques for
general area control within the image which simply involved smudge pencil or contrast dyes on the diffusion sheet. Alan Ross teaches this method. Or you can
combine different methods in all kinds of hypothetical configurations.

[Jim Noel]

I do all my masking the easy way, in the darkroom. I tried it a few times on the computer and quickly discovered I could do it faster with lith film.