Instructions for contrast masking?

[Matthew Cordery]

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?

[Brian Ellis]

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]

On second thought, the masking articles may have been in Photo Techniques magazine.

[Andrew O'Neill]

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.

[Brian Ellis]

"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.

[Andrew O'Neill]

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...

[Donald Miller]

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.

[Andrew O'Neill]

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

[Dennis McNutt]

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?

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.

[Drew Wiley]

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.

[kev curry]

''Way Beyond Monochrome'' has a good section on masking techniques by Lambrecht and Radeka than includes SCIM.

[Brian Ellis]

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.

Better late than never. :-) Thanks

[Nathan Potter]

Matthew, Many workers use Tmax for contrast masking. The key task for getting the densities that you need is just calibrating your material. I use a Stouffer step wedge to determine the transfer characteristics of chrome or B&W density to the Tmax. If you are looking for gradual density changes (low gamma), which is generally the case, for first level masks you just shoot for that with the developer of choice. I use D-76 at 1:1 (see plot below). I forgot to note the 1:1 on the plot.

Assuming you have a good registration pin set it is worth playing with the two variables you have for exposure. The first is the gap between the emulsions (often the thickness of the film base) but this can be varied considerably. The second is the collimation of the exposure source (you can use diffusion material or condenser type light from the enlarger).

As a guide to Tmax transfer characteristics I'll try to post one of my tests from 07 below using D-76 with old Tmax. It is really worthwhile doing your own calibration though - in fact really a must.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6051/6307089399_c6eb63d9a3_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/argiolus/6307089399/)
transfer-2jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/argiolus/6307089399/) by hypolimnas (http://www.flickr.com/people/argiolus/), on Flickr

[SeanEsopenko]

''Way Beyond Monochrome'' has a good section on masking techniques by Lambrecht and Radeka than includes SCIM.

You can read a large portion of this book on Google Books. It's one chapter on masking but it covers the gist of it. This is one of the books that's on my x-mas wish list :)

I originally was going to get Inglis's masking system because there's an article on the site here describing it's use but I decided on Radeka's system instead. I'm glad I spent the extra money because the combination contact printing/carrier system is extremely handy. It came with ANR top-glass by default and his support has been great.

The system comes with a book that details the creation of various masks quite well.

Contrast reduction masks are probably the easiest. Contact print onto a negative, develop & register & tape onto your original negative. Tweak the exposure & development time to control which end of the curve you're tweaking and how sharp an adjustment you're making. Like Nathan said having a pin registration system makes it super quick to experiment. I whipped up a mask tonight in about an hour and a half after work and I'm still learning :).

[zoneVIII]

You can start to read in front of whis website: http://www.largeformatphotography.info/unsharp/
very good article to start

Regards
haryanto

[Dennis McNutt]

Contrast reduction masks are probably the easiest. Contact print onto a negative, develop & register & tape onto your original negative. Tweak the exposure & development time to control which end of the curve you're tweaking and how sharp an adjustment you're making. Like Nathan said having a pin registration system makes it super quick to experiment. I whipped up a mask tonight in about an hour and a half after work and I'm still learning :).

Yes, CRMs can be designed to have their contrast reduction effects in three general ways:

1. On the low tones
2. Overall
3. On the hightones.

A CRM that works overall has a effect similar to using a lower VC filter or lower grade of paper--that it has an non-selective effect on the tonal scale. A sophisticated CRM works selectively.

This ability to control which tones are affected can be invaluable when using a CRM in printing an image that requires a Shadow Contrast Increase Mask, a Highlight Mask or both.

With a bit of practice one can make a set of masks in less than a half hour. I say "set" because I usually make three CRMs at a time--one that seems about right, one a bit weaker and one a bit stronger. The strength is determined by adjusting the time in the developer.

When I make proof prints not only will I have three different masks available, but can use two CRMs at a time to get a stronger effect. If worried about stacking two masks, I can still use them as a proofng tool to see if I like the effect, and then make a new mask equal to the combined strength of the two-mask proof.

[Dennis McNutt]

You can start to read in front of whis website: http://www.largeformatphotography.info/unsharp/
very good article to start

Regards
haryanto

Yes, a good intro.

The article does make a mistake by saying that the Higghlight Mask is "another form of the SCIM mask.". The Shadow Contrast Increase Mask (SCIM) is extremely different from the Highlight Mask.

[SeanEsopenko]

When I make proof prints not only will I have three different masks available, but can use two CRMs at a time to get a stronger effect. If worried about stacking two masks, I can still use them as a proofng tool to see if I like the effect, and then make a new mask equal to the combined strength of the two-mask proof.

A while ago Drew Wiley advised me that a carrier system allows the use of advanced techniques and I think his advice was good. Once you've learned a bit about how it works a pin registration system will allow you to create masks quick enough that you can learn the advanced techniques quicker. That way you can worry more about what you can do and not so much how you will accomplish it.

If you're registring by hand keep in mind that a poorly registered mask has an embossed look. It's difficult to properly judge the mask if the print looks embossed so make sure to spend good effort on registration if you're doing it by eye. Otherwise you're setting yourself up for disappointment and wasted time.

Also scotch tape caused me trouble so I switched to white framer's tape (the plastic type, not the fabric type). Some use lithographer's tape but my wife has a framing shop and we have boatloads of the stuff on hand at any given time. The scotch tape was causing the two sheets to buckle and bend, probably due to the tape adjusting to temperature differently from the film. It was a nightmare for registration.