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Robert Oliver
7-Jan-2012, 23:31
I have a negative that has one little area I would love to be able to print with detail. The negative is pretty easy to print with the exception of the super bright Mt. Connesss in the background. I tried burning but had trouble not over burning the surrounding areas.

This a scan of the neg.

Flash the paper? Mask?

Any other ideas?

I will process the other neg i shot at the same time, but was just curious about this situation.

Thanks in advance
Robert

http://robertoliver.zenfolio.com/img/s3/v40/p616673042-4.jpg

Nathan Potter
8-Jan-2012, 09:23
Robert, unless you want to digitize it and mess with PS I'd try to use a broad area mask, maybe two, to block everywhere except the bright white then increase exposure on the whole to bring back the foreground and penetrate the negative density in the white area.

BTW, what is the neg. density in the white area? It just may be too high to manage.

All this requires registration technique of course. Nice image; especially the way you have captured the ice cracks.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

Robert Oliver
8-Jan-2012, 11:41
Thanks Nathan!

Don't have a densitometer to read Mt. Conness... but I processed the negative n+1 not realizing Conness had slipped into sun before the exposure. Not sure if the duplicate neg I shot will have the same light. But will probably go Normal processing on that one.

I got one print out of yesterday's darkroom session that was decent... need to get the sky burned in a little bit better.

This is a cell phone snap of the 11x14 FB print... tough burn job, without over cooking the areas surrounding it.

Definitely a little rusty in the darkroom!

Louie Powell
9-Jan-2012, 05:38
There is a technique called "dye dodging" that can be used to hold back selective areas on a negative. It works very well with large format negatives, but not so good with smaller formats.

The basic idea is to apply a dye on the back of the negative that holds back light. A magenta dye is usually best because you can see it, and because it acts like a contrast filter to increase local contrast in the areas that are 'dodged'. Dr. Martin's is a good brand.

Because you probably don't want to make a permanent change on your negative, you can tape a fixed and washed sheet of unexposed film to the back of your negative, and then apply the dye to that sheet of plastic. If you find that you don't like the results, just take off that sheet of film and either wash it for reuse (the dye is water-soluble) or throw it away.

J D Clark
11-Jan-2012, 23:49
Robert, I've found that flashing the paper can be particularly effective for problems like this. And very easy to do.

John Clark
www.johndclark.com

Bill Burk
13-Jan-2012, 23:39
Hi Robert,

I don't know how you finally decided to handle it, it's a beautiful shot no matter what you do. But I would like an almost white mountain with very faint detail. I think it could be the key to a great print.