Best route if I want to try color printing?

[perkeleellinen]

I find the easiest way to balance is to concentrate on skin, so whenever I'm printing a new type of film or if the light is a bit different I'll make sure I've shot a photo of a person and that will be the frame to balance the colour with. For me, an incorrectly balanced photo is easy to spot on the face of a person.

 

[EdSawyer]

2nd the idea that balancing flesh tones is probably the easiest way to get decent color.

Also, be sure to view prints for evaluation under as white a light source as possible, ideally daylight. It's hard to accurately judge color under incandescent or fluorescent light.

-Ed

 

[perkeleellinen]

And also make sure they're dry!

 

[kb3lms]

I just started color printing as well and I can vouch that Fuji CA Type C in Kodak chemistry at room temperature in trays works just fine. Don't sweat the details to get started - it's not that much harder than b/w. What IS harder is getting the filtration and color balance right but, the RA-4 process seems to be pretty tolerant. Start getting some experience and have some fun.

Note that for exposure time, the CA prints really fast. Think 4 to 7 seconds. Much faster than something like MGIV.

Start off by picking a nice, simple negative such as one that you had processed commercially (walmart, costco, anywhere) and that turned out really well. That is where I made my first mistake! I decided I was going to take a negative that York (yeah, I know) did not print well (flat, dead looking) and I was going to print it right! Uh-huh. Turns out it is a hard to print negative for a beginner and I will be returning to that one again when I have a little more experience. Use something that you know can be printed well. The print you got from the photofinisher gives you a target to compare to for your first attempt. Once you have gotten your feet wet you can start challenging yourself. Just remember that a Frontier will "process" the image so you might not hit what the lab gave you exactly - the point is to prove to yourself that you get the general idea.

One question that I have, is it possible to get a Kodak color paper anywhere other than old stuff on the auction site? I'd like to try a Kodak paper in addition to the Fuji. Nobody seems to be interested in slicing up Kodak roll paper and selling it in boxes. It would be nice to have an alternative.

One thing I have considered is buying a roll of Royal Digital. The price is reasonable and there's a lot of 8x10 sheets in one of those rolls. Would anyone recommend using roll paper like that or just stick with the CA?

 

[EdSawyer]

Google is your friend when searching for Kodak Endura in sheets. There's still places that have it, not sure how in-date it is though. But it keeps well so even a year or more out of date is ok. Ebay is a good source for some serious bargains, sometimes.