Color Paper Negative Photography

[rustyair]

Hi all,

I'm going to try the Color Paper Negative photography with my Deardorff 8x10 and have a few questions.


http://www.flickr.com/groups/colourpapernegatives/pool/




1. Seems like I only have two options available for paper. Fuji Crystal archive type II and Aristacolor RA-4 paper. Is it correct?

2. Which color filters for daylight outdoor photography?

3. Am I able to enlarge it to 24x30 if I scan it with v700 without using oil or wax to make it transparency?. Is it going to be alot worse then film negative?

4. Is Arista RA-4 processing 4 liter kit cheapest?

http://www.freestylephoto.biz/11814-Arista-RA-4-Color-Print-Processing-Kit-4-Liter?cat_id=1004



Thank you in advance!

 

[Prof_Pixel]

You need to remember that color paper for printing color negatives has a fairly high contrast (about 2.2 IIRC), since color negative film has a fairly low contrast (about .6 IIRC) to give the file the extended exposure range needed for consumer photography.

The paper is tungsten balanced and includes an allowance for the film orange base color.

All the recent color negative papers I've run into are RC based so I don't know how you could make the base transparent. Years ago (when I worked on color paper for EK) I visited a large commercial lab (Olan Mills) that could actually strip the emulsion from the base and put it on canvas. They made it look easy, but I never had much luck.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Good luck. You'll need it. But if you're going to enlarge anyway, why not just shoot color neg film in the
first place? You can indeed acquire transparent printing material, but it's avail only in big expensive rolls for signage use (backlit displays).

 

[Photo Engineer]

Quite a few people have done paper negs with RA4 paper. Use a heavy orange tungsten correction filter outdoors and then a bit more such as a 50 R. It may also need a UV filter.

PE

 

[DREW WILEY]

So at f/64 in an 8x10 camera, what do they time the exposure with, Ron, a Carbon 14 stopwatch?

 

[Photo Engineer]

Drew, the ISO can range from about 12 - 25 with the proper filtration. This is due to the fact that the blue speed is close to ISO 100, green about 50 and red about 25. It is hard to evaluate due to the contrast though. It is about 3x higher than negative films.

PE

 

[DREW WILEY]

What I'd do for a "null" filter to simulate the orange mask is simply use a c-41 processed unexposed
sheet of color neg film - in effect, the whole sheet become the basic filter, then after that try to simulate enlarger values with cc filters. Of course, this can be shortcut with less filters once you know what is needed. I'd rather find the base values in the lab first, with the colorhead adjusted to daylight
using a color temp meter - you'd waste less time in the field that way. ... but excuse me for thinking
out loud ... I've got a lot of calibration work starting this weekend myself with some experimental
techniques with color neg paper. But whatever you do with it, you first have to recognize that it's
engineered with that orange mask in mind. When I'm making black and white printing masks, for example, one has to accomodate the spectral sensitivity of the b&w film to both "see around' the orange mask and for the slightly depressed green sensitivity of pan films, and certain other things too.
This is just to get to first base. Once you get there, the real fun can begin. But color paper is certainly
cheapr than color sheet film at the moment, so I guess one isn't going to go bankrupt trying this!

 

[EASmithV]

When you do it, post results! I've always been curious of the idea.

Also, perhaps this should be moved to paper negative forum?

 

[NedL]

So at f/64 in an 8x10 camera, what do they time the exposure with, Ron, a Carbon 14 stopwatch?

Ha!

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

My interest has piqued now. So you use a red filter for daylight exposure at about ASA 12-25? Are there problems with color cross overs?

 

[Photo Engineer]

No crossover if processed properly.

Pictures by Bujor B published on Photo Net.

PE