Feeling Blue

Snapshot · Jul 30, 2007

Hi All,

I did some colour printing over the weekend and kept getting a dark blue cast on a number of prints. I was using RA-RT replenisher as my developing agent at a temperature of 75F. I would develop the prints for 90 seconds in the RA-RT. Everything had a bluish tincture, even though I tried to compensate by adding +0.05Y to my colour filters.

I believe they prints were exposed too during the enlargement process as all the prints way are too dark. I will try again later on this week and see if I still have blue cast issue. As a side note, the developer was mixed fresh but the blix is a few weeks old. Could chemistry be the cause, as I suspect it is, or is there something else I'm missing?

Stew · Jul 30, 2007

Hi Snapshot,

I think you should be subtracting yellow, not adding it.Adding blue subtracts blue in the print. Remember its a negative process.

Hope this helps!
Rob.

TheFlyingCamera · Jul 30, 2007

Go find yourself a set of the Kodak print viewing correction filters, if you don't already have them. They'll show you how to fix a color print that's not balanced. Before you color correct, though, get your density figured out. Get the print to the right brightness/darkness level before adjusting color, because color filtration adjustments can impact the print density as well, if you have to make major adjustments in your filter pack. Also, make sure that the "blue" you're seeing is actually blue, and not cyan. Are you adjusting all three color filter sets, or are you printing with only two sets (normally just adjust the yellow and magenta filters, and leave the cyan set to 0).

Snapshot · Jul 30, 2007

Yes, I'm actually seeing cyan so I guess I've should have titled the thread as "Feeling Cyan" but it seems quite dark for the colour. I'm using only two sets of filters, yellow and magenta, using a filter combination I know I've used sucessfully before. This is why I think this might be a chemistry issue but I also know my prints are too dark. I'll try to follow your advice and get the brightness/darkness correct first before correcting for colour.

BTW, do you know were can I purchase Kodak print viewing correction filters?

Snapshot · Jul 30, 2007

Stew said:
Hi Snapshot,

I think you should be subtracting yellow, not adding it.Adding blue subtracts blue in the print. Remember its a negative process.

Hope this helps!
Rob.

Forgot my colour subtraction/addition rules. Thank you for the reminder. I just was following some advice by PE as he indicated he had to add +0.10Y when developing prints with RA-RT at 68F. PE said he was seeing colour shifts add that temperature and advised to at yellow to correct for it. I mistakingly assumed the yellow filtering would help.

TheFlyingCamera · Jul 30, 2007

If your local camera store doesn't stock much in the way of traditional photo products, B&H, Calumet, and the other big stores carry them and should have them in stock. They are one thing I would NOT buy used, as they do fade over time.

Nick Zentena · Jul 30, 2007

Does Kodak still sell the viewing filters?

Stew · Jul 30, 2007

Snapshot,

You can get" Lee viewing filters" from B&H and Freestyle. They are around $40.00 .

Rob.

TheFlyingCamera · Jul 30, 2007

I just went to the B&H website- the Lee set looks exactly the same as the Kodak set, so they're probably the same animal- Lee probably made them for Kodak, who knows. Anyway, that's what you want.

Snapshot · Jul 30, 2007

Thanks for the assistance everyone!

Feeling Blue

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