HELP: What kind of film is used in making color separations (and who sells it?)??

[stormbytes]

If you are wanting to take a camera negative to an enlarged positive, then I would suggest that you look into APHS film. This film is a halftone film that I have used for masking and also for making enlarged negatives (requires an intermediary step beyond what you want to do).

I've got some on order with Freestyle, could you please elaborate on what exactly "halftone" is? (as opposed to..?)

I have used dektol in dilutions that range from 1-30 for unsharp masks to 1-10 for continuous tone negatives of normal density.

I keep hearing the term "unsharp mask". I'm only acquianted with it as pertains to <gasp!> photoshop. I know it must stem from some traditional process. Would you be willing to elaborate on this subject? Does it yield the same results as its digital counterpart? (namely.. sharpening images)