Help with interpreting HSL-array?

[timeUnit]

Hi!

I've read a lot on this forum and I still don't really understand what I'm looking for in the HSL array. Can someone help me?

To most of the red > yellow > green spectrum looks... OK... Any other opinions?

 

[sanking]

There is a good tutorial on the HSL array here. Dead Link Removed

Basically, assuming your exposure time has been calculated as the minimum needed to produce maximum reflective density, you would be looking for the first pure paper white on one of the arrays. This would indicate the color you should use to print your negatives. If there are more than one pure white you can farther test to determine if one prints with less grain than the other.

Sandy King

Hi!

I've read a lot on this forum and I still don't really understand what I'm looking for in the HSL array. Can someone help me?

To most of the red > yellow > green spectrum looks... OK... Any other opinions?

 

[Joe Lipka]

This is the task made for your reflection densitometer. What you are looking for is the little square than reads zero or one per cent reflectance. That color combination is is what you add to your digital negative.

 

[timeUnit]

OK, thanks!

I don't have a reflection densitometer, but my Epson scanner is pretty OK too I guess.

I have read a lot of the info on Michael Koch-Schulte's great site, but I am still a bit confused. (Maybe I need a braincell upgrade!) Is it safe to say that there are several different blocking colors that would work, and that it is difficult or impossible to say that one "working" blocking color is a lot better than another, judging from this printed array?

To me it looks like a green blocking color would be equally effective as a red or orange one...

 

[Loris Medici]

Avoid colors that cross horizontal line in the middle. (It's marked 100something, can't read it from the reproduction...) Those colors include black / gray inks, which aren't good to use along with color inks. (In terms of grainness.) Choose several other colors, preferably colors that are formed by two inks which are close to each other in terms of UV blocking. Print several step tablets with different colors in a single negative and see which one is less grainy. Choose that color and continue with the next steps.

Hope this helps,
Loris.

 

[timeUnit]

Thank you, that makes sense.

 

[sanking]

Loris is correct in that it is generally best (in terms of grainess) to chose a patch that includes two colors that are close to each other in UV blocking. Unfortunately, if you are using a very long scale process like salted paper, pure palladium or vandyke it is not possible to get enough UV blocking with two such colors, so in reality you are forced to use one that contains some black. This situation is true for all current Epson pigment ink printers, but not for some HP and Canon printers.


Sandy King

Avoid colors that cross horizontal line in the middle. (It's marked 100something, can't read it from the reproduction...) Those colors include black / gray inks, which aren't good to use along with color inks. (In terms of grainness.) Choose several other colors, preferably colors that are formed by two inks which are close to each other in terms of UV blocking. Print several step tablets with different colors in a single negative and see which one is less grainy. Choose that color and continue with the next steps.

Hope this helps,
Loris.

 

[Loris Medici]

Sandy - looking at the test print - I think he has a couple of candidates; there are some white patches above the middle line...

 

[timeUnit]

Thank you!

It seems now, when I've understood more about the HSL-array, that the colors at 60 and 120 could be good candidates for a colored negative. So far I've only done "gray only" negs, and they seem to work well. I'm certainly getting enough density. I'm not sure yet about the grain issue, though. Perhaps a green or yellow neg will show less grain, perhaps the grey only neg will work.