Making Commercial Color Separation Negatives of Transparencies for the Kodak Dye Transfer Process

[IB Photochemistry]

It is definitely faster than having to make masks and separation negatives with film. My goal is to be able to make separation negatives to project onto a matrix film. I have been fighting with trying to make separation negatives and masks from 35mm transparencies and a process like this would really make life easier. Thanks for your reply.

Gord, have you used any of the methods for making photographic separation negatives I posted here? I hope they can be helpful to people interested in this approach. Its good to hear someone else interested in making DT prints on here.

 

[IB Photochemistry]

The best DT work I've ever personally seen was that of John Wawrzonek.

He probably used a shadow contrast increase mask with the separations, either as a “black” mask made to be exposed in contact with the pan masking film and separation negative for the CRM, or off an intermediate interpositive. I believe he was using Separation Negative films.

 

[DREW WILEY]

I forgot to mention that in terms of intermediate highlight masking, it's often a lot easier and certainly more cost effective simply to do it via manual shading on a frosted slip sheet, or on the base of the film
back when retouch tooth was common, at least with sheet films having sufficient surface area. It's fairly easy to transfer that kind of skill set over from a Ciba or even a Graphics prepress background to DT, or visa versa. I did a lot of selective bleaching of silver masks using dilute Farmer's Reducer.

I see that David Doubley's site is still up, filled with all kinds of traditional DT info, including pan matrix use. He made the site non-downloadable, and with a finite span of availability. If that's still the case, those interested absorb what you can. He once offered all this in handbook form; I don't know if any copies are left.

There are all kinds of web and even in-print resources on making hybrid masks,separations, and enlarged contact printing negs using Pictorio film etc. I won't go into the pros and cons, and will stick with an all-darkroom workflow for this particular thread. It's also entirely feasible to make color separations from digital camera shots - again, a topic best discussed under hybrid technique, and not here. I'm as guilty as anyone else when it comes to wandering off-topic; but that could be especially confusing in this case.