Pre Flashing colour paper in the darkroom

Daniel Scheel

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Hi everybody!

hope you´re having a good day.

I was shortly introduced to pre-flashing in colour prints done in the darkroom, and I was wondering if for example you have a neutral print and you pre flash it with yellow but you would want it to stay on the cooler side, would you add a bit of blue to it so the light in the image would be neutral but all the shadows would be blue?
Is that how it works?

Also how does this photographer get these dreamy kind of half blurred texture and colours in the darkroom? Could it be just plastic paper in the front of the darkroom lens for a short period of time?
https://www.instagram.com/samrocksamrock/

thanks so much and have a beautiful day!

Daniel x
 

Mainecoonmaniac

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Flashing color paper is tricky. But I would think you would flash the print with the same filter pack as your print final. You don't need a lot of light, just enough to bring in highlight detail.
 

koraks

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Daniel Scheel said:
Also how does this photographer get these dreamy kind of half blurred texture and colours in the darkroom?
Click to expand...
Probably mostly cross processing E6 film in C41 chemistry. Pre-flashing isn't going to give this kind of result. Using heavily outdated C41 film may work as well. Then filter during printing to get the colors where you want them.
Note that with cross processing E6 in C41, density generally goes through the roof, so some experimentation will be necessary to get an exposure+development scheme that yields negatives that can be printed conveniently.
 

Jim Blodgett

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Yeah, you can get some super saturated colors processing slide film in C-41.That slide film seems to be really high contrast, too. I love the look.

I was wondering though, does it damage the developer to cross process slide film in C-41 developer? Does it affect the blix? I try to always do my cross processing at the end of a run, as the last roll(s) I process with that batch of chemicals. Anyone know about that? Am I worrying unnecessarily?
 

koraks

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I generally use c41 developer one shot, so I haven't tested it. But there may be a small effect on the color rendition of subsequently processed film in the same developer due to the different ratio of halides (particularly I-) soaking from the e6 film. There should be no noticeable effect on bleach or fix performance.
 

Mainecoonmaniac

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koraks said:
This, and you'll need a black piece of C41 film as well, preferably the same film used for the actual image. With 35mm, an unexposed, processed part of the leader is an easy solution.
Click to expand...
You’re absolutely right. Without it, it won’t balance out to white or a neutral color. Whites/highlights are sensitive to color shifts.
 
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