pre flashing paper

Bob Carnie · Dec 8, 2012

Ok that makes sense so you are flashing with aiming the flashlight over the hole in the card and the position is evident because you have a red filter under the lens therefore
showing your position... this makes sense.

frotog said:
...just realized what might seem self-evident might in fact be somewhat obscure to some so I'll elaborate...
Rig a simple flashing source near the lens of the enlarger (a clamp on fixture with a 15w bulb and some 216 white diffusion works very nicely). Control the duration of the flash by connecting this fixture to a timer, preferably with a foot switch. Determine your flash time. Cover the enlarger lens with a red filter and use a burning-in card (white side towards the lens, black side down) to do your selective flash. It's a simple technique that works well when done properly.

frotog · Dec 8, 2012

Not quite. This setup eliminates the variability problem of using a flashlight. Once again...the flashing source remains in a fixed position, preferrably close to the enlarging lens of the enlarger so as to avoid problems with parallax. You lay the selective flash down on your paper in the same manner that you would a burn - with a card with a hole in it. The red filter over the enlarger lens allows you to see where you're laying the selective flash down without exposing the image on your paper. Once set up this method is simple, effective and accurate.

doughowk · Dec 8, 2012

2. Make an actual scrap print, cut out the areas to be flashed, and place the print on or above the paper during the flash exposure (essentially paper plane masking). Note it is best to use RC paper for this since in addition to it being obviously easier to work with and faster to process/wash/dry, it has to be dimensionally stable paper so that "registration" at the paper plane works properly.

Why not just take a sheet of opaque (or even semi-translucent) paper same size as printing paper, place in easel, and sketch areas to be cut out for pre-flashing. After cutting, then place that mask over the paper in the easel & pre-flash? Would seem to give you most of the control as above but without an intermediate development step.
A similarly made type of mask could be created for contact printing.

Andrew O'Neill · Dec 8, 2012

Why not just take a sheet of opaque (or even semi-translucent) paper same size as printing paper, place in easel, and sketch areas to be cut out for pre-flashing. After cutting, then place that mask over the paper in the easel & pre-flash? Would seem to give you most of the control as above but without an intermediate development step.

This is the way I have been doing it for years. I use frosted mylar as it transfers no texture onto the print. I don't cut the mylar at all. Instead, areas that will not receive any flashing are painted in with red paint directly on the mylar. I also dodge/burn this way. To diffuse the light from the enlarger even more, I place a think piece of white plexi under the lens. Most effective.

Bob Carnie · Dec 8, 2012

Good techniques

Andrew O'Neill said:
This is the way I have been doing it for years. I use frosted mylar as it transfers no texture onto the print. I don't cut the mylar at all. Instead, areas that will not receive any flashing are painted in with red paint directly on the mylar. I also dodge/burn this way. To diffuse the light from the enlarger even more, I place a think piece of white plexi under the lens. Most effective.

RalphLambrecht · Dec 9, 2012

think,this is an example of what michael was talking about.

Bob Carnie · Dec 9, 2012

I wish I knew Michael's method when I printed Monks Heaven and Hell series.

I made rc paper prints to size as he suggested and cut out complex skys around ships in the bangledesh shipbreaking yards... this method of flashing would have saved me
hours of grief as I was printing with a grade 4 filter and the contrast was tough to handle and burning five or six stops is very hard to maintain.

Michael R 1974 said:
It's the same thing in the end. I just prefer using a print because I'm often dealing with complex and/or small shapes with relatively hard edges so I find I can get more accuracy cutting out of the print than tracing/sketching a projected image. So in my case it doesn't take much longer to make an RC print.

There are lots of ways to personalize and customize these techniques to tailor them to the image, the preferences of the worker, the materials and equipment available, etc. Whatever works!

frotog · Dec 9, 2012

Since a proper flash exposure does not add any density to the print itself, a general flash to the entire sheet of paper should in most cases be sufficient in bringing in highlights without having much of a discernible effect on midtones and shadows. A fact that should keep some of these arts and crafts techniques at bay.

RalphLambrecht · Dec 10, 2012

an overall flash typically kills any chance of a decent print contrast for me. i'd stay away from it.

Louis Nargi · Dec 10, 2012

Thanks I tryed preflashing and it works great when you need it

rbender · Jan 10, 2013

Bob Carnie said:
that talk about using a small flashlight that is masked with a bit of neutral density filter (which could be nothing more than a bit of exposed and processed film leader) that you can use to flash specific highlight areas. I've tried that - it does work, but it's tricky to get the right amount of contrast reduction and avoid creating an obvious abnormal shadow.

Well I have read about this technique... I will argue that this is impossible to do... If you think about it

Bob I have a DauxLite II. It is a flash light like tool with a turret style cap on the front with varying size holes from 1mm to 5mm, it also has VC filters to add on. You choose the hole size and vc filter, after you finish exposing your print you swing in the red filter and turn your enlarger on so you can see what your doing and paint with light and I count out the seconds. A test print or two is all it usually takes. It works well with very small hot spots. I got mine years ago at B&H but I don't think they are being made anymore.

pre flashing paper

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