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- Jan 4, 2006
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Just tried split grade printing for the first time today, on a print I was having trouble getting the right contrast grade with through the pre-determined filters i had found on my dichroic enlarger.
The image I'm working on is a jet-black dog sitting in a boat with its owner behind it, both in a bit of shade from the sunlight. The sky is washed out in a quick workprint but there is detail in the negative, and the mountains in the backround are illuminated by the strong sun. I'm still working on it, but I've started and found a base exposure for Yellow at 2 seconds + 6 seconds more in the sky to build a bit of grey, then Magenta at ~6ish seconds + 25 in the sky to give it some nice luminance. The dog , for being the main subject , is slightly too dark, the owner's hair has gone too dark so no detail is there. Do I dodge the dog and the owners head during the Magenta exposure, during the Yellow exposure, or both?
So far I'm pretty impressed with how much more efficient split-grade printing is for me. I use a bit less paper and I arrive at a near final print so quickly! I've compared it to a print I made using a single filter on this same neg the other day and I'm blown away. Before I'd just half give up and take a half-assed print because I'd be sick of trying to guess which grade and how much dodging and burning works best, this is so much easier!
The image I'm working on is a jet-black dog sitting in a boat with its owner behind it, both in a bit of shade from the sunlight. The sky is washed out in a quick workprint but there is detail in the negative, and the mountains in the backround are illuminated by the strong sun. I'm still working on it, but I've started and found a base exposure for Yellow at 2 seconds + 6 seconds more in the sky to build a bit of grey, then Magenta at ~6ish seconds + 25 in the sky to give it some nice luminance. The dog , for being the main subject , is slightly too dark, the owner's hair has gone too dark so no detail is there. Do I dodge the dog and the owners head during the Magenta exposure, during the Yellow exposure, or both?
So far I'm pretty impressed with how much more efficient split-grade printing is for me. I use a bit less paper and I arrive at a near final print so quickly! I've compared it to a print I made using a single filter on this same neg the other day and I'm blown away. Before I'd just half give up and take a half-assed print because I'd be sick of trying to guess which grade and how much dodging and burning works best, this is so much easier!
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