Turning negative film to positive without liquids

vedostuu said:

Donald have you got any other negatives with low fog to compare? I mean I have seen low fog negatives before but the negatives I used here were totally clear, I mean really clear. Those were shot against black backdrop with studio flashes so I wonder if that makes any difference. I need to check my other Foma studio negatives which were shot similar way to see if that is the case.

Getting lower fog is quite intresting effect to achieve since it is vital part for this kind of presentation. I'm totally curious how can two such almost similar development methods result in such different fog amount.

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If you have negatives that are too foggy for your use, there's always the option of a short bath in Farmer's Reducer.

What you're describing is the result of that black background -- that's what was used in compositing (for movies) as early as 1920 (derived from a still photo double exposure trick), and as late as the original version of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. It was replaced by blue- or green-screen when masking methods were developed that didn't depend on plain old unexposed film. The black, exposed down on Zone 0, records as clear film, at the base+fog level.

I don't have any negatives on hand that look like that; I've got a roll that was a little underexposed (loaded 100 speed in my Debonair, and shot in late-afternoon conditions with some heavy shade) that has pretty deep shadows, but they aren't completely devoid of texture.

Your display case is awesome, OP! Ingenious!

That's cool. Great craftsmanship on the box. It's really one of a kinds.

I will try under and overexposure next without changing other parts of the recipe.

Thanks @Daniela and @Mainecoonmaniac - really appreciate your words.

I too think that the case is great - a new implementation of an old idea!

OP, your post reminded me of these little gadgets I used to love when I was little. I think we would get them when we went to the circus:


The negative would sit right on the white end cap, if I remember correctly. I wonder what the size of the negative was....
Certainly not as classy as your display case, though! Good thing childhood memories don't need classiness to be beautiful!

Daniela said:

OP, your post reminded me of these little gadgets I used to love when I was little. I think we would get them when we went to the circus:
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The negative would sit right on the white end cap, if I remember correctly. I wonder what the size of the negative was....
Certainly not as classy as your display case, though! Good thing childhood memories don't need classiness to be beautiful!

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I remember these, some school photographers used them, it was a transparency (positive) film that was enclosed. IIRC the image size was similar to a 110 negative.

Never seen such. Thank you for hinting at.

foc said:

I remember these, some school photographers used them, it was a transparency (positive) film that was enclosed. IIRC the image size was similar to a 110 negative.

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You're right, I meant transparency, not negative!
This is the size listed for one of these: 4,8 cm x 2,5 cm x 2 cm. If the size of a 110 film frame is 13 mm × 17 mm, it would have fit.