Making Adjustment Curves for Digital Negatives

This was designed for making photogravures (polymer), but will work for any alternative/historical photographic process that requires a negative/positive printed on a transparency with an inkjet printer.






http://youtu.be/gZAQtm4KMlQ


This is a video version of the workflow from the book
http://www.amazon.com/Making-Photogravures-With-Polymer-Plates/dp/0615919219
The video was made for one of my classes last year.  The class already had lessons on intaglio printing, finding minimum (and optimum) exposure times, as well as a quick introduction to setting up the scanner to digitally capture an image of an intaglio print with multiple step wedges.

Here are links to many articles and videos.

Articles published on www.AlternativePhotography.com

When to use gray gamma 1.8 or 2.2

http://www.alternativephotography.com/wp/negatives/when-to-use-gray-gamma-1-8-or-2-2-for-digital-negatives

Finding Base Exposure Time when making Photogravures with Polymer Plates

http://www.alternativephotography.com/wp/processes/photogravure/base-exposure-times-when-making-photogravures-with-polymer-plates

YouTube instruction videos

Which gray gamma setting to use for digital negatives

http://youtu.be/prNBUxlG4Ms?list=PLzYT1bX0RsTld2baNYecSEnL9ZKzbAc4A

Making your own step wedge for digital negatives

http://youtu.be/_MlwU6wQRw4?list=PLzYT1bX0RsTld2baNYecSEnL9ZKzbAc4A

Making adjustment curves for photogravures (polymer) and digital negatives

http://youtu.be/gZAQtm4KMlQ?list=PLzYT1bX0RsTld2baNYecSEnL9ZKzbAc4A

Making a polymer plate for photogravure

http://youtu.be/dMYi7G4NOzA?list=PLzYT1bX0RsTld2baNYecSEnL9ZKzbAc4A

Photogravure printing (in real time)

http://youtu.be/0HkvxnO22s4?list=PLzYT1bX0RsTld2baNYecSEnL9ZKzbAc4A

Making a cyanotype

http://youtu.be/V-e6QBGwD5E?list=PLzYT1bX0RsTld2baNYecSEnL9ZKzbAc4A

Articles on my own blog

Overview of making adjustment curves for digital negatives

http://artandwater.blogspot.com/2012/03/digital-negatives-adjustment-curves.html

Adjustment curves compared

http://artandwater.blogspot.com/2012/08/curves-by-intuition-and-some-experience.html

Cyanotype toning materials compared

http://artandwater.blogspot.com/2012/08/12-different-cyanotype-tones-compared.html

Making a Polymer Plate for Photogravure (video)

A plate-making overview.


based on the workflow in the book
Making Photogravures with Polymer Plates

The Long Path to Success

On October 13, 2010, I made a blog post about photogravures with polymer plates, in which I was frustrated about the process, realized that I was mostly on my own with how far I wanted to push the process, and had mostly given up on the usability of the information on the internet.
http://artandwater.blogspot.com/2010/10/keep-on-paddling.html

The information is out there.  The frustration grew from two things:
1.  The good information is scattered among lots of incomplete or bad information.
2.  Those who had the type of success I was pursuing seemed to have access to some very expensive equipment, and I wanted to do this without spending thousands of dollars.

As the October 2010 post suggests, I decided to "keep on paddling" forward.

Fast-forward to November 2013, and I had figured out the least expensive way to get the high quality that I wanted.  I published a book about the workflow.  In the book I included an email address, offering to help those who bought the book.  Currently, I'm having email correspondence with a few people, and am anxious to see the success they will have.

For the sake of encouraging others who look to explore the process of making photogravures with polymer plates (and for curious record-keeping), I will post links to most of the blog entries I made over the past three years (that have to do with learning this process).  Hopefully it encourages students by reminding them that success is not instant.  It takes work.  They will experience frustration.  The reward is worth the effort (I believe).

http://artandwater.blogspot.com/2011/05/how-to-make-plate-with-photopolymer-for.html

http://artandwater.blogspot.com/2011/06/photography-changes-during-printing.html

http://artandwater.blogspot.com/2012/03/digital-negatives-adjustment-curves.html

http://artandwater.blogspot.com/2012/06/grand-canyon-gravure-kickstarter.html

Believe it or not, making many cyanotypes helped me understand making adjustment curves.  I had some success, but in 2011 I felt that I did not yet understand it well enough to teach.  Making many cyanotypes, allowing myself to experiment with making curves by intuition (making many different digital negatives for small prints) let me develop a solid understanding of compensation curves for digital negatives.  Cyanotypes are significantly less expensive to make than polymer plates for photogravure.  Toning cyanotypes with different agents also reinforced the idea that different inks and tones will have different grayscale densities, forcing me to be very careful in the future about which ink I was going to use for photogravure (making unique curves depending on the ink color).

http://artandwater.blogspot.com/2012/08/basement-bathtub-photography.html

http://artandwater.blogspot.com/2012/08/12-different-cyanotype-tones-compared.html

http://artandwater.blogspot.com/2012/08/curves-by-intuition-and-some-experience.html

http://artandwater.blogspot.com/2012/09/transparency-for-inkjet-negatives.html

http://artandwater.blogspot.com/2012/11/pictorico-vs-fixxons.html

http://artandwater.blogspot.com/2013/04/printing-photogravure.html

http://artandwater.blogspot.com/2014/02/how-to-find-minimum-exposure-time-for.html

To everyone learning this process, I want to wish you good luck.  If you own my book, please feel free to email me at the address in the book.

Foggy moon behind the trees

photogravure (polymer)

4"x6"

working proof (some grit from sanding still on the surface of the plate, the edges are not totally smooth for editioning yet; essentially it's one of the first two prints to see if the plate is good.  The tone in the sky will be much smoother once the plate is cleaned.) 

How to find minimum exposure time for polymer plates

Click on this link
to view a PDF (that can also be downloaded)
of Chapter 5 in the book "Making Photogravures With Polymer Plates"
that reveals how to establish both
the minimum exposure time and optimum exposure time
when using polymer plates for intaglio process


The full book is available for purchase through Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Making-Photogravures-With-Polymer-Plates/dp/0615919219/

People who buy the book are welcome to email me for help with this process.

Captain Awesome

paper plane

4" x 6" photogravure

Raven

4" x 6" photogravure

Snow Angel

4" x 6" photogravure

Making Photogravures With Polymer Plates (Book)

The book is ready!

$11.99  Introductory price.

available through Amazon


ISBN-13: 978-0615919218


ISBN-10: 0615919219 


Learn photogravure with this step-by-step instruction book. It has over 250 images and 140 pages of explanations that reveal what is needed to use steel reinforced, photo sensitive polymer, to create stunning intaglio plates.  

Applicable for experts and beginners alike, individuals with small home-made darkrooms or large universities, the methods shown will open the possibilities of intaglio image making without the need for acids, high v.o.c. solvents, fine rosin dust, or petrochemical asphaltum. The aquatint and image are made with film positives and UV light. The plates are etched with water. Both traditional oil based inks and modern "safe" etching inks can be used to make the final print.   

Photogravure is a photo-mechanical process in which etching ink is pushed into the recesses of a fine matrix ("aquatint") of a printing plate. Excess ink is wiped from the surface by hand. Damp cotton paper is run through an etching press with the inked plate, where it picks up the image. The resulting print is one of the most archivally stable ways of photographic reproduction known.   

Included inside the book is a unique method for visually creating adjusted digital transparencies. The technique can easily be adopted for the creation of digital negatives for any of the "alternative" photographic processes that are seeing a resurgence in recent years.   

Practitioners of polymer photogravure are not limited to just photographs. The same plates make beautiful etchings and reproductions of hand drawn images. Many artists use hybrid drawing and photographic methods to create intricate and beautiful work with the polymer plates. 

-------------------------------------------------------------

Here us a link to a video that shows printing in real time...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HkvxnO22s4

Dam Stairs (updated)

This is the first version of this photogravure (km73 polymer).  It's a little flat for my taste so I have reworked the digital version.  I like how dark it is, and think that the problem is that I applied the normal adjustment curve to an image that doesn't have many subtle gradients.  I think that the new transparency will have very little adjustment curve (just a bit to keep a separation between 80 & 90%).  High contrast and scratchy is the aesthetic of this industrial image so the characteristics of the sensitive KM73 plate will be perfect for it.

 

-------------------------------------

Update August 1, 2013

 

Different transparency, different UV exposure unit with different times, different (new) plate makes lots of difference....  ; )

 

This is good because the original capture (and what pulled me to take the photo) showed the linear highlights that danced around a dingy environment.  It was like an low-key HDR image right in front of me, in real life, without a bunch of digital tweaking.  I suppose that industrial settings can do that.

 

Inking a la squeegee

Multi-color intaglio prints that use only one plate require extra care to prepare, wipe, and print.  Normally this is associated with inking "a la poupee" ("with the doll"), in which each color is applied with small hand-made "dolls" of tarlatan; one for each color.  I prefer to use squeegee cutoffs; whether they are cardboard or plastic.  So, since this water lilly was not prepared with little tarlatan dolls, but with little pieces of squeegee, then I consider it inked "a la squeegee".  

White Water Lily
(nymphaea odorata, nymphaea tuberosa)

campfire: old and new

(version 1)
vine black ink, white paper


I experimented with the contact between the positive/transparency and the plate for this one, seeing if I could get either a distressed or aged look. The result is good, but I'm wondering if I took it a bit too far. I'll make another version in cleaner conditions, and with better contact to see if a more clear image still holds up and gives the desired effect.

I'm looking to elicit the feeling of an old tradition by taking an image of a gathering from this past year and developing it with an older process of printing. Experimenting with some warmer black ink and some dark browns (perhaps even a some kind of sepia tone), and an off-white print paper might help signify age and tradition.

(version 2)
dark brown ink, white paper


(version 3)
dark brown ink, off white paper


(version 4)
new plate, vine black ink, white paper


This latests version is the one I'll go with. It has about as much mid-tone as I can get out of the naturally contrasty environment of night time campfire photography. Instead of distressing the image (through the transparency, and thus the plate), I'll use a dark brown ink on an off white paper. That will look more like an old photo, and it will knock the contrast down a bit since the slight color will read a slight more mid-tone than any pure black.
(the image was just a little larger than the other plate, so it is a better size, which reads better from average viewing distance in a room. The image is cropped, above, at the plate indentation, so you are seeing 11.5" x 8". I'll cut the plate down to about 11" x 7" and print on 15" x 11" paper, leaving an even 2" border all around)

Variety in three Editions

since this is pretty new and experimental (at least to me) I've been starting small editions from one plate then having to move on to other things, leaving the paper to rebound. Therefore, when resoaked, it stretches differently and makes registration of the next plate next to impossible.
I did a run of about 12, matching the same sized second plate as best as possible. (image on right)
Next, I cut down that second plate, changed the ink color and ran an edition of 10. (image in center)


I liked the play with overlap and small shift in scale, so decided to cut the plate on the next run with a bigger edition of 20. (image on left)
A note about this last image... the line drawing plate was the one that was cut down and printed second; the opposite of the other two images. The larger "background" color does recede because of the design, but the scale of the two plates makes it appear to advance a bit. I enjoy the slight confusion between scale and overlap.

(working paper size is 11" x 15")

There is one more plate that will get involved with this series.
I think I may leave one of the editions as it is now, but the other two will get at least one more color.



and just a fun photo showing plates in post exposure to make sure they are fully cured...

Solarplate etching

technically, the plates I used are KM photopolymer plates
http://www.takachpress.com/access/tyobo.htm
the solarplate brand is also available from Takach Press
I'll have to try those as well



Encouraged by good results on Monday night, I went back to the exposure unit and made four plates.
The top one is inked with Charbonnel Etching Concentrated Blue. The range in the plate is good. I think I will change the color since this is the first plate to be printed, and with be the background. (probably some kind of green) I also will experiment with a couple of different off-white and ochre papers.



I decided to test the rest of the plates with black, to make sure I would get the saturation I wanted in a color plate. Testing with black ink on white paper makes judging value very easy. And, if the color is not working out later, at least I know its an ink problem and not a plate problem.
This one will be some kind of lighter blue, and fairly transparent.



This is the main image. It will remain black. No matter how subtle I can get the aquatint, I still have a preference for some kind of strong-handed graphic-looking image in the picture.
Technically, this is still an aquatint style plate. That just allows any width line that I want. I am pleasantly surprised by the variety of line I can get, from super delicate, almost disappearing, to very bold.



This last plate is going to be the top layer of ink. It will be a transparent white. (the black part will be white, so you have to image this image in reverse)
Since everything underneath will be a dark or middle value, (and the paper is not white) I'm curious how transparent the white will have to be. Much of the underlying image may already show through with very little transparent base mixed into the white.

Photo Polymer Gravure

I've been looking to try this process for a couple of years and tonight a few of us got the process to a semi-predictable work flow with the equipment available at school.

Here is a nice quick blog post from someone else discovering this technique
http://suzannerevy.blogspot.com/2009/01/photo-polymer-gravure.html

I'm excited to do more and will post the results when I have an image beyond the first few test images we made tonight.