Digital Negatives

[titrisol]

Thanks to Brazile for his comment in my thread a few weeks ago I began looking into printing those old photos into cyanotypes
It seems to me that the most important step is making digital negatives that match the tonal range of the final medium

I found these posts about it:
https://www.alternativephotography.com/ ... ives-gimp/
https://www.mikeware.co.uk/downloads/DiginegWork.pdf

But I still would like to know how are you guys doing this?
How to match the tonal ranges of the inkjet to the final print?
Wouldnt it be a lot of nano-dots in patterns that look like gray?

How if we use color in the negatives to block UV light more efficiently?

[Brazile]

See my post in your other thread for my answer to most of these questions. As to "nano-dots", no, the resolution of modern inkjet printers is sufficiently fine that once passed through the analog process of your choice, the dots are not really visible any longer. That said, I can see how applying the necessary curve to the image can yield some odd results that might result in banding, but in practice I haven't had a problem with this...so far.

As mentioned elsewhere, you can certainly discover which color in your inkset (I have an Epson 2880 printer, which uses the "Ultrachrome K3" inkset, I believe) to block UV, but it isn't necessary to start.

Robert

[Brazile]

Just looked at Mike Ware's notes. The man certainly knows what he's talking about, so I'm sure his method works. Interesting that he finds that an overall gamma correction (as opposed to calculating a specific curve from what amounts to simple densitometry) works for the purpose well enough, after having spent more time than I figuring out max ink.

I will note, though, that the process I use does not involve a 100-step wedge, but one of only 10 or 12 steps (can't recall just this moment) and it doesn't take that long to do. But Dr. Ware's method is also pretty simple and would be worth trying, and might yield better results.

Robert

[titrisol]

I went with Dr Ware's process, I'm using some Photographers Forulary liquid cyano... as I found a kit on sale
I printed a 31 step tablet and seems to me that I have to make the negatives with a Gamma of 1.8 - 2.0 so as to print in Grade 0 paper (soft)
The highlights are extended, and the shadows tend to compress

I made a 1st batch of 6 paper sheets on Canson water paper and results are decent.
Last night I prepared a 2nd batch; adding K-Drichromate to see if there is any difference