Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/06/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Jim; Thanks! I think what I might do is photograph a native/indigenous face and then try to match the earlier work to the contemporary one. Can't say when I might do it, maybe next week, or next year. Slobodan Dimitrov Jim Hemenway wrote: > > Hi Slobo: > > Earlier today, I thought that you were experimenting with, and asking > about ortho lith films. So my answer was based on that wrong assumption. > > As others have written today, you'll have a problem in that the ortho > films were blue sensitive, (with a little yellow sensitivity) but not > red sensitive. Accordingly, areas such as "lipsticked" lips, red ties, > red wagons, and red faces will be dark gray to black on the prints that > you wish to scan. > > When I started in photography in the very early fifties, my friends and > I, (we had a pre-teen camera club in my basement) used Verichrome in our > Brownie Hawkeyes and Ansco Reflexes and then developed them by > inspection under a red safelight. > > Using this film resulted in pictures of mothers and sisters in makeup > with lips that printed almost goth black. Pictures of our fathers with > ruddy faces looked sort of weather beaten, especially on their cheeks. > My neighbor's red 1952 Chevy printed black. Eventually Verichrome Pan > arrived and could be inspection developed with a green light, which was > so dim as to be close to useless. That's when we switched from tray to > time and temperature developing in inexpensive plastic "Yankee" tanks. > That was the brand name, not a state of mind. > > Anyway, the pan films made peoples faces more natural looking and red > cars appeared as gray rather than black when printed. Ortho film > disappeared for the most part in consumer films pretty quickly. > > So... I don't know how you can accomplish the "real skin tonality" that > you are seeking because the information for anything red isn't there. > Colors with some red in them will appear as gray rather than black but > the gray won't be a true reflection of the actual color, it will be > darker than it would be with a pan film because of the red in it. > > I think that the best that you can do is to use a tool such as the PS > magic wand or the lassoo to isolated black areas which you think might > have been red to lighten them, and skies which were probably blue but > which are manifested as white, and darken them. > > I'm sure that Richard K can give you a lot more information and history > about ortho film. > -- > > Jim - http://www.hemenway.com > > Slobodan Dimitrov wrote: > > > > Hi Jim; > > This is what I have in mind. I'm planning to scan a few portraits from > > the early West, and tweeze the settings so that I can see what the real > > skin tonality would of been, i.e. approximately. > > Slobodan Dimitrov > > > > Jim Hemenway wrote: > > > > > > Slobo: > > > > > > If you've already processed it in a litho type, Kodalith) developer then > > > you're probably out of luck as these are extremely high contrast > > > film/developer combinations. > > > > > > If you've not yet processed, then develop it under inspection, (red > > > light) in 1:1 or 1:2 Dektol. The results will still not be panchromatic > > > but rather contrasty orthochromatice... red items will appear very dark > > > to black when printed. > > > > > > If anything can be done with PS to un-ortho it, then I'll be pleasantly > > > surprised. > > > -- > > > > > > Jim - http://www.hemenway.com > > > > > > Slobodan Dimitrov wrote: > > > > > > > > Anyone know what adjustments in PS, or any other software, can be used > > > > to turn an image taken with ortho film into one that simulates the > > > > tonality of pan-chromatic emulsions? > > > > Slobodan Dimitrov > > > -- > > > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html > > -- > > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html > -- > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html