[Leica] Forscher's lights

[h_arche at yahoo.com (H. Ball Arche)]

Ah, but in those days I was just as much a printmaker: photo-intaglio, 
silkscreen, hand photo-litho.

One of my standard workflows back then was to shoot Tri-x (with my first M, 
and the DR I still have) and develop it in Rodinal for a nice chunky grain, 
then make large enlargements on Kodak ortholith using a D-III turned on its 
base to project to the floor. The ortholiths were still-developed in Kodak 
Fine Line developer to get a positive random dot image. The positve was then 
burned into an acid resistent photosensitive emulsion (Kodak Photo Resist, 
KPR, very toxic) coated on a zinc etching plate - this was an inter-neg. The 
image was then etched in to the plate using your basic intaglio acid 
immersion techniques.

Compositing was a matter of slicing various ortho sheets together, or 
layering and selectively coating and etching the plate. Everything that 
Photoshop does now in that line I learned to do by hand with an x-acto 
knife, airbrush, and rubylith.

Something from back then:

<http://tinyurl.com/ya8o7h9>

(sorry, Brian, I'm piggy-backing on the gallery with old slide pages for 
those rare job apps that only will deal with web links) 


----- Original Message ----
From: Mark Rabiner <mark at rabinergroup.com>
To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
Sent: Wed, November 18, 2009 7:23:38 AM
Subject: Re: [Leica] Forscher's lights

> You're kind of going both ways - yeah the flash is going to bring in info 
> to
> the shadows, and so bring down the black, but then the bump is going to 
> 'blow'
> the highlights. Since the film is so damn slow, you've got time to play 
> with
> both ends and figure your percentages. Halftones that that only have a main
> exposure are usually pretty flat.
> 
> Kodak still make a whole range of lith films, but I wonder if they are 
> doing
> any fresh research with them. I guess they're still being used in 
> specialized
> industries, but in the print biz, is anyone still shooting traditional
> halftones? 


I assumed Photoshop has done away with most process work using process
cameras. Anyhow this is the first I've ever heard a regular photographer
person knowing anything about it.
Its really an entirely different fields.
Graphic Artists learn it. That's who I was teaching it too.


Mark William Rabiner




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