COBBLER'S PAGE

By Brian Asquith (Librarian)

By the end of a long hot summer I have used up my stock of slide film and I am going through the results of my endeavors as I sort out the pictures into slides taken with AV sequences in mind, record of holiday locations, folio or Camera Club exhibition entries etc.

At the end of all this I am left with slides that were taken with interest at the time which do not fit into any of these categories what do we do with those?

A friend and I spent a lot of time putting together a talk and demonstration on toning B & W prints using red, blue, green and a range of sepia toners to show what could be done to make a print different and, hopefully, to improve its visual appeal.

We gave this talk at the local camera club and finished off with a demonstration of the FSA toner mentioned in my last offering to the CRC Newsletter. It occurred to me when I saw all the extra slides that a lot of the toning methods could also be used to alter slides. A lot has been written about the use of Lith film.Kodak,Ilford, Agfa and Fuji all produce a range of this material for the printing trade (though with the advent of computers less and less is being used). It can be bought in various sizes from 35mm to 12"x16" sheets. It is easy to use under a red safelight of red bulb. A simple Lith developer is available from Rayco or AR Chemicals (see advert in the CRC magazine) then all you need is a pane of glass or a contact printing frame and three small dishes.

Taking some of my spare slides, or those which did not fit into any of my categories,I play about with them in what I think of as the darkroom period of the year ( Dec, Jan,Feb). By first making contact negatives onto Lith film using 4"X 5" sheets I can get several contacts in one go; expose for 5 sec, develop by inspection under a red safelight, fix in plain Hypo and wash. You now have the basis for all sorts of derivations and experiments. You will have read of solarization, bas relief, dye and bleach, all these start with lith film. With a simple bleach bath for instance you can bleach away the image and then bring it back by using any of the B&W toners. In the case of red, blue, or green toners no bleaching is required. If you then bind up the bleached/toned image with the original slide you can get some weird and wonderful effects. All that sounds messy but it can be done in any kitchen if you take the usual precautions against spillages.

If you have a darkroom how about trying texture screens? These mainly concern prints either by using textured negatives which can be bought in sets; Firstcall sell "Kaiser" sets which are good,these are small negatives that go into the neg carrier or you can get large screens that are put in contact with the paper between glass.

Again lith film is used to make the screens in contact with material. Large screens can be bought in the form of Lettreset at any artist suppliers. Slides can be re-photographed through these screens as well. Again if they are dyed or toned you can add colour and texture. So you can get a wide variety of finishes eg. steel etch, grain, or pointillistic (that means coloured dots). Kodak`s 5

Darkroom Expressions is an excellent book for anyone interested in this kind of thing. We have a copy in the CRC library.

The library now has a full complement of the American magazine "Darkroom Techniques". I can photocopy any article members are interested in seeing or send the magazine so long as it is returned. (see list of contents)

I processed some Ektachrome Elite the other night; this film seems to take a lot more bleaching and ends up, in my case, with a green black which is dense enough but this must have an effect on the shadow areas. The same film trade processed had a black more towards magenta. I am referring to the exposed leader of the film when held up to bright light. The Chrome Six formula has been altered could this be to cope with new film emulsions? Should the club formula also be changed to take these into account or are members still satisfied with their results? It would be nice to know.