COBBLER'S PAGE

I have thousands of pounds worth of equipment which includes an Hasselblad lenses and darkroom accessories that give me superb results, all equipment I can handle with no hassle. Why should I change my way of working and go all DI at great expense to produce inferior results and have to learn a host of new skills to do so?” This was overheard at a demonstration of Epson copiers while I was waiting to have a demo print done from a Kodak CD of one of my snaps (which was very good) There is no answer to such a statement. On a less professional scale than Hasselblad I suspect this question could be posed by many of us in the Colour Reversal Club.

LIBRARY
The CRC library has a wide range of information available to members in the form of A4 sheets of formulas, DIY and manufacturers information sheets on specific films and papers.

As well as copies of The Darkroom User and Darkroom Techniques magazines going back many years covering any darkroom topic you can think of. I have listed these in past Newsletters but anyone wanting a list just drop me a line or phone. You will have to pay photocopy costs, 5p a sheet, and postage.

We have a few soft back books for lending out which are very good and were expensive. I have been asked to review some of them THE KODAK BOOK OF COPYING AND DUPLICATING is top of my list. As usual with Kodak and their books it is expensive at £20 and as you would expect it is also selling Kodak products, all references to films used are Kodak. But this makes no difference to the techniques used they can be applied to other films. To do copies and duplicates and get good results ie. as near to the original as possible is not as straightforward as might be expected. The high contrast original and inherent colour shortcomings of different films can be a barrier to getting good results. The table of contents give some idea of the range covered in this book;

Overview of Procedures Duplicating Copyright and Restrictions Data Sheets Equipment One-step Duplicating B&W Copying Techniques Two-step Duplicating Colour Copying Techniques.

All aspects are covered in depth. The equipment demonstrated goes from simple to the sophisticated set-up used by the professional .One of the strongest features of the book are the illustrations. The pictures are of excellent quality, showing problems encountered by Before and After examples. The use of internegatives is fully explained. Exposure techniques are fully covered.Lighting,as you would expect,is a central theme. It even covers the production of title slides for your AV.

Copying paintings is another technique examined in detail. It is written in an easy to read style and has a good appendix. The list of seventeen Kodak films with fifty-two pages devoted to their use is as comprehensive as you will find anywhere. Perhaps the section on copying and restoring old photographs is no longer relevant, particularly to anyone owning a computer. I can recommend this book as essential reading to anyone who has copying or duplicating to do.

My second choice may interest the few of you who still do darkroom photography. From the KODAK WORKSHOP SERIES in the library we have DARKROOM EXPRESSIONS

Contents listed are:

Find Your Way In The Darkroom. Your Controls. Making High Contrast Derivations. Adding Colour. Posterization, Sabattler Effect. Texture, Paper Negs. Printing without Negatives. Switch Processing. Now anyone with a computer and the relevant programme can do a lot of the above easily but not as quickly.

Each subject in the book is well illustrated with examples of techniques and results, the text is minimal. It lacks a trouble-shooting section but some of the more bizarre results come from mistakes!

Most materials and chemicals used are easily obtainable, results are guaranteed, and the rest is up to you and your imagination not some programme. This is a book for the experimenter.

Both books are softback and cost about £3.00 to post one way.

For those of you still practising photography in its fullest sense these are books you should have on your own bookshelf. Keep an eye on the second-hand market perhaps all the converts to Digital Imaging will be dumping their books as well. I have sometimes seen these types of Kodak Workshop books in places like York, Canterbury and Hay-on-Wye. Worth looking out for and well worth having.

Next time I will look at MULTIGRADE 111, PHOTO COLOUR PRINTING MADE EASY, and PIRO (THE BOOK OF).

 

Caught in the Web Editorial CRCMain

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