THE TRACKLAYERS
( By Arthur McKee Area 26)
I sent in this picture, a tone separation, as I knew it would produce well in our new style Newsletter, and being a railway subject, would interest our Editor. This example was made using Lith film, a very contrasty material made to produce such results.
Some readers may have considered trying this process but have been put off by the cost involved in making a start. This is a fact which I think is overlooked by many writers on the subject.
Some years ago my attention was drawn to a method of obtaining these effects using materials available in most B&W dark rooms. This was an article by a A. M. Carlsson in the magazine "Photography" and a description by the editor of an American publication of how using the same technique he got out of trouble when he found he was out of Lith film. I tried it and found it gave good results.
Resin coated Ilford Multigrade 11 or Kodak polyprint are used instead of Lith film. Filtration being to give the hardest grade. If starting from a colour transparency a black and white negative will need to be made copying with a camera. Excessive contrast being avoided by doubling exposure and halving development time. From this negative or a normal one an enlarged positive the same size as the final print is made on the above paper using the hardest filtration. It should be on the slightly dark side and show details in the shadows and highlights when viewed by transmitted light. Give a short wash, wipe off the surplus water and press without drying into close contact with a fresh sheet of the same paper emulsion to emulsion. The wet paper will cling to the other giving good contact so there is no need for a printing frame.
This combination is placed on the enlarger baseboard with the positive print on top. An exposure to white light is made at different times to give a series of wide test strips on the full paper. Pick the time which gives an image with another sheet of fresh paper but giving a single exposure as just determined. Give the negative produced a short wash and proceed as before to produce a positive. The exposure this time is not critical as long as it is sufficient. Repeat the cycle starting with this positive to obtain the final print which can be made on any paper which need not be resin coated or hard. The surface also does not matter. This print should be properly washed as should the paper negative which produced it. This negative should be put away for further use. The rest can be discarded.
Note the only exposure needing test strips are the first positive and negative, the others are not critical as long as they are long enough.
The final paper negative can be photographed using 35mm high contrast film such as Agfa Ortho 25, developed in print developer to produce silhuette images which can be combined with colour transparencies to produce interesting slides. Prints can be made from these slides.