Precision Digital Negatives

for Silver & Other Alternative Photographic Processes (cd/ebook)

Mark I. Nelson

Order directly from Mark at:

PrecisionDigitalNegatives.com

Cost: 75 USD + 6 USD postage.

Review from AlternativePhotography

To many of you making digital negatives is old hat, to some it's new, either way, fine tuning the negative is something that always can be improved on and that's what this ebook is trying to do. Precision Digital Negatives is published as an ebook, this means reading a book on screen (or printing 136 pages!).

There is quite a lot of reading before you can get your hands dirty. The book starts with introducing some basic terms and the obvious advantages of digital negatives such as the ability to produce it at any size, manipulation can be done in Photoshop before printing and that the density can be changed to suit any alternative photographic process.

It also covers the basics of pixels and dots, steps and tone, scanning and histograms, digital "in-camera negatives, before getting on to "preparing the image". Although the previous chapters are good to read through, this is where the ebook is getting interesting. Mark gives us a good Photoshop lesson on how to tweak channels to get the best greyscale image, adjust the levels and curves and the best tools for sharpening the image.

The ebook continues with a discussion of resolution and specifics for inkjet and other types of printing.

Finally we get to the "Precision Digital Negatives" process. There is a 3 step process to tune your curves involved:

In step 1 the standard printing time is determined. For this you simply use a Standard 21-Step Tablet, a strip of the film or substrate to be used, a UV light source and coated paper. The purpose is to define the darkest tone of your image, or what will be the shoulder of the H&D curve.

In step 2 you determine the standard color density. This helps you define the lightest tone of your image, or the toe of the H&D curve.

An the third step you adjust the curve. The third step will define the relationship between the printed tones in the image between the end points on the Toe and Shoulder (in step 1 and 2).

There are a number of Photoshop files included on the cd which will help you calibrate and fine tune your negatives. Such as tonal and density palettes. Excel spreadsheets includes a curve calculator to help you determine the density. Measure the values with a desometer and input into the spreadsheet. You can then use these to create a curve in Photoshop. All in all, the whole purpose of the ebook is to show you how to callibrate your computer and fine tune the printing to help you make the perfect curve for your negatives.

Precisions Digital Negatives can be rather heavy and highly technical reading at some times for those with very little Photoshop experience. Even more experienced Photoshoppers may have to read the text more than once. Even so, if you are very precise about your negatives, it may just be what you have been looking for.

From the publisher

Precision Digital Negatives for Silver & Other Alternative Photographic Processes is an illustrated eBook that provides a wealth of information about how to fabricate digital negatives for contract printing with gelatin silver and any alternative photographic process. The eBook describes an ingenious new method—Color Density Range Control. Color Density Range Control is a method of matching the density range of the digital negative precisely to the exposure scale of any process and/or contrast mix—before applying a Process Adjustment Curve. Thus the required adjustment curve is much less drastic and more image tones are preserved.

The author, Mark Nelson, takes you through image capture with scanner or digital camera, image file preparation, calibration, creating digital negatives with any output device, evaluation of the print, and troubleshooting problems with negatives and/or the alternative process. The book provides an understanding of how digital negatives from inkjet printers, imagesetters, and laser/LED imaging devices really work and why they sometimes fail.

The CDROM contains the 136 page, heavily illustrated eBook, the Curve Calculator software, and a variety of Calibration Palettes (in Photoshop format) designed to make calibration with this new method as simple as possible. All you need is a computer, printer, and scanner or densitometer, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Excel, a standard step tablet, and the desire to make the best possible digital negatives tailored to your workflow. By printing 3-4 small, 5” x 8” calibration prints with your process, you will determine the appropriate Standard Printing Time, Standard Color Density Range, and Photoshop Process Adjustment Curve to make perfect prints every time—it is very repeatable and all the calibration is customized to your workflow and process.