At 22:28 8/31/02, Mickey asked:
I always enjoy seeing your work. I wish I could be at the show to see it in
person.
Thanks!
You show 2 night scenes in Indianapolis. One of the Canal Walk, and one of a
monument decked out for Christmas. The color balance of the light is very
different. How did you achieve the neutral tone of the Canal scene? I've
never been able to get that kind of pure white in my night shots.
Monument:
Used Ektachrome 160T (tungsten) in an OM-2S with 35/2.8 Shift. Balanced
the scan to match the transparency; the Ilfochrome print is nearly
identical. Used tungsten film to render better balance of the Christmas
lights. The monument is illuminated by high power lights much closer to
daylight and appears blue (mercury vapor ???). Color balance of the
Christmas lights was more important to me than color of the monument.
Canal Walk:
The night Canal Walk was shot using Portra 160 VC in an M645j with 80/2.8
Sekor C. The original 5x7 proof made when the film was developed has poor
color balance and print density. It looks sickly and was the last medium
format roll sent to Qualex for fogging reasons discussed in another thread;
fortunately that frame wasn't fogged. Consumer labs haven't printed urban
night photographs from negatives very well for me. They want to make the
full frame average to 18 0ray and choke on color balancing them.
The digital scan and display print have been color balanced to correct the
luminaries along the canal to "white" lights. Don't know what type of
lamps are used in them, but they are cooler than tungsten. Color balance
of lights can shift toward black in a negative (white in the print or
transparency) if exposure is set to make them specular or very nearly
so. The same can be done during printing. Placing brightest highlight and
deepest shadow on the film's response curve must be carefully considered;
bracketing is recommended. How the print appears depends on specific print
material used (mostly contrast) and print density in addition to how the
enlarger filter pack is set up for color balance. The large display print
is a custom job on Kodak Professional Metallic. It's close to the digital
image but not identical. The first step was having a pro lab do an 8x10
"machine" print on Fuji Crystal Archive. The color balance looked good
(the digital is a flatbed scan of it). Sent it with the negative as a
color balance "guide" along with instructions about tweaking density
slightly for the 11x14 color metallic. Printing it wasn't easy; it
required a good pro lab and custom work to make the display print.
Thanks,
-- John
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