Digital

Negatives Objectives: Students will learning how to use new technology, Photoshop, to create digital negatives for silver process printing. Materials: Day 1: Introduce the lesson to the class. Check for understanding. Begin lesson by having students chose a photograph from their student file. The first day will mainly be instructional for students to understand A computer with a calibrated monitor Photoshop 7.0 or newer An image that has been adjusted to look good on your computer screen A correction curve for the specific process An inkjet printer Pictorio High-Gloss White Film, letter size Fiber Based Graded #2 paper, 8X10-inch A contact print frame A light source Photo trays, 11X14-inch tray Developer Stop Bath A standard fix Water Tongs Enlarger Darkroom

how to create a digital negative using Photoshop. Therefore, students will not be using their final image. As students are opening Photoshop, hand out digital negative worksheet. This handout has is a step by step guide paired with screen shots on how to create a digital negative. Students can keep this to use as a reference in the classroom. Preparing the Image An essential idea to printing images with digital negatives is that all of the imaging tuning work should happen in the computer. You will need to have a properly calibrated computer. The basic steps for preparing the image for printing the digital negative are quick and easy. 1. Edit. | Open a positive, grayscale image in Photoshop and edit it until it looks as you want it on the computer screen. 2. Duplicate Image. | The steps for preparing the image are destructive and are best performed on a flattened image. You should duplicate the image so as not to apply these changes to your original edited file. Select Image > Duplicate; in the Image Duplicate window, change the name to My Image Negative. Check the box Duplicate Merged Layers Only to flatten the duplicate image. 3. Resize the image. | The image should be resized for your target print size and the appropriate resolution for your printer. Select Image > Image Size. In the Image Size window, change the Width or Height settings to make the image 8X10 or smaller; Photoshop automatically changes the other value to insure that the image retains its proportions. Also, change the resolution to 300ppi. Click OK to resize. 4. Apply the correction curve. | I have already downloaded the proper correction curves for the printers in the art room and the files are on the computers In Photoshop, open the Curves window. Image > Adjustments > Curves. Click the load button. This opens a Load window. Search for your correction curves folder, select the appropriate curve film, and load it. 5. Inverse and flip the image. | You will be printing a negative, so the image needs to be inverted. Go to Image > Adjustments >Invert. The printed negative will be placed face down on the silver paper to print; this flips the image left-to-right. So the negative should be flipped once in the computer to ensure the final image has the original orientation. Go to Image > Rotate Canvas > Flip Canvas >Flip Horizontal. Day 2: Today will be spent on the computers again with instruction using the computer. Students will be taught how to create a correction curve for their digital negative using Photoshop. Another step by step guide will be handed out for the students. Day 3: Students will use class time today to take digital photographs, edit their photos using Photoshop and print digital negatives. Digital negatives will be printed on to Pictorio High-Gloss White Film using an ink jet printer.

Printing the Negative 1. Place Pictorio High-Gloss White Film in printer, printable side up (there should be a notch in the upper right corner when the printable side is facing you). Make sure the same ink is installed in the printer for printing as it was for the correction curve. 2. In Photoshop, with the negative image open, open the Print Setup window/ File > Print Setup. Click the Printer button to open the Page Setup window. Select the printer from the Name drop list and click OK to return to the main window. 3. Now open the Print with Preview window. File > Print with Preview. You will see your image on the left. This is a reality check. If image size or orientation is no correct, go back to the Image Size or Page Setup window and correct them. On the lower left-hand side of the Print with Preview window is a drop box that has two options: Output and Color Management. Select Color Management from the drop list. Further down. In the options box, set Color Handling to No Color Management. In the top right-hand corner of the Print with Preview window, click Print. 4. In the property window, click the advanced button to access the advanced properties settings. Under Paper and Quality Options, choose a media type from the first drop list. In the next drop box, you will not see Pictorio White High-Gloss White Film as an option, so choose Enhanced Matte Paper. In the next drop box, set Print Quality to Superfine 2880 dpi. On the right-hand side of the window in the Color Management group box, select ICM, and set the ICC Profile to No Color Adjustment. Click OK to return to the Print window and click Print to print the negative. Day 4: As students finished editing and printing their digital negatives, they will now take their digital negative into the darkroom to create a contact print photograph. Silver paper is sensitive to blue/green light. Therefore, you need to be in darkroom with red/yellow safelights before removing paper from black box. Silver emulsions are generally very fast; this means they are very sensitive to light and expose quickly. But the High-Gloss White Film on which we print our silver negatives is very dense and reduces the amount of light hitting the photo paper. Typical exposure times using an enlarger as a light source can easily be 2-5 minutes. If your exposures are less than 30 seconds, use a timer. To expose your silver paper: 1. Keep the silver paper inside the protective box until it is need, and then remove only one sheet at a time. Keep the box closed. 2. Place your contact print frame under your light source. Adjust the light source to ensure that the entire contact print frame will be exposed by light. 3. Set up or developer, fix, and washing trays as described in the next section, processing the Print, so that you can immediately develop the print after exposure. 4. Turn off any normal light in the room and turn off the light source. Turn on the safelight.

5. Remove one sheet of silver paper. Place the printed negative face down over the silver paper so that the printed side is touching the silver emulsion. Contact printing is typically done emulsion- to-emulsion to endure the prints will be as sharp as possible. 6. Place the contact and the negative in to the contact-printing frame so that the negative is contacting the glass of the frame and the silver paper is lying such that emulsion is facing the negative. 7. Place the contact-printing frame under the light source. 8. Turn on the light source for the duration of the base exposure. 9. Carefully remove the silver paper from the contact frame and proceed to the next section to develop it. Processing the Print Setting Up the Developing Trays Set up six trays. 1. Dektol Developer 2. H2O rinse 3. Stop bath 4. H2O rinse 5. Fixer bath 6. H2O rinse Washes

Developing the Print Slide exposed print into the developer and being timing and gentle agitation throughout development. Usually development takes 1 minute at room temp for RC papers, and between 2 and 3 minutes for FB. Pull the print from the developer (tray 1), hold it for 10-15 seconds to drain and slide it into the H2O rinse for a quick dip (tray 2). Drain and slide into stop bath (tray 3). After 30-60 seconds in stop, drain 10-15, slide to H2O rinse quick dip (tray 4). Then slide into fixer (tray 5). Leave print in fixer with occasional agitation 5-6 minutes, slide into H2O rinse quick dip (tray 6). Final tray, plain water wash holding bath. (tray 7)

Washing and Drying Silver Prints Silver prints should be archivally processed, which simply means removing all residual fixer from the print before drying. RC paper consists of a photograph emulsion coated on a plastic base. RC paper can be archivally washed in 5-10 minutes of gently flowing water because the paper absorbs fewer chemicals. Squeegee excess water from prints surface and RC paper will dry with in minutes. FB paper

generally takes at least 1 hour of washing in an archival washer to completely remove all chemicals. Because the paper is Fiber Based and is not coated with plastic, the fiber absorbs more of the chemicals. After washing excess water van be gently squeegee from both sides of the print. Then they are air dried by placing them face down on a plastic screen over night. Things to Know about Processing Silver/Gelatin Prints It is prudent to use print thongs or wear rubber gloves to protect your hands from the chemicals. If you do get your hands in chemicals, do not panic. Rinse the chemicals off, dry hands, and get on with left. Never poke developer tongs into stop bath and then return them to the developer. Developer will soon die. Both developer and the stop bath should be made up fresh for each printing session. Fixer, however, can be poured back into a bottle and used for more than one session. Standards and Benchmarks:
ART.I.VA.HS.1 Apply materials, techniques, media technology, and processes with sufficient skill, confidence, and sensitivity that personal intentions are carried out in artworks. Be involved in the process and presentation of a final product or exhibit. Apply materials, techniques, and processes with sufficient skill, confidence, and sensitivity that personal intentions are carried out in artworks. Analyze the effectiveness of selections in communicating ideas and reflect upon the effectiveness of choices. Speculate and analyze how future technologies may impact art in everyday life.

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