The Art of Photography by Barnbaum Bruce

Author:Barnbaum, Bruce [Barnbaum, Bruce]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, azw3
Tags: PHOTOGRAPHY / General
Publisher: Rocky Nook
Published: 2011-07-08T04:00:00+00:00

Figure 10-11. Negative density at contrast edge

Figure 10-12. Mask density at contrast edge

Figure 10-13. Addition of original negative and mask

The density developed in the mask greatly exceeds all densities of the original negative (in essence, the mask is opaque). So when the two are perfectly re-registered in your negative carrier, all mid-tone and shadow areas of the original negative are blacked out. You can now burn the highlight areas without fear of darkening the mid-tone or dark areas adjacent to them.

Let’s go back to the example of the old, abandoned house with a window to the outside landscape (see the section on Burning with Variable Contrast Papers). When printing the negative, you can first make an exposure with no mask to get the tones you want in the interior. Then black out the interior with the mask in perfect registration, and print only the exterior through the window. With this procedure you can really get those high negative densities to work for you.

You may also want to print the exterior at lower contrast to give it a more atmospheric, distant feel. A word of caution: be careful, because this can be overdone. You can burn the sunlit exterior too much, rendering it too dark and thereby losing the look and feel of it being much brighter than the interior. In fact, if you go hog wild, you can burn the exterior so much that its tonalities nearly match the interior. It would be absurd to do that, as you would lose any sense of realism. So, while you have immense flexibility and many options, it’s best to remain subtle and sensible with an eye toward tonal logic.

(In Chapter 11, on the digital zone system, you’ll see how you can do this with two photographic captures—one for the interior, a second for the exterior—layered together in Photoshop. It’s a simple process, but here, too, the results can be utterly illogical unless some semblance of subtlety and common sense are invoked.)

Beware of another serious potential problem: the highlight mask must be perfectly registered emulsion-to-emulsion with the negative when printing. Therefore, you must use a glass negative carrier to ensure perfect contact between the negative and mask. (This is also strongly advised for unsharp masking.) Unless you’re reversing the image by placing the original negative in the enlarger upside down (i.e., with its emulsion up), the highlight mask must be placed below the negative. Be sure to place a clear negative of equal thickness below the negative for the basic exposure, the one giving you the interior tonalities. If you fail to do this, you’ll alter the plane of the negative for the second exposure, and you’ll get a slight ghost image at the edge.

It should be apparent that masking—either contrast reduction masking or highlight masking, or both—are extraordinary tools. But like other good tools, they can be overused and abused. It was Mark Twain who said, “If the only tool you have is a hammer, it’s amazing how many things look like nails.

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