For the past couple of weeks, I've been experimenting with two different methods to print digital negatives in the darkroom. Here are some of my observations:
- Dan Burkholder's curve didn't work for me at all. The curve makes the negative darker, and expands the contrast in both shadows and highlights. In theory, this should work, but in my experiments, the print came out murky.
- Dan should really explain the parameters he used for printing: The paper, developer, lightsource, and most importantly the paper grade.
- Mark Nelson argues that Dan's approach works only in his environment and thus new curve needs to be made for each person's own environment. I think it makes a lot of sense. However, that doesn't exactly explain why I got such murky prints - I would expect that at least the print would be an improvement over a straight print.
- Mark's method makes total sense but it didn't work for me for two reasons: i) When I did the callibration with the color wedge, the print came out too light that none of the cells came up white (black was fine), and ii) The scanner method is not accurate enough and it just adds more variables (such as the scanner and the software). You really need a densitometer for this method.
- I am suspecting that the printer setting (Epson 2200, Photo glossy) that I use for the printing material (Pictorico OHP film) does not generate enough of density. When I tried the 'watercolor paper' setting, which uses most ink, the negative got denser but I got roller marks as well. I need to test with something between glossy and watercolor. However, even with the thickest negative, the print itself didn't improve enough.
- The best negative I got so far was a handmade one, based on trial and error. Interestingly enough, the resulting curve looks very different from Dan's curve or any other published ones. I must be doing something wrong.
- I made the conclusion that I need a densitometer in order to properly callibrate the curve, so I took the plunge and bought a 'X-Rite 810' densitometer, which supports both transmissive and reflective metering. This one is quite expensive, but I justified myself by thinking that even if this whole experiments failed, I would be able to use this for film negative contrast control.
I just found this curve at this site. (This site is very informative, which complements Dan's method very well) It actually looks very similar (but better than) to my handmade version. I definitely need to try this out tonight.
Finally, I would really love to talk to someone who successfully made a print from digital negatives. I'd like to learn exactly what parameters were used so that I can at least identify where I'm doing wrong...
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