THE STORY OF TWO NEGATIVES

Both: Caryville, Tennessee 13 December 1983

I made these images while returning from a trip to Big Bend National Park in Texas. We had moved to Philly in late summer and I was on the road trying to wrap my head around the fact that I no longer lived in Texas. That's another story. The bottom image was the one I always wanted to print but never could because of what looks like a fungus attack on the negative -- lots of small, black, smuggy marks. So, I had gone with the top one for contact printing. Now that I'm able to make high quality scans, I was able to literally spend about six hours "spotting" the spot from the resulting digital file of the top image. Yeah, there is a difference in color of the two images, but that's because I'm still experimenting with coloring the "b&w" images. The negatives are scanning in full 48-bit mode as a color negative. In the scanning software, I desaturate the image (remove the color), but the files remains a colorless RGB file. If you eye-dropper over any part of the image, the RGB readings all read grayscale. Having this type of file allows me to "color" the image much as you would tone a traditional silver print. Currently I taking two different approaches: a color balance layer where I add small amounts of color the the shadows only (bottome image), and a low percentage color overlay layer. Besides, having a 16-bit, RGB file is always better for modern ink jet printers such as the Epson 3800 and the Epson 4880. With either of these printers, I have been able to rival or surpass any silver print I was able to make in the darkroom.....WHEN printed on some of the newer baryta based papers.