by Jim Pryts

In the old days ( pre-1984 ) prior to the earliest desktop computers capable of manipulating graphics, image enhancement was a long, tedious affair. I remember the processes. There was one for posterization, one for bass-relief, one for solorization, and on and on. When a photographer went into his darkroom to change an image, it meant odd techniques, chemicals that had names you couldn’t pronounce, not a small amount of acquired skill, and time . . . . lots of time. The results were unpredictable, to say the least, and when you proudly emerged from behind the black cloth with your print, there was always something not quite right about it. Something not quite as grand as you intended when you went into the dark, 4 hours earlier.
Well, times have changed, and we have new control over the demons of the darkroom. We don’t even have to go into the darkroom anymore. We just open up Photoshop, scan the image, and change anything we want to about the photo . . . . precisely the way we want. We can flip the image, turn the image, invert the image, or produce startling special effects with it, literally at the push of a button. Or, we can take our time with it, eschewing the cloned software filters, using great care to get it just right, then output it to film, print, and presto, a print that would have been impossible before the computer technology of today. No more need for the darkroom, right? Wrong!
Just when you thought it was safe to come out of the dark, I have something new for you to try. If you have ever used paper negatives, (print a negative on #1 kodabromide fiber based paper, and then contact print the resulting image onto another sheet of paper) you know that at best, it is a touchy feely probe into creativity. I never got acceptable results from that process, and I wondered for years, why, and under the influence of which planet ,a person had to be, to really "love to do it." Oh well, "what is art?"

Now, comes the technological revolution in imaging, and suddenly we have the next best thing to a negative at our fingertips. Inkjet paper. Give it a try.
I have only done this with black and white images, but there is no reason why it can’t be done with color images too (although, with great hassle as to color balance, probably)

The Process

1. After becoming satisfied with the image on your computer screen, save it, of course, invert it (opposite values / negative), and print it on high resolution inkjet paper. (I use the Epson Stylus 720 dpi printer ) The process works best with high contrast images, because with normal contrast, more of the paper’s structure is visible in the finished print. ("But, hey . . . what is art?") What makes this process better than the old method, is obvious, the increased control one has over a computer image, and the inherent thinness of the paper. Light passes through more easily, and faster, doesn’t have to make it’s way through semi-opaque sheets, allowing the print to retain more sharpness, and actually remaking the old process into a usable tool.

2. Contact print onto whatever photographic paper that you prefer, or (not as nice) produce the paper negative in whatever negative size you want, and print it just like any other negative in the enlarger, (although it will be noticeably slower that way, and the paper texture will be larger, grainer, and more evident)

The result is a good print, and again, the possibilities are endless. Try it, and let us know how you do.

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