Basic Orange

Posted on 2026-09-20 Posted in exs notebook, labnotes

squeeze the net hard enough, you get lemons.

consider the color negative. That piece of orange film -- so it seems. The base must be orange. It isn't. The orange is within the emulsion. Its purpose is color correction of dyes used in the Color Negative-Positive process of image making. 
I used to demonstrate, and have students attempt to duplicate with their explanation the following "test" -- experience.

     We will process color negative stubs (short 12 exposure rolls)
-- One is processed in D-76 developer  -thru fix, wash, dry. It may contain images. Your choice.
-- Another isn't exposed, it is unexposed but processed fully in Color negative line (C-4!) -- thru all chems, then dried.
-- Final one isn't exposed, but it isn't sent thru any developer. It is only fixed out using the C-41 fixer, then washed and dried.

Question: what are the differences? firstly, what do they look like? And, what are the differences in their curve shapes? Why do you think that is.

In this day, 2026, the mask is considered by most as existing uniformly and present in the "base". 
Adding a test -- can the orange be removed from the film: 
-- using abrasion
-- using chemistry

Did the base of the film disappear, dissolve, or merely look more like BW clear base.

Entr’acte – 9,17,26

Posted on 2026-09-172026-09-18 Posted in A Symbol Life

if writing is for the drawer why not make it more Interesting to your future self…

wondering whether there needs to be a direction change ..

voluble is rarely valuable

HOW do I get.. print…

Posted on 2026-09-172026-09-17 Posted in diy filmsc, overnight notes

quickbread answer — the how has to do with the printing more than with the taking. Film does matter, but paper matters more; is the print. The color negative is part of a process. That process of negative+positive has been broken most of this century. We don’t have a single research and manufacturing firm making aligned negatives and positives. No film made is made as perfect match to color paper. C-41 doesn’t match RA-4. We have industrial mismatch. Most, naïvely thinking that Color science has come to the rescue –all roads leading to the same place , when really all roads just lead to someplace .

So, the print is the resultant. And, we have only one maker, Fujifilm. Control of print values means understanding Crystal Archive’s renders.

Alter Chemistry is one pathway. Another is mask the color-negative.

Likely you, if new to darkroom, won’t understand the above sentence. So, the main, boldline is: do what you know, but learn more. Do more.