Creating Digital Negatives for Alternative Printing Processes, i.e Platinum Prints

DxO PhotoLab Windows topics
1

Has anyone used PL4 or any other version to create digital negatives and used them to create platinum, palladium, gum bichromate, cyanotype, or salted paper prints? I’m looking to make some alternative process prints and want to know if anyone has had good results using PL4 to make the polymer negative?

I am wanting to know if you were able to get enough tonal separation to keep from having any banding in the print. I know you can make a QuadTone RIP, but I do not what to go back and use PhotoShop again to do this process. I’m wanting to make 8X10 and 11X14 negatives.

Thanks in advance for any input.

2

Is this what you’re trying to be informed about?

Phase 1

  1. Convert an image to make it negative
  2. Map colours to shades of grey
  3. Print the result
  4. Store settings for use with other images

Phase 2

  1. Use the “negative” you created in steps 1-3 of phase 1 and copy it using analog/chemical ways to a substrate.
3

Thank you and yes this is where I was going. Did you use any software to map the colors to gray scale? I now know I can create a negative by manipulating the curves profile. I suppose I will need to make a few test strips to see if I have the correct B&W curve for the printer.

4

Use the tonecurve to change the image to a negative. see this post for inspiration.
Then, try the HSL tool. It has a lot of possibilities to influence, how colours appear in greyscale. See this for details
The colour rendering tool can be useful too… Read about it in the user guide which is accessible throuh PL’s help menu.

1 Like
5

Unfortunately, the first link is to a beta test forum so may not be visible to everybody

1 Like
6

Link fixed. Thanks Joanna.

7

Thank you, and I have tried the using the corrections you suggested. What I would like to do is use the EDN process developed by Peter Mrhar, but I can’t figure out how to incorporate it into the PhotoLab work flow.

Curious if anyone has used this product/process with PhotoLab?

8

Thank you.

9

As of today, Photoshop scripts cannot be run in PhotoLab. You’d have to go through the steps manually and save what you did as a preset - or sets of presets if intermediate actions require manual interventions because Photoshop features are used that don’t exist in PhotoLab.

PhotoLab can possibly emulate (most of) the workflow you used in Photoshop. If the effort involved in recreating the process seems to be too much though, Photoshop is your way to go. PhotoLab does not try to replace Photoshop. Other apps do.

10

Thanks for the reply. I going to experiment a bit, the process is/should not be exclusive to photoshop sine it is a matter of having the proper curve to make a negative for contact printing.

I appreciate your comments on photoshop, but I no longer have any desire to use the program sine it has gone to subscription base service.

11

I noticed on the video on Peter Mrhar’s site that he was using Affinity Photo instead of PS.

12

Joanna,

Sorry for the delay in replying to you and thank you for the comment. I decided to download “GIMP”. I just started to play with it and it appears it will do everything I need to make negatives for contact printing.