reducing color saturation w/ RA-4

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Mike - 09 Feb 2004 20:15 GMT

Is it possible to reduce the color saturation when making RA-4 prints?

I've been playing around with this in Photoshop, and I really like the
effect when up to 75% of the color is removed.

Another newbie question (i haven't tried color yet): can you dodge/burn
in RA-4 or does this result in color-shifts in the areas affected?

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Gregory W Blank - 09 Feb 2004 23:13 GMT

> Is it possible to reduce the color saturation when making RA-4 prints?
>
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> Another newbie question (i haven't tried color yet): can you dodge/burn
> in RA-4 or does this result in color-shifts in the areas affected?

Hum? Try all three colors CYM, produces nuetral density, maybe a net stocking
over the lens. Yes you can burn and dodge.

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Victor Falkteg - 10 Feb 2004 01:15 GMT

Yes, it is. The process is not possible to alter, but the effect I think you
are after is possible to obtain if you change the paper you use.
I'm using RA-4 on a regular basis and it's standard for me to have at least
three different papper qualities in the lab.
For me Kodak Ultra Endura i the standard as it gives a very natural color
rendetion together with Kodak Portra NC film. It's what I want. But for some
pupose - for example portrait - i prefer a lower saturation and use
different papers, for example Porta Endura or Porta.
So my advise is that you check the documentation for different papers and
make some tests. But I doubt that you can get the effect of removing the
saturation with 75%.
Yes, you can dodge/burn and you can burn with a different filtration then
you use for the rest of the print. Normally burning or dodgning do not give
any notisable color shift. This gives interesting color effects. You can
also solarize, do repeted prints on the same paper in different colors and a
lot of other tricks. You can also use mist filters and other effect filters
when printing in the enlarger. One interesting possibility is to make color
prints from black and white negatives.
Hope this helps you a bit on the way.
Victor

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Norman Worth - 10 Feb 2004 08:20 GMT

Saturation and contrast are different, but sometimes hard to differentiate.
Reducing the contrast by using a lower contrast paper (e.g. Portra) may
achieve the effect you want or it may not. You can also try reducing the
development (within limits, it doesn't take much to throw the whole process
out of kilter). In general, you are pretty much stuck with what the
manufacturer gives you. You might also try a different brand of paper (e.g.
Agfa) and see if it helps. Perhaps other ng readers could suggest another
brand with less saturation.

For the ultimate control you need to go digital. Some commercial labs can
scan very accurately, perform desaturation as you want, and print on high
quality photo paper. You can do a lot of the same at home with a good film
scanner, printer, and Photoshop, but the results may not be up to commercial
standards.

> Yes, it is. The process is not possible to alter, but the effect I think you
> are after is possible to obtain if you change the paper you use.
[quoted text clipped - 24 lines]
> > Another newbie question (i haven't tried color yet): can you dodge/burn
> > in RA-4 or does this result in color-shifts in the areas affected?

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