Contrast Masks
The contrast available from a dye based printer can be doubled by printing two negatives with and registering one on top of the other.
Using a light box or sheet of glass over some white paper, tape the edge of bottom negative to the glass to stop it moving around and using a loupe align the “pixels” at one corner of the negatives and tape together as close as possible to the alignment. Laying a ruler or something similar over the negatives to keep them both flat, align the pixels of the diagonally opposite corner and again tape together with a small piece of tape. It is much simpler, more obvious and more accurate than would first appear. Alignment marks can also be printed in the negative margins is desired.
The exposure needs to be increased by about 80% to achieve the same Dmax as a single negative.
The above is the Control Neg test for the Van Dyke Brown print shown in the video. The two sandwiched negatives were printed printed on a Canon 8760 printer. The negatives had sufficient contrast to achieve the maximum print density of 1.04 at a 16 minutes exposure that was found possible with the chemistry being used. Neither the test or the print were toned.
While this approach doubles the film and ink being used and does involve longer exposure times it does offer a pathway for experimentation with many alternative materials not available without a larger and more expensive printer and inks.
