RE: [Leica] More on cropping! Flames afire! (and black edges)

["Mueller, Rob" <rob.mueller@eds.com>]

just a note: I learned the hard way that if the matte board you are using is
white, then you are pre-exposing your image. did you notice that your photo
looked a little grey? I use only light impression boards for matting, and of
course you have lots of extra lying around. In a pinch I used this stuff to
dodge/burn. I wondered for about three days 'where's that damned light leak
coming from'? duh!

Rob Mueller
Studies in Black and White
www.studiesinblackandwhite.com 
rob@studiesinblackandwhite.com





- -----Original Message-----
From: Rob Schneider-Laura Tully [mailto:robslaurat@earthlink.net]
Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 1999 10:00 PM
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: Re: [Leica] More on cropping! Flames afire! (and black edges)


Oops,  I didn't make myself clear.  Gee, that never happened before . . .
When I said, "Amazing what you can do with a piece of matte board!", I
meant, with a properly trimmed piece of matte board to lay in your easel
opening you can burn in a "false" black edge.  My idea
was/is to have prints with consistent 2X3 aspect and a black edge, even if
some of the images have been slightly cropped.

Say your "window" is 6X9 and you print a 1/8-inch black line.  Take a 6X9
piece of black matte board and trim 1/8 inch off one long edge and 1/8 inch
off one short edge.  Print your image.  Then lay
the matte board in the easel window, touching a corner.  Turn on the
enlarger (better yet turn on a 15 watt bulb) and carefully move the board so
that it touches in turn all four corners.  Almost
instant black line!  For added "authenticity" bang the corners of the matte
board a little before using it to round them slightly.  Ever noticed how the
frame edges in a black-line print are never
absolutely sharp 90 degrees?

I thank Costa Manos (Magnum), a staunch proponent of full-frame 35mm with
black edge printing, for the above technique.

Rob Schneider
- -----------------------------

Mark Rabiner wrote:

> Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1999 10:50:09 -0700
> From: Mark Rabiner <mrabiner@concentric.net>
> Subject: Re: [Leica] More on cropping! Flames afire! (and black edges)
>
> Rob Schneider-Laura Tully wrote:
> >
> > Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 23:33:35 +0000
> > From: <michaeljohnston@ameritech.net>
> ><Snip>   As Mike noted earlier, look at the black
> > edge of HCB's Gare St.-Lazare photo.  The neg is cropped, but the
> > image has a black edge.  Amazing what you can do with a piece of matte
> > board!
> >
> > Rob Schneider
>
> They've had mat board out now which is white on the outside but with a
black
> core (a reverse Oreo).
> So in use however you cut it it gives you a black border but with no white
> border around the print so you have to sign the mat which goes against
logic for
> me. It's probably not considered Archival but would be good for a larger
display print.
> Mark Rabiner