Sagattier Experiment

[TheFru]

Ok, what do you think? I had a print I liked but technically it sucked (a little soft in the focus)...so I played. I can't really seem to get the timing right but any Man Ray fans...or Dada folks got any pointers.

[natatbeach]

a beautiful shot in my opinion with the angle and placement...so classic-- You have just the perfect face for this type of look

as far as Man Ray and Dada go...I'm doing a little research and will get back to you when I have a grasp of what I'm comparing it to (you gotta love the edit feature huh?)

having done a smidge of research---man ray was a little more interesting than the dadaism search ( some was a little bizarro for me) anyway

I think I'd like to see a smidge more contrast (always my personal favorite)
and I played with it and took some of the grey out and sharpened it(probably deafeting the whole person but what can I say just my two and half cents). You really have such a naturally beautiful classic face and features.

I'm signing up for your fan club ! do you have a newsletter?

I would love to see you post more self pics....

[Gerry Widen]

I like it. The diagional composition and the look of the face work well. As Natalie mentioned I also think it needs more contrast but maybe inbetween your's and Nat's.

[stew]

i think this shot is very cool. i especially like the smoothness of the skin and also the white outline of the skin against the background.

[Charles Hess]

This does have a Man Ray look about it. The strength of your image is the angle and the gaze. I agree that a bit more contrast could add some more pop to this already nice image. Good work.

[TheFru]

This does have a Man Ray look about it. The strength of your image is the angle and the gaze. I agree that a bit more contrast could add some more pop to this already nice image. Good work.

Thanks all, for the input! This was, unfortunately, a one-time deal. I need more darkroom time to play with the contrast. I guess I could play with the digi file a bit more...I suck at PhotoShop...LOL!

The rest were all dripping. The effect was either WAY too dark and all you saw was an outline (Mackey lines) or ok, but it had runs where the developer ran while trying to flash light for the second "exposure".

Here is the YUCKY/SOFT focus original print...note the focal point of the pic...haha!

Nat - It's a slow process for me...but my only subjects are my immediate family! So you will definitely see more self-portraits!

[Asylum Steve]

Thanks all, for the input! This was, unfortunately, a one-time deal. I need more darkroom time to play with the contrast.

The rest were all dripping. The effect was either WAY too dark and all you saw was an outline (Mackey lines) or ok, but it had runs where the developer ran while trying to flash light for the second "exposure".

Of course photoshop would be a much less messy way to play with the tonal values and contrast of your print, but if you really want to try to keep it a darkroom thing, make sure the developer you use is near exhausted. This will give you much more control of the "flash" develpoment.

You should also keep the print in the tray after the first development, moving the whole thing under your stopped down enlarger (no neg) and use the controlled enlarger light for your flash. The enlarger head should be at a height so that the cone of light easily covers your tray.

To get more predictable results, you can make test strips for sabattier prints just like normal prints. Just keep your flash exposures short and move a piece of cardboard down the print, exposing a bit more each timed interval. Actually the best way to test strip a sabattier print is a "checkerboard" style, where left to right is exposure increments for the original print, then you do the first development, then complete the strip top to bottom with exposure incements for the flash exposure. Then you can see which combination of first exposure and flash exposure gives you the best results. Does that make sense?

Finally, a sabattier print by nature is almost always going to be very low contrast. The easiest way to get those crisp whites in the highlights is to print and process it a little dark, then bleach the print after it's fixed.

Come to think of it, photoshop might be a lot easier...

BTW, it really is a nice image...