Alan Effects

These two images are both based on the same photography of Alan. The first is a reversal or negative of the image.

The second image is a digital variant of the Lith technique whereby you use a negative to create a positive image on Lithographic film; then use you Lith positive to create a Lith negative; then print a positive from the final Lith negative. Taking the image through these steps with Lith film eliminates the gray tones and turns everything to either flat black or flat white. The Photoshop digital equivalent of this technique is much simpler and less time consuming. Basically you adjust the image using the Curves dialoge box and force the dark half fo the image to black and the light half to white. I used to spend literally days doing this technique the old way. The only down side is that the Photoshop technique is so easy that what used to feel like an art technique not feels like a simple digital trick. If it's not difficult, can it be art?

Markus - Lith

This is a studio photograph of model Markus Reinhardt taken several years ago and processed with the "lith effect" described in my earlier posts.

I had the good fortune to work with Markus on three ocassions. This is my favorite photograph from all three sessions.

Another Lith Look-a-like

Another "lith look-a-like" image. (See the previous post for an explanation of what that means. It's just too involved to explain twice! :D )

This is from a photo of Yvan Cournoyer taken several years ago.

Lith Look-a-like

In a photography class I learned a printing technique using lith film. Lith film is a high contrast film often sold in sheets in sizes like eight inches by ten inches that are normally reserved for photo paper, and developed in the lab using special chemicals.

The printing technique uses a normal photographic negative and starts with using an enlarger to print on a sheet of lith film. The image on the lith film is a "positive" image, like any image you might print on paper. The film is developed, fixed, washed and dried.

Next you place the dried lith film sheet against a second unexposed sheet of lith film under the light of an enlarger. The image created on the second sheet of lith film is a "negative" image. The second sheet is developed, fixed, washed and dried.

Finally, the second sheet of lith film is placed on top of an ordinary sheet of photo paper, held tight against it with glass, and exposed under the enlarger. The final print on photo paper looks like a stylized black and white charcoal drawing. Figures are sometimes not even outlined, just suggested.

Because of the special properties of lith film, each step in the process creates a higher contrast image. Dark greys become black. Light greys become white. By carefully chosing the exposure time under the enlarger you can control the break-point in the gray curve between white and black, but because you are doing this in two steps (once when you create the "positive" and a second time when you create the "negative") it is extremely difficult to predict the final result.

Since the lith sheets need to dry each time before moving to the next step, the process takes at least two to three days, and a slight mishap at any step can ruin the final image.

A few days ago when fiddling with curves in Photoshop I realized that I could create the same effect digitally. Basically you force the dark grays to black and the light greys to white by manipulating the image with the Photoshop "curves" dialog window.

Instant lith image! Or at least a look-a-like. It's so easy I almost feel foolish for not having realized it could be done like this long before now.

Incidentally, the model in the image is Tom Lord.