 BetterPhoto Member |
PRINTING WHAT DOES THE PHRASE "DRY DOWN" REFER TO?
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Alan N. Marcus |
Hi Nagham, The conventional photographic process is a wet process meaning films and papers are developed (processed) by immersing the material in a series of liquid chemical and a final stabilizer solution or water wash. The material emerges sopping wet thus the final stage is drying. Hobbyists and custom darkroom technicians often develop prints manually. Striving for perfection they evaluate their handiwork while wet. If the print is judged substandard, it will be reprinted after applying corrections to the printing exposure and/or developer time. Conventional photographic print image consist of silver (in the case of black & white) or dye (in the case of color), suspended in a binder of transparent gelatin. This mixture is what we call an emulsion. As the emulsion dries it changes both its reflection and transmission properties. Thus the wet print appears slightly different then a dry counterpart. In fact the dry print will appear darker and more saturated. Darkroom technicians strive to prefect the look of the finished print. Thus they are required to pre-judge how the print will look when dry. The phrase “dry down” is used to describe changes in the print’s appearance after drying. Alan Marcus
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