Scanning negs...the Diane Arbus way!

[mabelsound]

For those of you who are suckers for the "rough-edged frame" look in certain of Diane Arbus's (and other photographers') prints...and think it's kinda lame to photoshop one in...here's a solution for you.

Now let me preface this by saying I'm perfectly aware that some of you, especially if you were active in the 60s and 70s or went to art school, find this look hopelessly passe. But I like it sometimes. So there's that out of the way.

Arbus's prints, in the years when she was printing with a black frame, got that way because she had made a little custom extra-wide mask for her enlarger out of a piece of cardboard. (I believe it was an Ilford paper box, in fact.) I was scanning my negs on the V500 last night, trying to do some extra-nice scans to print, and it suddenly occurred to me I could do the same thing--make a custom cardboard tray for the scanner. I gave it a shot. Here it is:



It took an hour's work to get the right size hole and the right quality of edge. The cardboard was too fibrous, so I covered the edges with white adhesive inkjet paper. I positioned the neg by holding the whole thing up to a lamp and eyeballing it. Those taped-up things to the left are to put on top of the tray so it all gets squeezed flat when the lid is closed on the scanner.

Once I'd processed the scan to my liking in lightroom, I ran the localized-effect brush around the edge and applied high contrast to it, so the area outside the mask would be totally white. Then I exported to PS and expanded the canvas for printing. Voila!

[direwolf101]

Looks good! Thx. for sharing your technique.

[Al Kaplan]

Not my cup of tea! I filed out my negative carrier bunches of years ago so I could print the full oversized negative you get from using non-retrofocus ultra-wides like 19mm Canon or 21mm Super Angulon. They sneak the image beneath the ends of the aperture plate in the camera. You end up getting a negative about 24.5 X 37 or 38mm in size. When the black outline effect became popular I started leaving a bit of clear film showing when I adjusted the four blades of my Saunders easel, which allows for centering the image on the paper with wide white borders if you desire. It results in a nice neat clean black line.

What the wedding shooters call "sloppy borders"? YUCK!

[mabelsound]

Heh heh, like I care what the wedding shooters think. ;-)

Sometimes, I like a bit of artifact to remind you that you're looking at a photograph--that a picture is something somebody made. It's kind of a shame digital is so "transparent" in this respect. Anyway, to each his own.

[crawdiddy]

I like it, and for just the reason you cite.

[M. Valdemar]

It's much easier doing a Photoshop mask, and you can make it look like anything you want. Better living through chemistry.

[MCTuomey]

sure PS is easier, but this way's manual ... like my camera.

very cool, thanks for sharing. wish i could do this with my coolscan ...

[Svitantti]

Originally Posted by MCTuomey

sure PS is easier, but this way's manual ... like my camera.

Also digital, not like your camera?

For a while I liked to print with this kind of "sloppy borders", but I kinda got bored to it. They looked different than this, though. Nice tip for darkroom printing. Better scanners wont eat those holders anyway.

[FrankS]

The old fashioned way, like Al said:

[Nh3]

Mabledude gets full props for his enthusiasm and industriousness.

[sirius]

When you look at a lot of the old school Magnum photographers (Cartier-Bresson and early Costa Manos), they left the edge in to signify that the images were not cropped.

[mabelsound]

I don't really mean for it to look like "the real thing," whatever that might mean...just for it to look as though it went through a mechanical process. Which of course it did!

Originally Posted by sirius

When you look at a lot of the old school Magnum photographers (Cartier-Bresson and early Costa Manos), they left the edge in to signify that the images were not cropped.

If you like your picture uncropped and unstraightened, it's kinda cool to get to say "check it, I didn't have to do $%&* to get it this way." Of course, these days people would just assume you photoshopped it in anyhow...

[Roger Hicks]

Originally Posted by sirius

When you look at a lot of the old school Magnum photographers (Cartier-Bresson and early Costa Manos), they left the edge in to signify that the images were not cropped.

Mainly, I suspect, to stop ill-intentioned and visually illiterate art directors cropping them when they were published. I see so other reason for doing it.

Cheers,

R.

[pesphoto]

interesting technique.....

..... my wife uses "Kubota sloppy border actions"

....i file down my negative carriers, though i use my easel blades for a sharp black border.

[pachuco]

I do it from time to time and I think it looks cool. I was just noticing that James Nachtway does something similar.

[Svitantti]

Many photographers have used a plate in darkroom, to cover the exposed area and then expose black frames around the picture. Some even did this to make it look like it is not framed in the darkroom.

[mabelsound]

Originally Posted by Svitantti

Many photographers have used a plate in darkroom, to cover the exposed area and then expose black frames around the picture. Some even did this to make it look like it is not framed in the darkroom.

Ha! Those cheaters would have loved Photoshop!

[Svitantti]

You cant very easily use Photoshop for a "real" black and white -print though.

[sepiareverb]

You might try some matte board as another version. I had a 6x9 Graflex film back that I altered to make a smaller frame using mat board. It gave a very nice edge.

Even having gone to art school I still use this for some images when in the darkroom. Certain pictures crave it.

[wontonny]

I've always wondered how this was done! This can be done on a darkroom enlarger in a similar manner, correct?

Thanks

[pesphoto]

Originally Posted by wontonny

I've always wondered how this was done! This can be done on a darkroom enlarger in a similar manner, correct?

Thanks

just file down your neg carrier until you can see a good amount of the clear frame around the neg. Easy.

[M. Valdemar]

I think Photoshop borders are better than real.

[mh2000]

This doesn't make sense, of course this mask is *real*... just as real as a mask/filed carrier in an enlarger... but does it look exactly like *your* filed out carrier? Probably not. Back in art school in the 70's & 80's I saw many different sloppy borders... I kind of like them myself for certain work... though I tend to like them more for MF and LF b&w than 35mm...

Ironically, I'm just on my way out to Michaels to get some black matboard to make a better neg holder for my 4990 and 6x9 negs... and I will oversize it enough for sloppy boarder scans... though really, I generally prefer to just see the image edge (cropped sharp) and not the sloppy frame edge.

Originally Posted by photomoof

It may be manual but it looks all wrong! I "scanned" all my negatives for years using a Leitz glassless holder and this method just looks like an affectation compared to the actual thing.

Sorry...

[mabelsound]

Originally Posted by mh2000

This doesn't make sense, of course this mask is *real*... just as real as a mask/filed carrier in an enlarger...

Exactly. That's the point! I can look at the result and see something I did with my own hands. I don't disagree that it's a kind of affectation, but not every affectation is created equal...part of why I love photography (and music recording, my other hobby) is that it's all about process. This is just a pleasurable addition to my process.

It's easy to forget, in this day and age, that our automated devices can be hacked--that you can get your dirty old flesh and blood self in there and do things a little differently. My mask is no big deal, it's just fun to insinuate oneself into a process meant to be computer-controlled.

[Pherdinand]

some subject fits sloppy borders. Some need proper sharp and straight borders.
It's a gimmick to decide beforehand and apply such a border thing for all one's photograph.
In my humble oppinion.