Gilding, part two

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  • #8691
    Festus
    Participant

    I made a really nice dag this afternoon. Probably my best yet. I just gilded it and am not pleased with the results. The darker tones look really good, but the highlights look horrible. My models skin lost all definition. Just looks fake and pasty. Is the gilding step really needed? They look much better without it.

    #8693
    CasedImage
    Keymaster

    Hi Festus, do you have access to a flatbed scanner or can yo take a digtial image of the plate? Posting that here will help with getting good advice as to what’s going wrong

    www.CasedImage.com

    #8697
    Festus
    Participant

    My dags have been contact prints from digital positives. I think I need to reduce contrast a bit more. That should get my highlights a little darker without making everything else TOO dark. The highlights on this one were kinda borderline “too light”. The darker parts of the dag took the gilding very nicely, turning a nice antiquey brown. The highlights just lightened up and lost what little definition they had. They kinda have that solarized look that I’ve seen on some plates, but not as extreme. There were also these little…snowflakes…that appeared within the light areas. I’ll see about getting it posted so everyone can see.

    #8727
    Festus
    Participant

    Here’s the dag that didn’t take the gilding well. The scan is lighter than the actual plate. The darker areas looked perfect. It was just her skin that lightened up and lost all detail.

    #8729
    Festus
    Participant

    Okay. HERE’S the dag that didn’t take the gilding well…I hope?

     

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