Unsharp/Contrast Reducing Masks

Often employed in printing landscapes, this technique creates the appearance of sharper edge detail while opening up shadow areas and improving local contrast. The results range from subtle to dramatic improvement. By making a contrast-reducing mask somewhat unsharp, the slight diffusion results in two general effects:

1. Over areas of the finest detail an "average," even tone is recorded on the mask.
   
   
2. Borders of larger tone areas in the mask record as tone changes. When the mask and negative are combined, the overall contrast is reduced, except in the areas of very fine detail, thus allowing the image to be printed at a higher contrast. This increase in edge detail gives the appearance of increased sharpness, visually improving the print's definition.

These masks are made using Ilford FP4+ 4x5 sheet film. They are pin registered with the negative for printing.

The price of a mask is $30. (Price subject to change without notice.)

Masks are available for formats ranging from 35mm to 4x5.