This article appeared in the January/February 2003 issue of PT. To purchase this issue and receive this and other valuable articles in this issue, CLICK HERE: Ship within the U.S. | Ship outside the U.S.

“...never have I found the limits of the photographic potential. Every horizon, upon being reached, reveals another beckoning in the distance. Always, I am on the threshold...”
   — W. Eugene Smith, “Photographs and Quotes,” Aperture, 1969

In 1983, while searching for treasures in the dusty recesses of a used-book store, I came upon a book describing a procedure called dye-dodging. It goes back to film-based photography’s earlier days, when varnishing negatives provided enough “tooth” to film so retouching pencils could be used directly on them. For the purpose of repeatable dodging, dye-dodging provides an alternative to using a pencil on frosted drafting film placed over the negative, a masking technique recently discussed by PT Contributing Editor Howard Bond.

Selective masking and dye-dodging allow easier printing of thinly recorded detail, but like varnishing, dye-dodging doesn’t require a registered intermediate surface with extended printing times. Instead, it masks low-value detail by (get this) painting red dye directly onto the negative.

It’s really not so risky as it sounds. The process is carried out on the base side of the negative. The amount of masking is easily controlled via a gradual build-up of dye. If carried too far, the process can be reversed. Although a registered, intermediate surface may be used to paint on, I’ve never found it necessary. Applying dye directly to the negative has worked for me for 19 years, and I have yet to ruin one! Today, my work rarely includes a negative that hasn’t been dyed sometime along the way to being printed.

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