Masking Slides

[hoffy]

I thought I had asked this a while ago, but cannot find the thread.

I have decided to enter some slides in the projected images section of our next photography club night, but a few of them need a touch of masking.

Does anyone have any clues or tips on how to effectively mask slides?

Cheers

[Casey Kidwell]

I always used a piece of glass over a lightbox. Lay down the cut slide (out of mount), then tape the slide slightly past the edges and trim the edges with an Xacto. Gloves help but be careful not to get lent under the tape. Then mount it up and label.

[Steve Roberts]

When I originally needed to mask slides, I had great difficulty finding anything that was totally opaque when faced with a 250W projector bulb. After trying various types of adhesive tape, I even spent some serious money on a roll of 'proper' slide masking tape (about £20 for a small roll) and even that was no good. Eventually the solution that was suggested to me was to use aluminium baking foil. Flatten it straight off the roll, then fold it in two and crease it to give a sharp, straight edge to work with. Using a light box, position the strip of aluminium foil on the film and hold it in place with a couple of small pieces of cine editing tape (which is perfectly clear, not that that matters, but has adhesive that won't ooze when it gets hot). You may, of course, need to move the film relative to the slide mount to keep it central. It's all very fiddly, and any small discrepancy in squareness, etc. will show up ten times worse when projected, so practice on a gash slide first. When you put each piece of foil on with the tape, don't press it down hard until you're sure everything is OK. Be prepared for a lot of small, crumpled up pieces of foil that didn't go on correctly! It's hard work, but worth it in the end. Oh - and if you're dismantling existing mounted slides, make sure you have a new supply of mounts ready.

Steve

[2F/2F]

Are you asking how to make a contrast-reducing mask, or whatever the two posters above are talking about (which sounds like cropping, as opposed to masking)?

[hpulley]

Ahhh... cropping the old fashioned way! I like to cut up pieces of a sacrificial mount and use them as the mask. I tape those pieces in. Use a piece that matches the bevel so you don't get light leakage. You can use plastic glue instead to get a good seal.

[Bob-D659]

When I lived in Cornwall back in the late 60's, aluminum foil and glass mounts was the easiest way to do it.

[Casey Kidwell]

It's specifically "not" cropping. You tape so you can show the full format of your original print. The opaque tape around the image prevents light spillage from projection/scanning and cleans up whatever you happened to have shot your artwork on.