Testing and more Testing

Testing continues with silver printing using digital negatives. Some very interesting things are beginning to become evident. For my tastes, the digital negative has yet to show itself to be as smooth or continuous toned as chemically developed negatives. This shows up mostly in the middle tones where the texture is most evident.

I would also like to comment on the concept of increased density range of a digital negative. There is more than one means of attaining increased density of a negative, being the work is produced digitally through software such as Photoshop, Lightroom, or Corel Paintshop Photo Pro, which I use instead of Photoshop. I will be using the 'Curves' method here, being it is the method that Dan Burkholder and Peter Mrhar deal with it in their writings. Just know there are others avenues.

When you bring up the 'Curves' function, it begins as a straight line, representing the Contrast Index curve as seen on any D Log E curve, which represents the increased density range of a negative from the thinnest (Zone I) at the "toe" of the curve, all the way to the "shoulder" of the curve, which represents (Zone VIII). I still use the Roman numeral version.... To increase the densities of the middle tones, the line is moved 'up' from the straight line portion. To do this, place the cursor on the line just above the lowest point of the line, and again near the top of the line, equidistant as the bottom one. Then by pulling the line up in the middle, you will see the line bulging up as you pull it upwards. Not the best explanation for this maneuver, but if you use Photoshop or Paintshop you will grasp what I'm saying.

Diagram of the Contrast Index Curves; increasing densities by moving the CI curve upward;
Top chart represents Dan Burkholder's method of increasing the density range. Bottom chart represents the method I am currently applying for increased density range.

Notice the base lines of the two Contrast Index Curves. The top one represents the curve of the positive image as scanned, or represented digitally from the original image. As per Dan Burkholder, the dotted line is the result of the increased densities by move the cure into that position. Also notice that what remains in the original position is the top density; Zone 8. That doesn't get moved with the rest of the densities. To compensate for that lower density, compared to the rest of the increased densities along the line, he utilizes "spectral" density, using the color green, applied to a adjustment 'color' layer to tint the image after the curve density increase, and then reversing the image to a negative.

The primary problem with printing digital negatives has been reaching sufficient ink density to block light sufficiently to retain white in the print. Of all the colors, green is the one that blocks light the best. More on that later. The reason for two charts is simply to compare Burkholder's methodology to my own original approach to the process. Top Chart represents Burkholder's method. The lower chart represents a bit different approach. When comparing the two, although they look pretty similar, notice the lower curve line is more vertical. The more vertical the contrast index line, the more contrasty the negative image.

Burkholder's curve line has greatly increased middle tones, but to also increase the top tonal ranges, representing the whites in the image, he then applies the green color to the negative to retard the UV light which then increases contrast sufficiently to keep the whites from printing in too early. The lower contrast index line is actually more contrasty to begin with, and the top densities representing the whites; Zone 7 & Zone 8, which have also been increased proportionally with the rest of the densities. I accomplished this somewhat in reverse of Burkholder's procedure.

First thing I did was reverse the image to it's negative form. In Lightroom, I used the four control slides for the image; *Highlights, Shadows, Whites, Black. I go the the shadows first as that will control the densities in Zone 3, shadow detail, then the Black slide to separate the densities below Zone 3 for a deep black (reducing the densities therein), then go to the Highlights & Whites, which represents the upper densities and pure whites, and make those densities good and black. This method is the "inspection" method. There is nothing mathematically sound or analytically correct about this method, just intuitive body knowing sort of work.

What I am finding is that the 'truism' that one cannot reach sufficient density in a digital negative to print in silver or platinum/palladium without using spectral density is not completely true. The method used by Burkholder works, well. He's been doing this for twenty years. However, one can go around this by my method as well, with the advantage of not needing said spectral density by applying green color on an adjustment layer. The tests I'm conducting now have demonstrated that I have exceeded the density range needed for a good hand coated silver print. Dan's method does not move the density of the top tonal ranges; Zone 7 & Zone 8. My method moves the entire curve upward, proportionally to all densities.

I will of course be revisiting this subject often as I progress with the testing until I arrive at a negative method that prints as intended. The image below represents where I am headed, with printing in silver using digital negatives. A full range of tonal values, with texture and detail, as well as a good black. When I arrive at this goal you will be the first to see the results.

Salted Silver Print ~ (Salt Paper Print) "The Orchard"

1986 ~ 5x7 Unique 

Eugene, Oregon

Choices for your Photo Chemistry ~ Negative Density for Silver Printing

In the last post I brought up view camera photographers who remain with film, and marrying that with enlarged digital negatives for contacting printing. That process can be said to be the centerpiece of this blog. That is not to say 35mm or 2 1/4 film enthusiasts aren't invited, or our newer brethren of digital photographers. The point of the process is ending up with a printable negative of the desired size for contact printing. For the purpose of printing with silver or platinum/palladium, standard negatives, as in density range, do not print well, to say the least. I will be referring to silver when discussing density range, as if the negative is sufficient to print in silver it will print well in platinum/palladium.

To arrive at a density range sufficient for printing on silver, the negative needs to be somewhere in the range of 50% more dense than a negative one uses in enlargers. Densitometrically speaking that would be in the range of Log E 1.2 to 1.8. The density scale is logarithmic, so a difference from a standard Log E .55 to .75 (projection enlarger densities~condenser and cold light head, respectively) is significant. Negatives of that density range wouldn't print on standard bromide papers. I will be covering the subject of density range quite a bit, being it has everything to do with the outcome of the print. The same principle applies to hand coated printing as projection enlargement printing. In order for a fully realized print, full range deep black to crisp whites, without suppressing the middle tones, the negative has to matched to the paper being printed on. Same with hand coated printing.

Considering I am advocating film and developing said resultant negatives, I will make the case here that buying and using prepackaged chemistry is a mistake, for two reasons. First, today's films do not require an M/Q developer, and secondly, the cost to do so is wasteful. I'm going to assume anyone dealing with view cameras and film, they also, mostly likely, have a space dedicated for their craft. If you tear open a chemical bag to develop your negatives, think Bisquick. Prepackaged flour, baking powder and salt. How much harder is it to take ingredients from three containers and mix them into water, than tearing open said bag?

A quick check shows a bag of D76 to mix 1 liter costs $5 If you are developing sheet film, that adds up quickly. Mixing your own negative developer not only saves you a lot of money over time, but allows you to make more than one very usable formulas. The better explanation will come at a later time as the subject isn't terribly difficult, but needs context to be useful or make sense. There is a negative formula I used for years that in my book is the best all around general formula I ever used. It is over a hundred years old, before M/Q developers, one of the things that needs to be explained.

The short version is that the Q stands for Hydroquinone, a reducing agent (developer) used in conjunction with the M, Metol. Metal is slower acting but longer lasting, while hydroquinone is more volatile in action but shorter lived. When combined the two create what is referred to a 'superadditivity', sort of the Gestalt effect; the result being more than the sum of its parts. I will tell you that hydroquinone is not needed for negative development. It has great use when printing silver gelatin prints though.

That quick check also shows at today's prices one can invest $30 in three chemicals to produce 20 liters of developer, formulated to be used 1:10. Any idea how many rolls of film that is or how many sheets of film that develops? Those three chemicals include Metol, Sodium Sulfite and Sodium Carbonate. Reducer, Preservative and Accelerator. No Restrainer is necessary. The formula I speak of is Beutler 105. It is a semi-compensating developer that has a great shelf life, with a standard developing ratio of 1:10 for 8 minutes (ISO 125). Another very good formula can also be mixed from just two of these chemicals. I will get into that as well as characteristics for explaining what a semi-compensating developer is and does, later.

I will also get into how to do simple density testing in order to match the densities to the silver being used, as one can print using 10% silver solution or 12%. The images I am showing from my old portfolio were all printed a saturated silver solution of 13%, on two healthy coats of that silver solution onto the paper. One of the premier papers to use for hand coated prints is Arches Platine 100% Rag paper. It was the first paper created exclusively for platinum printing. The negatives I used for that portfolio are grouped around the Log E 1.2 density range.

Last word on the chemistry for now, hopefully not a shameless plug, that all the above information and a whole lot more is in my book Alchemist's Guide; to Black & White Photo Chemistry, in which I cover the negative and the process as it takes place in development, the chemistry and formulas as well as conversion tables. I kept it short as a useful primer or lab book. I copied all the formulas at the end of the book for easy reference in a lab setting. Just an FYI. To check it out, click on the book on the right side of the page.

Salted Silver Print ~ "Florence Bay"
1986 ~ 5x7 Unique
Florence, Oregon

View Camera Work

It has been some time since I carried my 5x7 view camera into the field for filming. Included in the arsenal is also the array of supporting gear necessary for a day of filming; dark cloth, cut film holders, hand meter, extra lenses (if you're lucky) and other self-supportive 'stuff' a photographer feels necessary for the work ahead. When I did carry such equipment around, even at that time, some thirty plus years ago, I was an anomaly. As were the two other photographers who ventured forth carrying their own bag of equipment.

The technological advancements in photography continued drive the majority of photographers to embrace the latest most modern advancement. Speaking for myself, it seems the primary advantage of the advancements has to do with convenience and simplicity for the user. As in automated. There are excellent advantages to this commercially speaking. As an Event Photographer for ten years I can attest to the wonderfulness of digital photography, commercially, as opposed to film, with the added darkroom time even before showing anything to a client. Today, all that can be accomplished in short order then uploaded to wherever you want said images to be seen or reviewed. But we aren't here for commercial photographic insights or advice. We're dealing with Art on this blog.

There is no reason nor need for me to tell view camera shooters to keep their camera(s) in hand and stick to film. That would only insight them to rebellion. Just know I'm with you on this, even in today's world of techno-digital photography. There are advantages to the view camera, none of which I need remind said camera users. What has changed, obviously, has been the addition of digital negatives, and that means a photographer wielding a 4x5 no longer has to print only in 4x5 when contact printing. The advantage of hand coated printing is simply that there is no longer a need for an enlarger, the major component of any functioning darkroom where printing silver gelatin is the aim.
All one needs now is a dark space to develop sheet film. The next step is scanning the negative for enlarging to whatever print size desired.

I of course did not think of this first.... There is some excellent material available on this subject, most notably Dan Burkholder, who appears the voice of/for understanding and creating digital negatives. I have begun practicing this avenue after I came to realize that digital photography was excellent for commercial work but left me unsatisfied when applying it as Art. I have spoken of those reasons in more detail in the past but suffice it to say, for me, it just isn't my medium.

One of the problems with scanning a hand coated print, or filming it digitally, is simply that the rich depth and the textural quality of a hand coated print simply cannot be replicated and enjoyed. If you have seen first hand master prints, then digital reproductions of them, knows exactly what I am saying. No attempt at being snooty or condescending on this issue. Just a simple fact. Scanning a negative for digital reproduction is similar, although without the same outcome. When a negative is chemically developed it is a 'continuous tone' image. When you print a digital negative it is not. The digital image is made up of tiny droplets sprayed from very small nozzles, some as small as one picoleter. In essence, a Giclée on clear acetate. The droplets are small enough and the 300 dots per inch the printer utilizes creates a very good illusion of a continuous tone negative.

At some point I will bring up Dan Burkholder's system for printing digital negatives for hand coated processes, but for now I want to keep the focus on the 'system' available the photographer today, which is simply marrying the new technology to accommodate a traditional practice. You can still use your view camera of whatever format, and realize a printing negative of 8x10, 11x14 or larger. Of course, this means you either need to have a computer, and scanner, as well as the software to do the digital work. Or, find someone who has such digital means and work out a relationship whereupon you can have your negatives scanned and turned into a proper digital negative. For now, that is the route I am having to take until I have all elements in place and under my control.

I would also mention at this time that for this to work, there is also the beginning act of developing the original negative out of said view camera. As mentioned earlier, any darkroom space whereupon the photographer can develop the negatives. Tray development isn't the only route, as there are developing tanks for sheet film, more easily found in the 4x5 format. Thereby aiding in the development in the dark thing. Just an FYI.

I leave this sample of an image I shot almost exactly thirty years ago this month. I was living in Eugene, Oregon at the time, visiting family in Arizona. I had my 5x7 with me and took it to Jerome hoping for some memorable images to take back with me. Jerome is an old haunt of mine, having lived there too many years ago to want to mention. Before it became the national icon it is today. Paul & Jerry's is an icon of its own, right there on main street, right across from the historical Spirit Room bar. I still have close friends living there at the time, one of which is in the image. I sat at a table more towards the back of the bar at a table, with my camera set up on a tripod, at sitting height. Without anyone knowing what I was doing I was able to meter the scene, set up the shot under the dark cloth and click off a shot without turning a single head. I was pretty proud of that. The resultant image was printed as a salted silver; (salt paper print). The image is un-toned at this time, being it is an original print from long ago. I will be printing this image again using an 8x10 digital negative, and will be toned originally in Gold Toner, with the plan for toning in platinum/palladium, when I can afford such luxury.

*Note on print; The shot is 'into the light' or back lit with very high contrast between the light through the window to the end of the bar to the left. I used a semi-compensating formula for development, with a N-1 compaction during development to even out the densities. I also favored shooting/developing towards the shoulder of the contrast index curve which helped immensely in evening out the high contrast differences. FYI, this practice is explained in "Alchemist's Guide".

Salted Silver Print ~ "Paul & Jerry's Saloon"
1986 ~ 5x7 Unique
Jerome, Arizona

Image "color" in Hand Coated Silver Images

As I have brought up too many times to count, there are numerous variables involved with influencing the outcome of any hand coated silver print. There are cross-variables, between mediums, such as between a salted paper print (I refer to them as salted silver prints) and a Kallitype, or Van Dyke Brown. All three of these mediums are silver prints, each utilizing a different 'binder'. The binder is the iron component of the chemical makeup that when combined with a silver solution become sensitive to UV light, thereby ultimately reducing the silver halide solution into the resultant metallic silver form on the printing paper. The black part of the image is reflecting pure metallic silver.

A quick overview of those three mediums shows each are very similar. The Van Dyke Brown uses Ferric Ammonium Citrate as its iron binder. (* Ferric Ammonium Citrate is the developing ingredient for platinum/palladium printing) The Kallitype used Ferric Ammonium Oxalate as the  iron binder. The Salted Silver print used sodium chloride (table salt) as the binding agent. There are visual similarities to these three image types. They tend to be of the 'brown' stripe, although by varying the developing agent in the Kallitype, the print image can vary from purplish to reddish of the Sepia variety, to brown as well as black. The more technical aspect of these differences is not something I will get into here. That is laid out in more detail on my blog {G.M. Handgis Photography/blogspot)

The examples of hand coated silver prints I have been posting are all salted silver prints. To be more specific, the negatives have a density range of Log E 1.2 (with exceptions like the Sailboat), printed on Canson White paper, using two generous layers of saturated silver solution (13%), printed in north light at approximately 15-20 lumens, then fixed. They have not been toned. At this time, all prints I make now will be toned, using either gold toner or platinum/palladium, and then most likely mostly the palladium variety. Those two metals have skyrocketed in price with the continued speculation in precious metals market. Just so you know, both platinum and palladium salts have increased 30% since I began blogging on photography a few months ago.

Salted Silver Print ~ "Oregon Reservoir"
1987 ~ 5x7 Unique (private collection)
Oregon

New Site ~ New Post

I want to thank those brave individuals who have made their way past the technical issues I've been wrestling with, to reach the new and final blog for my photographic pursuits. An IT guy I am not. There remain some interesting issues for me to learn about and hopefully resolve, but for now the primary focus is continuing the discussion and coverage of historical hand coated photographic processes. Thanks for your patience.

Grant

The Range of Photographic Possibilities

I believe ever young photographer desiring to create photographic Art, has a mentor. Not in the sense of copying the inherent work of the mentor, but emulating the course and direction of the photographer. Mine was Alfred Stieglitz. My photographer friends had their own, one being Ansel Adams and his Zone System, another was Edward Weston and his Day Books. Each avenue defined what the photographer was seeking, the direction they wanted their work to evolve. Alfred Stieglitz's legacy had to do with the 'approach' to photographic fine Art.

Within the umbrella of styles and print mediums available traditional photographic printing and practice, remains defining characteristics of what constitutes Art. Ergo, reflectively it also defines that which is not Art. Yin & Yang and all that. For Alfred, the angst of the time was the technological advance of the 'automatic camera', aka Kodak's hand held roll film camera one took with them on bicycling club tours to take snaps, then send in the camera and have the film developed and prints made before being sent back. Sound familiar? It wasn't so much the technology that annoyed him, it was that the prints being sent back were then hung on salon walls and sold as.... wait for it.... Art.

Technology hasn't slowed down, and for anyone paying attention it has sped up, exponentially, with the recurrence of the 'automatic' camera, beginning with roll film, then progressing to digital 'throw away' cameras, left on tables at weddings and other large social gatherings. Not that I'm ranting, but that unfolded while I was being paid as an event photographer. That service went the way of black smiths when Henry showed up. That advancement didn't do professional event photographers any favors but the advent of digital imagery has offered up a very nice gift for Art photographers who practice printing hand coated processes. Finally, that'd be me, now.

My interest with this page is offering a look at the historical aspect of black and white photography in general, the progressions made over the years, as well as examples of hand coated processes. Sometimes even silver gelatin printing, which has a long history of acceptance as collectable Art. To this day, black and white photographs have been exhibited and collected. Although the slice of this crowd is thin, it is loyal, and rewarding for the serious photographer who endeavors to offer quality images in traditional formats.

One of my disappointments with so many photographers, especially of today, is selling their photographic “artwork” in 'open additions'. But that's just me apparently. Thirty years ago I owned a gallery, representing thirteen accomplished photographers, five printing with platinum/palladium. No piece of 'Art' hung there was in open editions. Every piece of artwork that left that gallery had a certificate of authenticity accompanying it. I did not perceive of those images as black and white “pictures”, more copied posters. None of the limited editions exceeded 25 prints.

 My expectations of a photographer I represented were certainly higher than I see elsewhere. Certainly back then. Expectations would include length of time as a photographer, with reciprocally a body of work to demonstrate one's printing abilities, as well as consistency in print and image quality. Basic understanding and mastery of the craft. Someone with a year's experience and a half dozen mediocre prints to show, would not quality as such. That describes an 'early' or 'young' photographer, and there is nothing at all wrong with that. Just not to consider someone who has learned the basics of a craft posing as a master of the craft, or even competent. Would one pay high concert prices to listen to a person or group entertain you with their music, having first begun playing a year ago?

I began photographing interesting places, and people when John F. Kennedy was president. I've seen a lot of changes, socially and photographically. What remains constant throughout is the timelessness of black and white photography, in its various mediums, and the processes that create the final prints. I will be discussing two facets of the new technology of digital imagery, the digital print, and the digital negative. Both are having a definite influence on the pubic, and the photographers. The two halves of the whole. More on that next.

The "Art" part of Black & White Photography

I believe ever young photographer desiring to create photographic Art, has a mentor. Not in the sense of copying the inherent work of the mentor, but emulating the course and direction of the photographer. Mine was Alfred Stieglitz. My photographer friends had their own, one being Ansel Adams and his Zone System, another was Edward Weston and his Day Books. Each avenue defined what the photographer was seeking, the direction they wanted their work to evolve. Alfred Stieglitz's legacy had to do with the 'approach' to photographic fine Art.

Within the umbrella of styles and print mediums available traditional photographic printing and practice, remains defining characteristics of what constitutes Art. Ergo, reflectively it also defines that which is not Art. Yin & Yang and all that. For Alfred, the angst of the time was the technological advance of the 'automatic camera', aka Kodak's hand held roll film camera one took with them on bicycling club tours to take snaps, then send in the camera and have the film developed and prints made before being sent back. Sound familiar? It wasn't so much the technology that annoyed him, it was that the prints being sent back were then hung on salon walls and sold as.... wait for it.... Art.

Technology hasn't slowed down, and for anyone paying attention it has sped up, exponentially, with the recurrence of the 'automatic' camera, beginning with roll film, then progressing to digital 'throw away' cameras, left on tables at weddings and other large social gatherings. Not that I'm ranting, but that unfolded while I was being paid as an event photographer. That service went the way of black smiths when Henry showed up. That advancement didn't do professional event photographers any favors but the advent of digital imagery has offered up a very nice gift for Art photographers who practice printing hand coated processes. Finally, that'd be me, now.

My interest with this page is offering a look at the historical aspect of black and white photography in general, the progressions made over the years, as well as examples of hand coated processes. Sometimes even silver gelatin printing, which has a long history of acceptance as collectable Art. To this day, black and white photographs have been exhibited and collected. Although the slice of this crowd is thin, it is loyal, and rewarding for the serious photographer who endeavors to offer quality images in traditional formats.

One of my disappointments with so many photographers, especially of today, is selling their photographic “artwork” in 'open additions'. But that's just me apparently. Thirty years ago I owned a gallery, representing thirteen accomplished photographers, five printing with platinum/palladium. No piece of 'Art' hung there was in open editions. Every piece of artwork that left that gallery had a certificate of authenticity accompanying it. I did not perceive of those images as black and white “pictures”, more copied posters. None of the limited editions exceeded 25 prints.

 My expectations of a photographer I represented were certainly higher than I see elsewhere. Certainly back then. Expectations would include length of time as a photographer, with reciprocally a body of work to demonstrate one's printing abilities, as well as consistency in print and image quality. Basic understanding and mastery of the craft. Someone with a year's experience and a half dozen mediocre prints to show, would not quality as such. That describes an 'early' or 'young' photographer, and there is nothing at all wrong with that. Just not to consider someone who has learned the basics of a craft posing as a master of the craft, or even competent. Would one pay high concert prices to listen to a person or group entertain you with their music, having first begun playing a year ago?

I began photographing interesting places, and people when John F. Kennedy was president. I've seen a lot of changes, socially and photographically. What remains constant throughout is the timelessness of black and white photography, in its various mediums, and the processes that create the final prints. I will be discussing two facets of the new technology of digital imagery, the digital print, and the digital negative. Both are having a definite influence on the pubic, and the photographers. The two halves of the whole. More on that next.

Hand Coated Silver Printing ~ (Salted Paper Print)

I have begun the blog with gum printing, but will be adding other processes with time. For now, those discussions will deal with the use of silver (nitrate), coupled with different salt or iron binders to create silver prints. The two I will be dealing with include Salted Silver (Salt Paper) and Kallitype printmaking. I use the term printmaking as it denotes the hands on print-making of historical reference. Not mechanical reproductions of images, all but totally handled and controlled through chemical and printing out processes. I say all but totally, if one considers the use of the modern digital negative as part of the process. With negative in hand, the rest of the process is all done by hand.

Besides the variations in the look of the final print, the primary difference between the noble metal used in the print is longevity, or viable archival life of the print. Silver is a noble metal, although not as noble as gold or palladium & platinum. Silver is said to have a wall life (exhibition) of somewhere between 100-150 years, and perhaps a couple hundred years of the print is out of direct UV light, say, in an album. Gold is used to tone silver prints, with some formulas having the gold coat the silver, others actually replacing the silver with gold, thereby extending the print life another hundred years. Platinum & palladium are the noblest of metals, with a life of around 500 years, perhaps more. Gum prints, on the other hand, would have a lifespan of 1000 years, perhaps more, depending on the quality of pigment used, and amount of direct UV light on the print over it's lifespan. For collectors, that can make a big difference in a print choice.

When I began printing hand coated silver prints thirty years ago, about the only source available at the time was "The Keepers of Light", published in 1979, a scant four years before I began learning the process. I began with the simplest, and cheapest form, which is the 'salt paper' print. Called that due to a literal translation of the process, soaking the paper in a solution of table salt, then drying and applying a coat of silver solution, then printing through a negative using UV light. That's the simple explanation. The particulars are important of course if you are to actually try it out.

To keep this post short enough to read in one sitting.... I will leave a sample what a Salted Silver print might look like. This image is a straight out salted silver print, no toning. After thirty years, and now printing in the 8x10 format, it is unlikely I will tone the fifteen prints I still have from that early portfolio. I will be printing that image, as well as any others in Platinum/Palladium from now on. Back in the day, I was also a single parent, and platinum wasn't something that fit in the budget. Unfortunately, this image is a digital photograph of an original print, which is a poor example, but for now the only means of conveying the image to post.

"Sailboat on Canal" ~ Salted Silver ~ 5"x7" Unique

Final Gum Print from Old Portfolio

One more gum print from the old portfolio, the last print I made at that time, circa 1987. This one was printed as all the others, using a paper negative. I found the RC coated stock to be the best for negative use, being the prints didn't wrinkle, with the image surface very smooth with the gloss coating. The pre-cut 5x7 sheets also made loading the sheets into the cut film holders easily. Standard grade-2 paper came out to be approximately ASA 6. Now that would be ISO 6, but same difference. I also used an inexpensive enlarging lens fitted to the lens board as I couldn't afford a lens with a shutter for a format camera at that time. I just needed to shoot at around 3-6 seconds to pull off a refitted chemical jar lid working as a lens cap. Things worked swimmingly. I got excellent images that would contact print beautifully on another sheet of silver gelatin paper, or for gum dichromate printing, which is mostly what I used the negatives for.

Gum prints can be printed using any standard negative made for projection enlargement. The contrast index or density range, would be somewhere between 5.5 and 7.5 to accommodate for a condenser head or cold light head projection light. The denser negatives for the cold light head. The denser negatives would also be well served in the gum process, for better tonal separation and increased texture and detail. Even with numerous coats on a print, if the density range isn't long enough, the colors register from each layer, yet it remains extremely difficult to arrive at sufficient tonal separation to truly show details and textures on things.

Below is the last gum print I made in the eighties It was made using a paper negative shot in a Burke & James 5"x7" wooden flatbed view camera, using Kodak grade-2 coated RC paper; 5x7 pre-cut. the image is thirteen layers of color coatings using watercolors suspended in the gum Arabic. The sensitizer used was potassium dichromate; saturated solution 13%;
This image is from a digital camera shooting the original print. The downside is you will also be seeing the paper texture against the image. I will be reprinting this image to 8x10, perhaps larger after that, but I will be using a digital negative this time around, and the differences will the striking.

Gum Dichromate; "A Quiet Pond" ~ 1987 ~ 5"x7"Unique

Sample ~ Gum over Salted Silver Print

The images I have to show at this time are those from work that is left over from portfolios printed thirty years ago. A time when I had a fine art photographic gallery, exhibiting the work of thirteen Pacific Northwest photographers. Five of them platinum/Palladium printers. What has transpired in those thirty years is the technology allowing a photographer to use any digital image, for printing as a negative on acetate. It is this technology that has allowed me to return to contact printing hand coated papers once again.

For now, that format is 8"x10", as it would have been the preferred image size when photography first employed Kallitypes, Albumen, Salted Paper and Gum Bichromate processes as Art. By the time Alfred Stieglitz and the Secessionists movement, photography had become an acceptable form of collectable Art. That took many years and a great deal of innovation and invention. Technology has once again altered the calculus of print making. An example being that when I have mastered the 8x10 printing in Platinum/Palladium, and gum dichromate, respectively. I will be scaling the print size up to 11"x14", and perhaps thereafter, to 16"x20". That is the advantage of today's printing capacity for negatives on digital images.

An example of a combination of gum dichromate color layers over a salted silver print. An example of a four color (CYMK) printing method, subtractive color theory used in watercolors. A gum print is basically a photographic watercolor. This print was digitally photographed. The texture, or 'tooth' of the paper can be seen, one of the things I liked that about hand coated printing at the time. At that time, it was a way of creating texture and detail into a gum print, which would otherwise look more like patches of color, as in a silhouette of an image. This print, as other gums I printed at the time were all done with paper negatives.

The only Gum Dichromate over Salted Silver print I have left.
1986 ~ 5"x7" Unique ~ "The Lighthouse" ~ Printed on Canson white archival paper

More Progress on Printing

The progress towards the hand coated printing continues, although with alterations, along with a new trajectory. For now, the only outlet for printing is almost an hour away from my home, which makes for a miserable drive through heavy local surface traffic just to reach said destination. Being that would be intolerable over any period of time, I will be converting my current workshop into a printing room. That, of course, is huge, for me. Step into my back yard and into a custom printing room, with UV printing box and air-conditioning. In the desert, the air-conditioning part is rather vital.

The second most excellent portion of the renewed printing is the success of mating modern high resolution printers with acetate printing to enlarged negatives. That much huger for hand coating printers. No more carrying large field cameras around, with all the attendant equipment needed. An earlier example of the digital negative was of a gum-dichromate print I made from a digital negative, taking the gum-printed image to new heights, realizing texture and detail in the print. The slightly more difficult task of replicating a digital negative for use printing in other historical processes of Salted Silver, Kallitype, Platinum/Palladium and others, necessitates a negative with a much higher density range, such that the only means of doing that with digital printers, is to utilize 'spectral density' in the negative. Spectral density has to do with using a color added to the negative, which holds back light passing through the negative densities, replicating otherwise black opacity normally seen on a film negative. That color tends to be green. A red color on a negative, does the opposite, increasing the rate of darkening on the print material, at a very fast rate.

For now I continue testing the density ranges of digital negatives using spectral density on silver prints, both Salted Silver and Kallitypes. The reason for this is simply that the density range necessary to arrive at a full scaled silver print, would also print very nicely in Platinum/Palladium. It is much, much cheaper to print in silver, than the more nobler metals, respectively. Once I master the digital negative on silver, it will be time to begin printing in Platinum/Palladium.

The last time I printed in Salted Silver was thirty years ago. I still have a portfolio of Salted Silver prints in 5x7 format. Along with eight or nine gum prints. I leave one image of a salted silver print from that portfolio to show what a salted silver print might look like. This one was shot directly into the sun, which can be seen on the right side, sitting on the horizon. This was to be a 'test' shot to see how much foreground texture might be seen shooting into the sun. The sailboat just happened to appear out of the rushes, putting along, putting up sails, right in front of my shot position. I also got a second shot as it moved up the canal. These are what are referred to as 'gimme' shots. Gifts.

The sample I leave here is from a portfolio of gum prints made thirty years ago. One can quickly see the difference in the texture and detail from this print that reflects what has been expected of a gum, and the more modern print made with a digital negative. This print was made from a paper negative, which does print a gum, just without the finer details and texture that can be achieved.

Gum Dichromate Print ~ 5"x7"
Printed 1986 ~ included in permanent collection: Friendship House, Irkutsk, Siberia from the
1987 Russian/American Photographer's Exchange, through the Eugene/Irkutsk Sister City Committee

Slow Progress

My apologies for the dead spot. I have not lost interest in writing about hand coating processes. I have once again begun printing, after a thirty year hiatus. Life cares little of your best lain plans or your intentions. For me, there was that dead spot inside from not having time nor facility to further printing. Until very recently, when I stumbled upon the darkroom photographers group. The facilities are not the problem for me. It remains the sporadic opportunity to drive entirely across town, for a scant few hours to print when everything lines up for all involved. The drive apart town part is far more disruptive to the constitution than anything else.

I posted an image of "The Flute Player" in an earlier post to show a sample of what gum printing can achieve. As I explained in that post, I stopped the printing where I did as it was a test print and never intended for exhibition, as well as the fact I intentionally pushed the boundaries of printing to see more exactly where said boundaries lay. Now I know. The winning note to the print is the tonal scale. That is the important point to be made. The tonal scale of the negative I used to print that image is beyond the density range that common wisdom dictates. Makes a huge difference in the print.

The arrangement with the darkroom use is predicated upon my teaching the nice gentleman who makes said darkroom available to the group, hand coated processes. As I have mentioned in an earlier post, I do not believe in academic teaching of photographic art. No good has come of that experiment. In taking on a student of the hand coated processes is in my mind the natural path of learning photographic art techniques. The student should select the teacher based upon the student's desire to learn what the teacher has demonstrated through a print portfolio.

We began with the gum print. On the one hand, it is one of the easier mediums to deal with, as far as chemical needs and processing demands. On the other proverbial hand, it is the most difficult to master, as gum printing allows for the most personal expression into the printing process. No other photographic medium allows for as much personal interpretation as gum printing. Period. Whereas printing with precious metals, or other light sensitive chemicals of the hand coating family, each has some leeway towards the final print. However, what remains constant, is the actual process itself. Get that out of kilter and it shows up in the print. The order of the printing process is not open for rearranging. What controls there are has to do with print color or tonality, depth and density range. In gum printing, there are few controls for ordering a print arrangement, color choice each layer, order of the color layer, print time, float time, gum viscosity and other more subtle variables. The outcome of the print is entirely the choices made by the printer.

Having just begun this endeavor, it remains in the very early stages of application. I am currently working on adapting a workshop into a printing room, getting water and drain line hooked up, UV light printing frame made up and other awesome things ahead. I will be taking snaps of things as they come on line or apply to a blog subject. Once I have had more time for testing, all of which will take place at the nice darkroom across town, I will begin writing about and posting images of the salted silver and Kallitype printing processes, both of which I am actively working with. Once I am able to replicate the prints exhibition quality each time for each silver process, I will begin to tone them in platinum/palladium, thereby turning them into platinum/palladium prints. The nobler metal salts, platinum/palladium, replace the silver salts of the print, thereby making them pt/pd prints. That increases their archival quality and viewing life from somewhere between 100-200 years to 500 years or more. That is worth writing about.

The Gum Print

My current situation being what it is, my printing opportunities are inconsistent and sporadic. I use someone else's darkroom, which I am grateful for, yet the times when it is a week or more in between print sessions, well, as Buddhists say, wanting is pain.

The darkroom arrangement has to do with a nice gentleman known as PJ, who makes available a large darkroom with five enlarger stations set up to anyone involved in his darkroom photographers group. Nice people too. PJ is interested in learning more about black and white photo chemistry, as a well as hand coated processes. I am obliging him, teaching him about gum printing.

There are several reasons I chose gum printing as a one on one teaching arrangement. First, I do not believe in photographic art being taught academically classroom style. Photojournalism, event photography, commercial photography or sports photography can all be taught classroom style. In my mind, once you cross over into the world of Fine Art, in my view, it should be taught mentor to student, with the student picking a photographer who's work they admire and want to learn how to do that process. It is passed down, as Art has historically been done for centuries. But that's me.

The more direct reason I chose this medium breaks into two reasons, one being I wanted to put my own hands on this process once again after thirty years. Life having it's own plans for you type of thingy. That's the personal reason, the better reason to cough up is that the gum process is probably the easiest and most chemical free process in photography. It is also the most difficult to master. The gum printing process offers the widest range of personal influence upon the end result, with dozens of choices along the process to be made, each altering the print in some way as well as the end result. One mistake anywhere along the way before final rinse and the print is useless.

It is not the intent of this blog to teach gum printing. That would be boring for the reader and certainly not do anyone any favors. Anyone wanting to grasp the basic gum process merely need google it to enjoy a list of sources to read. Thirty five years ago it is the way I ventured into the process, coming across a volume of The Keepers of Light. A time well before google or the internet. I read the process. I am self-taught. For those that fancy themselves art photographers, the first step is using your curiosity to find an outlet for your creativity.

I would also like to get something out of the way right off the bat. Tradition plays a major role in black and white photography. In today's world of instantaneous digital apparatuses, traditional photography, as in film based photography, holds to what has always worked, with exceptions. Case in point. In gum printing, the light sensitive material first used was a bichromate oxide material in solution. That was when gum printing was first being advanced, around the turn of the twentieth century. That was potassium bichromate. Hence Gum Bichromate print. Bichromate was replaced with potassium Dichromate probably before I was born, but it is still being used today. With exception to me. That irritates the hell out of me. I call them what they actually are, today. Gum Dichromate prints.

Referring back to the above thought about believing in a mentor student arrangement for photographic art, it is even more important for this arrangement when it comes to gum printing. The common wisdom's and old practices of printing gums, technically work, yet in my view undeveloped. Realizing I will sound pompous as hell for this, but for the most part, the gum prints one sees of contemporary printers are very similar to prints one would see from the classical period a century ago, following the dictum that gums just can't show texture and detail in the print, and the tonal range is stunted with dark, muddy colors. That would be a fairly reasonable description of gum prints a century ago, hence the dictum.

I have recently come across two contemporary gum printers showing their work online which have gone beyond the muddy dark print, and even demonstrate a bit of texture and some detail. Just makes your heart feel good seeing good printing being carried on, a century after it was mostly given up. There is a resurgence in hand coated processes in the last few years. Fifteen years after the digital craze rolled over the nation, not just with working photographers, but the general public, and that changed the photographic landscape quickly. Photographing events became difficult to come by. When you leave a throw away digital camera, with flash, on each table of an event, you have fifty photographers shooting photos for you to pick up after the event. Event photographers go begging.

There is more to be said of gum printing in general, as well as aesthetically, which I intend on doing in later posts. I have blogged for years on independent publishing and writing in today's world. I have published eight books under my brand; Brother Coyote Publications. My last book was on black and white film photography and photo chemistry that controls the negative. A very good primer on how to control the gum print as well, being every traditional photographic process is based upon a negative. It is the negative that controls the print. Simple as that. Understand your negative for the process it is intended and enjoy the outcome. More later. Thoughts and questions welcome of course.

Welcome ~ Finally

My thanks to you for landing on this blog and staying long enough to read the material. This is the first post of this new blog, as I have put much time and effort over the past five years blogging on writing, and digital publishing. That's the dicey part of having more than one interest in life. There are times, however, when said interests are combined to satisfy both mediums. I have written on black and white film photography, focusing on the black and white negative, and the basics of photo chemistry that controls most aspects to the outcome of negative development.

It is not the case I blog because I have way too much time on my hands, even being in the retirement mode. I come up with the time to blog because doing so has been beneficial to those who come after me, as independent writers, or black and white photographers learning their craft. If you want to read about writing in general and independent publishing using print on demand platform services, that's the other blog; www.brothercoyotepublications.com It is there you will find the books I have published under my Brother Coyote Publications brand, and the most recent book on black and white photography.

Thirty years ago, photography was all done on film, and chemical developing out methods were used on the negatives and subsequent silver gelatin prints, both in color and in black and white. I worked exclusively in black and white, specializing in that medium, when no one else did, or would. There was a really good reason why I chose this historical path. Truth is, I'm all but color blind in Red and Green. I would not be the go to person to print your color negatives. Having one eye, well, that's another story. I see panchromatic tonalities just fine, and understand how those tonal ranges are related to negative densities, and what that has to do with successfully printing photographic images using historical processes. Not same same printing silver gelatin images using projected enlargement. Hand coated printing processes are way better. But that's just me.

I still have a portfolio of salted silver prints in the 5"x7" format they were shot, from those thirty years ago, as well as a half dozen gum prints left over from that time. I learned even from looking over those prints of long ago. I attribute that to the ensuing years of learning, offering the larger perspective on things, from hindsight. Having very recently come across access to a darkroom facility, my deeper urges to print once again has become unruly enough that I am now printing in two mediums, teaching the nice gentleman who operates the darkroom the processes. We began with the gum dichromate process. Although it is still referred to as the gum bichromate process, it is but historical tradition that continues this practice. The bichromate has long since been replaced with the more sensitive dichromate version, before I was born even, and I'm a great grandfather.

It will be this gum process I will begin with. Printing has begun with my new darkroom friend. I showed him how to build a simple printing frame for gum printing, that allows for correct registration of the print, which is one of the two primary demands of this medium. The other demand being correct contract index & density range of the negative. My friend learned a lot about the density range of the negative on his first test print. Not nearly enough. My first test print will not be an exhibition print because of its flaws. What was to be determined for me was how far the density range can be taken to overcome the inherent drawbacks to gum printing; texture and detail. Gum prints have historically tended to be dark and sort of muddy, with sometimes swirls of color. The primary reason for flat gum prints is flat negatives. Back in the day, I had to rely upon paper negatives for my enlarged gum prints, and that has a limited tonal range. Now, I have the advantage of digital printers printing the negatives, to size and with the aid of Lightroom 4 to enhance and dictate the negative curve. The outcome is nothing short of amazing, in comparison to paper negative gums.

Much can be said about preference and process, and will likely all be said, but for now I just wanted to begin the blog and say hello. I'm posting the first test print of the gum "The Flute Player". The flaws are visually obvious, with the micro-cracking in the darker tonal range. It was the boundary to just how thick one can mix the gum arabic before it begins to crack in a print. This is important. There is a handshake between the thickness of the gum mixture and the paper sizing. This is to keep the watercolors, suspended in the gum arabic solution, from direct contact with the  paper, thereby staining the paper and ending that print. I will be posting the basic procedure and mixing percentages later. For now, here's what a gum looks like with my idea of a negative with the correct contrast index for a gum print.

A New Beginning ~

New post on a new page to replace the page that somehow can no longer be reached, of the same name. This really sets up confusion on the visitor's end, coming to the conclusion that I am far more into playing with blog designs than getting anything done. In order to hopefully correct the problem I have created this final page to combine the postings from the two disparate blogs which make up my efforts thus far. An IT person I am not. Because of this impossible position to sanity, I will be simply re-posting the original posts in the order they were written. For this redundancy and continually changing site page you have my complete apology.