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