Until my printing paper order arrives at my door I am left to talking about photographic process. I had hoped to post the results of the newly printed negative that PJ created for me yesterday morning. Perhaps yesterday's foray to find Platine paper was a prophetic moment, because soon, I will have a newer brand of printing paper made specifically for alternative hand coated processes, and having all the attributes of Platine paper, at less than half the cost. That's worth the wait. Bostick & Sullivan gets orders to my door rather quickly, being their proximity to me is a short day's drive, in western measurements.
The post yesterday was on the digital negative designed for printing in silver, or Pt/Pd. The scale necessary for accomplishing that. The addition of spectral density to the negative is used as a printing time retardant, only. Adding a green tone to a negative image, utilizing a adjustment layer is a "global" action. That green color is evenly spread out over the entire negative image, thus, the affect is simply demanding more print time. There is no discernible variation to any tonal range over another during printing. That variable has to do with the density range, the density difference between the blackest area of the print, Zone 1, and pure blank white, Zone 8.
That has been the lesson PJ and I have been working through. For our purposes, the green spectral density we are adding to the negative is necessary due to the Solar Printer we are using for printing. It is putting out enough UV intensity to print in a salt paper print in under 4 minutes, when that negative printed in direct sunlight for 14 minutes. You get the point. Not easy controlling the printing in that short a print time. Especially in gum. The green spectral density retards the print time approximately ten minutes, and that is the print time we are working towards. The second variable concerning the density range has almost been worked out, with the last two test prints demonstrated. dMax was reached with the highlights just filling in Zone 7 (white with full texture), under 15 minutes. Now the fine tuning begins.
What is unknown, yet, is how this newest negative is going to print out. PJ was able to separate tonal regions in the negative and manipulate those densities exclusively, separating that density region from surrounding densities, increasing the tonal separation of the image. It was also noted, by PJ, who can actually see green in subtle shades, that as these density regions were being manipulated as a density, the spectral green of that region also seemed to darken or lighten with the changes in density. First of all, the image being discussed had just been altered to a "black and white" in Photoshop. From where came the menu offering slider controls for all the hue levels, of a black and white image. And secondly, even I could see the green spectral density of the image throughout the procedure, of a black and white negative. Yes, I am confused of this issue. One of the best reasons I have for not working within the digital framework of photography. However that process works, it will be revisited often with all future negatives should this test negative print as predicted by the virtue of its characteristics.
The same basic procedural rules for printing negatives will be used for the upcoming gum printing, with exception to density range. For gum printing, any standard density negative that would print well in a silver gelatin print, would work for a gum print. That being said, there are advantages to a 'bright' negative in gum printing. As with printing in any medium, the printer chooses a density range that best displays the image in its best form, or as Edward Weston put it, "the strongest way of seeing". That could mean a full density range leaving the dMax black all the way up to a crisp paper base white, a la Ansel Adams, or, a four tonal range print in soft light for specific effect. That is the printer's choice. How do you want the final print to look. No one else has a clue of the printer's intention even while looking at the print. The viewer may not like the print image, but have little choice but to accept that the printer wanted the image to look the way it does, right in front of their eyes.
Speaking for myself, I keep two sets of digital negatives, in two notebooks with clear sleeves, as well as digitally in two folder systems; silver/palladium and gum. What is in common is the use of spectral density to the negative as print time retardant. The density scaling will be conformed to best printing for each process, respectively. I like tweaking a standard scaled negative just a bit to pull out the middle tone textures, and 'brighten' the upper tones so they are at least a half tone density above middle tones. Even in gum printing, there are advantages to that practice. It could be said, that a negative that prints well in silver gel prints well in gum. It could also be said just as judiciously that a negative that prints well in hand coated silver will print well in gum. The print times would be exaggerated, but every density range would print in. What would change, is the visual appearance of the image. Such scaling for gum printing would of course alter the image in ways that aren't easily explained theoretically.
The image below was captured using the same old Burke & James flatbed view camera, and developed for printing in salted silver, although an earlier negative, before I stretched that density curve out much further, later on. Having scanned the image, I am now able to digitally create two negatives, scaled for different printing mediums. Just as I kept negatives in black and white film, I keep digital negatives, beginning with the master, a RAW digital image. That is kept in a marked file folder, and from there another folder keeps the .tif file negative images after being prepared for their specific printing purpose, respectively; silver and gum. This image will likely see both.
Salted Silver Print ~ "Arizona Desert View"
1986 ~ 5"x7" ~ Unique
Upper Sonoran Desert, Arizona
No comments:
Post a Comment