Short Scaled Negatives Printed on Silver ~ Palladium

I have no doubt I have made it practically clear that I don't believe every image need be an eight tonal scale print, dMax black to paper base white, each and every time. That is not to say that such printing isn't done, and popular. It just doesn't have to be, to be a good print. I have also brought up Edward Steichen's palladium print of Alfred Stieglitz, its tactile texture and rich depth. That print could be said to have a tonal range of no more than four detectable levels, and it was amazingly beautiful.

That print is part of the permanent collection in the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, Arizona. Along with a number of other palladium and platinum prints in their collection. There is that very visually luscious quality to palladium, or platinum, that I don't reciprocally see in silver, for the most part. My subjective take on it is that silver needs a lot of contrast in the negative to be fully appreciated in the print. Not always. For me, it depends on the image whether a short scaled image works visually, as in pleasing, or, just a sort of flat 'picture'.

Realizing such calls tend to be subjective, there remains the actual characteristics between the two mediums visually. Those prints I found satisfying were the ones that did in fact demonstrate all eight tonal zones. There were only a couple short scale images I had that I felt worked, for their own qualities, respectively. One being a pasture image with a tree in the foreground and the other is the late afternoon river scene below. For me, that worked because it mimicked the late afternoon glow on things in the scene. This image will be in the first portfolio in palladium printed in the new solar printer. This image is an un-toned salted silver print. It is thirty years old. I will later post an image of the 8x10 palladium print I will be making.

Printed using a paper negative; Rated 6 ISO ~ developed in GAF 103

Salted Silver Print ~ "Late Afternoon on the Willamette"
1985 ~ 5"x7" ~ Unique
Eugene, Oregon