Sunday Theory

I don't have an fresh image to post for today, but you already knew that from the last post. This is more about process than product, as it is process that defines the outcome of the print. There are a number of methods to scaling a digital negative for printing in hand coated processes. Probably one of the originators of such a method is Dan Burkholder, who has applied his technique and written about it for twenty years now. He is also one of the photographers offering a workshop in connection with Bostick & Sullivan. I respect his methodology and his photographic work.

This isn't about any particular photographer or their methodology. This is about realizing a personal vision as a photographer, how you envision your prints to look. As a photographer and printer I have
my own preferences for how I shape the negative in order to arrive at that 'look'. No need for explanations there. Most of the photographers who might stumble across this blog, feel themselves to be a photographic artist, and stay with it long enough to have built a body of work demonstrating their photographic skills, would be in my opinion the remaining vanguard of black and white photography, in the traditional sense. These are the potential visitors I speak to.

I am honing my skills at visually inspecting a negative and realizing how it will print. And being anywhere near correct. More than once I approached a print using a negative I thought was going to make my heart glad, only to realize another failure far more extreme than I could have imagined. I was still what I call 'calibrated' to a visual density range derived before the addition of spectral density. The density range I was producing probably exceeded Colloidal plate density standards. Not even salt paper with 3% binder and double coating with saturated silver could record the upper densities without totally blackening the bottom half, after very long exposure times. Stunning failure, as I remember it at the time....

The above description of heartache on the road to discovery, is, I believe, part of the personal process of the photographer to shape their printing methods to better realize their photographic vision, through the various historical printing processes. So, back to existing methods for scaling the digital negative, something that will have to be addressed for anyone using digital negatives for printing hand coated processes. If you don't already have your own personal method that is working for you, there are several different methods to choose from. Each method results in a different 'look' to the print. This is not a good or bad, right or wrong thing, but a preferential choice. No different than choosing a method leading to a print that looks like a W. Eugene Smith, or say at Paul Strand. Both excellent photographers and printers. Their prints just don't look the same, which is why they are very recognizable as artists.

If you are already printing and having a ball, then there is little I can add to your experience unless it has to do with a medium you haven't tried out and are curious about. Pretty much the reason I take the time to write these articles. An open discussion, ideally, where ideas, practices and procedures are discussed to general knowledge or perhaps a different slant on the process(es) not already tried. As I said, there are numerous methods of arriving at a printable negative. Some are variations upon the theme. All are globally applied methods. That is, one theoretically "ideal" scaling is saved and later applied to each negative as it passes through. One outcome (tonal range and CI shape) for every printing.

I will mention again, that tonal range and the shape of the contrast index curve are not one and the same. They are two dependent variables intertwined in their actions in adding density to various tonal values, or tonal ranges, respectively. It is possible to have a very long tonal range, lowest density to highest density, and show mostly those two ranges without any middle tone values. It is also possible to have a print image with mostly middle tones, with lots of luxurious textural detail, but little dMax or even Zone 2 or even 3. Both realized a density range sufficient to reach dMax in the print time used, while retaining a Zone 7 somewhere in the print. The difference between the two is the shape of the contrast index curve. The first using direct contrast increases, along with potassium dichromate in the sensitizer to increase contrast, the second using curves to bulge the center densities, then applying spectral density (green). Both work. The prints look nothing alike. It's a choice.

I do not believe in using a global application for shaping a negative because for me it comes down to mood, for the print decision. What mood do I want attached to the image. Each negative for me is a canvas where anything that is going to happen, will take place, and where the goal is manipulating densities to reflect the feel of the final print. Every negative is a unique statement. Each negative has its own evaluation and manipulation to realize this effort. My personal vision for the print is scaling that image to showcase the full range of the tonal scale, proportionately. What I fudge sometimes are the density values that might not otherwise show much textural detail, say, Zones 3 & 7. But that's just me.

I have begun the process of printing a portfolio of southwestern images. Some of the images were captured thirty years ago using my Burke & James 5x7 blat bed view camera. It's actually older than me. The stagecoach image came from a Canon 20D DSLR a few years ago. There will also be images from Jerome, Arizona, and the Mesas in the Sedona Valley.

Here is a sample of an advertised application for scaling digital negatives. I have no knowledge of this product, and I do not advocate for its use. I am posting it to showcase the possibilities available photographers today. The use of the words "LOSSLESS" and"destructive" caught my eye..... This isn't free. This application is $75. I'm just too traditional to go there.

Precision Digital Negatives; http://www.precisiondigitalnegatives.com/
"The unique, patented, Color Density Range Control is a LOSSLESS method of tuning the negative to the requirements of your alternative process—resulting in far less drastic and less destructive adjustment curves.  This system can do things that are impossible with any other system."

 The plan is to spend my Monday in the sweet arms of the darkroom where I hope to print an updated version of "OK Corral" and a few other images from Tombstone. Well, that's the plan.