Preparations for Palladium Printing

Having completed the Tombstone Portfolio, with twelve prints completed of the eighteen images I have in all, as well as the three finished gum prints, I want to begin printing on palladium, not just tone with it. The end result of each method remains the same, with palladium prints in hand. What I do believe will be visually different when actually printing in palladium, is the textural quality and tonal range of palladium at play.

To begin, I will be printing a series of scenic images I shot while living in Oregon. Rivers, forests and coastal locations. That series is thirty years old now, and the first print of that series is already printed, in Salted Silver, on Canson paper. Reprinting this series will constitute print number two of each image; 2/5. I number my editions based on the image, not the size or medium. There will be five prints to any image series, with exception to the gums, and they are unique; no artist's proof or copies of any kind. That is a subject which brings up much debate among photographers, and always has. Currently I am having my Certificates of Authenticity printed in carbonless triplicates, with each finished, matted print, or framed print having a certificate with it.

First, the palladium preparations. I am currently doing density tests on the film I am using; Arista EDU (ISO 200). Thus far I am not all that enthusiastic about this film. I don't ever bad mouth a product unless it's clearly crap, which this is not. It just doesn't respond to developers like I was used to when I last worked with black & white negatives on a day to day basis. For commercial work I used Ilford's FP-4 and for my artwork I always used Kodak's (250) Super XX, which is no longer available, unless one buys ten thousand sheets, pre-order.

This is a new film to me and I've been testing to see where the densities begin to form on the toe of the curve, as well as the density range overall, which indicates the effective print time. For me, the sweet spot for a print time on salted paper is 12 to 15 minutes. For a palladium that would translate to roughly 6 to 8 minutes. The effective density range of salted paper can be altered to accommodate the different density ranges of the negative, from a bit more contrasty than for silver gelatin, all the way to accommodating a density range of log 1.8, or even higher.

That density range is controlled by the reciprocal mixtures of silver nitrate and salt on the paper. For thinner negatives, the preferred mix would be a 10% solution of silver and a 1% to 1 1/2% salted paper. That range can be extended by increasing both the silver and salt, proportionately. My formula is a 2 1/2% salted paper and 13% silver solution; double coating the paper. That prints quite well with negatives in the 1.2 to 1.8 density range. That is also in the density range needed for printing a full scaled print in palladium, as both are the longest scaled prints in the photographic arsenal. Platinum is very similar to the Kallitype print for density range, both shorter than palladium/salted paper.

After several tests  using Beutler, mixed in 1:10, then 1:7, then 1:5, realizing some very nice densities relatively speaking, yet not sufficiently dense in the upper range to make a print as I want in palladium. I have moved on to D-23 now and finding it is responding as I had hoped. Now, by moving the densities up or down the contrast index curve I can tune the negative to print as I want on palladium, using Citrate and Acetate as developers and EDTA as the clearing bath, as well as following the Ziatype style, turning the process into a printing out process (POP) instead of a developing out as done traditionally. That requires a shift in the oxalate used.

The tests I am doing are done using my Burke & James 5x7; Schneider Kreuznach Acutesar 210mm lens, a bit wide angle for that format. Long ago I made up a set of dark slides that could be inserted into the cut film holder like a normal dark slide. I cut a diamond pattern on a set of ten black graphite type sheets that make up the ten densities, in three rows, using one negative, one development. A graphic example below; This can be accomplished using five slides. First three are the three diamonds along the top, slides four and five leave two diamonds in the middle row spaced in between the ones on the top row. The first three slides are then turned over, becoming #6, #7, #8, the three diamonds on the bottom row, making up eight densities in total. I had some sheets of this material that were unused so I gave them to PJ to make up a set for the Burke & James 4x5 he shoots with. If you are a view camera shooter and want to test out a developer, this is the way.