I do not spend the time necessary to keep a blog moving along for money or fame. I do it for the love of black and white photography in general, and hand coated processes in particular. Passing along the knowledge of the craft is simply giving back, helping in small ways in keeping the energy flowing to those who find this craft worth pursuing. I see the historical hand coated photographic processes as photographic printmaking. Not so different from the original Intaglio method using ink and a press, which technically describes a photogravure. The battle of whether black and white photography is a fine art, or even Art, has been settled, and what remains is mastering a printing medium to demonstrate the Art form. Be an artist.
That's the other side of the technical issues of black and white photography. What's the point and what are you going to do with the prints you make. That's an easy 250 word ramble. Here, though, I stick to the most recent print. Truth be told, this is the same image I printed very recently in Palladium. It printed just fine. The reason for the reprinting is simply because the platinum arrived, and this is the perfect image to try it out on, as this is likely the most perfect negative I ever created, technically. I wanted to see the difference between the two versions, side by side. I was impressed actually. What was said of the Na2 method of printing a palladium print; adding platinum, is now right in front of me.
Quick rehash; using the platinum keeps any reticulation in the image from occurring, due to using the chelated ferric oxalate (Part B), and, it also keeps any 'bronzing' in the lower tonal range of the palladium print. The point of the addition of the platinum is for contrast control. The above benefits come with the platinum use as a contrast control. The thinner the negative, the more concentrate the platinum solution needed, up to the original 20% solution. The negative for this print is roughly log 1.8 so no contrast boost is needed. I still get the added benefits of the platinum as noted above, as well as another note spoken of by the creators of this method; that there is better tonal separation and detail enhancement with the use of the platinum. That is exactly what I saw when putting the two prints side by side.
Also note, that the addition of platinum to the palladium necessitates for print time, as the platinum is slower than palladium. The platinum basically slows down the printing by blocking the highlight more than the lower tonal range, thereby holding back printing in of those upper densities, and that, increases printing time. The holding back of whites, and the increased print time to print them down, effectively increases the tonal range of the print. I also have negatives that have a much shorter density range that I will be printing. To keep them bright as the more contrasty negatives, I will add two drops of either a 5% or 10% platinum solution to the sensitizing solution; palladium/ferric oxalate. So, it would look like this;
5"x7" print ~ palladium 12 drops ~ ferric oxalate 11 drops ~ platinum solution (2.5%) 2 drops
I use a "Puddle Pusher" for coating the paper, which doesn't waste a drop of solution like a Hake brush will. The difference between the two might be equivalent to about four drops or so. What that means is that I was able to cut back on the above formula and still get very good results.
5"7" print ~ palladium 10 drops ~ ferric oxalate 9 drops ~ platinum solution (2.5%) 2 drops
There is still plenty of solution to coat the paper and reap a fine print. You just don't use the extra donated to the brush. Another advantage of this is that by reducing the primary sensitizing solution and keeping the platinum constant, means that the ratio of platinum to palladium is increased. Deeper blacks and more of them.
A reprint of the same image, printed in palladium (two posts back)
Platinum/Palladium Print
"Jerome House" ~ 5x7 ~ 3/5
Eugene, Oregon
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