The printing has continued in the interim, with seven completed prints in the new portfolio of 5x7 platinum/palladium prints. There will be at least a dozen prints in this portfolio, for now. Once this portfolio is completed I will return to the 8x10 portfolio I began some weeks ago. At that time the plan was to print 8x10 gold toned Kallitype prints, with the intent of visually replicating a platinum influenced image, with the deep blacks and long tonal scales of gray. That was before realizing the (Na2) process of palladium printing.
That original portfolio plan will now in all likelihood now be printed in platinum/palladium, as the negatives to be used will all be digitally created. I have already tested one such print using a digital negative, with an added <curve> adjustment. Turns out, its density range was more than needed for printing in my UV printer. The 5x7 negatives are all being printed in direct sunlight, being their density range for many of the negatives are up into the log 1.8 density range. That translates to about a thirty minute or more print time, hence using the sun. The digital negatives I am aim for will be far closer to log 1.0. The (Na2) platinum solution at likely the 5% level will do the rest. I am working towards a print time of 8-10 minutes in the UV printer. My print time for the 5x7 negatives is between 8 and 20 minutes in full sun, with the final print of a Willamette River scene being the 20 minute print. That image below.
One of the things I tend to discuss at some point is print pricing, along with limited editions and presentation demands at a later time. One question being simply; does a platinum/palladium print have more "worth" than a gold or palladium toned Kallitype or salt paper print of the same size? You better believe I'm thinking about this issue as a printer, and soon to be gallery exhibitor asking money for my prints. I am not the greedy type, but I do believe an artist should be able to make some profit from their work, and knowledge. There will be more written on this in future articles, as that part of photographic art that gets little attention.
This image has long been the focus of my desire to print. I have that print in a portfolio of salted silver prints I made thirty years ago, just before my gallery was blown to pieces from water canons, from a grease fire in a restaurant below my gallery in an historical building; The Tiffany Building, Eugene, Oregon, 1987. The 'color' of the negative, and reciprocally the print, is to my color limited eye as a 'warm coppery' color, which I found to be most appealing to the eye. Well, my eye anyway.
I can only attribute this to the combination of the late afternoon sunlight and the pyro/OH developer that replicated the long tonal range of the scene. This negative was made to print on salted paper at the longer tonal scale end of that process. I used a 13% silver solution and 2 1/2% salted paper to achieve this. This is also the ideal printing range of palladium, and with the addition of (Na2) platinum in a 2.5% solution (2 drops~ 5x7) one ends up with a true platinum/palladium image.
The Negative: Kodak Super XX (250)
Negative Developer; Pyro/hydroxide 18 minutes (Windish Pyro) reformulated
Paper; Revere Platinum
Print Developer; Ammonium Citrate (Bostick & Sullivan) pre-mix
Coating solution; (5x7) Palladium 12 drops (B&S pre-mix) ~ Ferric Oxalate (Part 1) 11 drops, platinum (sodium chloroplatinate) @ 2.5% (solution) 2 drops.
All the above chemical mixtures for printing are from Bostick & Sullivan; palladium (15%), ferric oxalate Part 1 (27%), platinum (Na2) (20% ~ diluted with distilled water to make 2.5%) For the curious that would be 1ml platinum to 7ml distilled water. At 2 drops per print, that original 10ml of platinum will make more prints than you will likely have time to make.
Platinum/Palladium Print
"Willamette Afternoon" ~ 5x7 ~ 2/5
Eugene, Oregon
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