As I mentioned earlier, I am coming to an end to the printing cycle in silver, for now. With the completed Tombstone Portfolio, palladium toned and what I have of Portfolio II, which consists now of eight prints, developed in sodium acetate for the rich black and white base image, gold toned for deeper blacks. The aforementioned printing was practice for what's to come, printing in platinum/palladium using the double sodium Na2 method. This will be pretty much the standard for my printing now, with exception to the gum printing, which is part two of this post.
Today was a testing day for platinum/palladium, using test strips to begin. Much was learned from today's tests. The first thing I came to learn is that palladium is slower than silver when printing. The palladium can easily handle the density scale that silver can, it just takes twice as much light or double the print time, plus a skosh. The negatives I used for printing the Kallitypes were very consistent 10 minute prints. Same negative printed in palladium, using the 2.5% Pt solution (4 drops) printed for twenty minutes, leaving the zone 7-8 whites still almost blank white. That was the fourth test strip, and comparing each one, beginning with 9 minutes, then 12 minutes, then 15 minutes before the final 20 minute final time, shows another 3-5 minutes is needed to bring everything into textural range.
The first course of action was to reprint the digital negative, leaving off the <Curve> function I added. That returns the tonal range back to a standard density range, tweaked a bit to separate the tones a bit better, in Lightroom. I made the black and white image look like how I want it to look when it's in final form. For silver, I add the <Curve> function I made. The test print for this negative printed in at 10 minutes, for my taste, a bit too printed in, dulling the zone 7 area. I could simply print less time, but the rule of blacks still follows, that more time equals deeper blacks, with caveats of course. Overall, the image appears dull and flat. Not my type of print. There are two courses to take at this time; alter the <Curve> function to better conform to the palladium, about half the density as for Silver. Or, increase the platinum solution to 5% or even 10% for increased contrast.
Being I am more into finding the correct density range on the contrast index curve than throw more concentrated platinum at the problem. That can still be added later for tuning things ever further. What I want out of the print is a full scaled image with deep blacks and crisp whites, with good gray scale in between. Just takes a bit of testing. First off I will redo negative bringing down the density nodes to about half what they are now, and that, theoretically, will bring the print time somewhere in between the 10 minute and 20 minute print time. A 12 to 15 minute print time would be fine.
There is a third option, which is print the negative in direct sunlight, but that would likely necessitate adding even more density, or spectral density to the negative image to be able to keep the print time above a minute or two. For me, a direct sunlight print time would be between 5-8 minutes. But that's just me, for the image I am after. I don't like dull flat print images. Soon I should have a finished image to show. I'm getting close.
Thursday, November 30, 2017
Tuesday, November 28, 2017
Final Print ~ Tombstone Portfolio
The first print made after the fuller completion of the darkroom recently. The new portfolio case cabinet is doing its job quite nicely, and the new 12"x24" light box is working as designed, with the final touch of framed prints hanging on the walls over the newly installed shelf, creates a very nice aesthetic ambiance. And that, made today's print session so enjoyable, enough so to have excited me sufficiently to flip the negative over when placing over the sensitized paper. So, I have a mirrored print image to the final print I made following. I have one last spot in the darkroom that could handle a 16x20 frame on the wall to show an artist's proof of the image. A reminder to paying attention.
The print itself is the good news, being a 10 minute print. The prepping method I use for the digital negatives is finally paying off, with predictable print times and full scaled outcomes for the image. This will be the final silver print to palladium I will make for awhile. The Tombstone Portfolio is made up of palladium toned Kallitypes, which is what is listed on the certificate of authenticity that goes with each print. Technically they are palladium prints now.
One of the characteristics of the palladium toning is the increased clarity of the image after toning, as well as a shift in the tonal color to a bit cooler tone. This print was also made in cooler, dryer weather than the earlier prints made this summer. Temperature and humidity does have some affect on the final image. As far as materials, this print is the same as all the others in this portfolio;
Paper; Revere Platinum
Developer; Sodium Citrate
Toned; Palladium
Palladium toned Kallitype
"The Town Dandy"
Tombstone, Arizona
The print itself is the good news, being a 10 minute print. The prepping method I use for the digital negatives is finally paying off, with predictable print times and full scaled outcomes for the image. This will be the final silver print to palladium I will make for awhile. The Tombstone Portfolio is made up of palladium toned Kallitypes, which is what is listed on the certificate of authenticity that goes with each print. Technically they are palladium prints now.
One of the characteristics of the palladium toning is the increased clarity of the image after toning, as well as a shift in the tonal color to a bit cooler tone. This print was also made in cooler, dryer weather than the earlier prints made this summer. Temperature and humidity does have some affect on the final image. As far as materials, this print is the same as all the others in this portfolio;
Paper; Revere Platinum
Developer; Sodium Citrate
Toned; Palladium
Palladium toned Kallitype
"The Town Dandy"
Tombstone, Arizona
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
Printing Time ~ Writing Time
The slack in the momentum of printing new images has to do with focusing the available energy onto the other side of my retirement; writing. It is also no secret that I have nine books in print at this time. The last book completed was The Alchemist's Guide; to black & white film and photo chemistry. It is that book and a most propitious chance meetup with another local photographer who happened to have a large darkroom facility that he offered to pretty much anyone wanting to use it. Free. The one thing that led to another part of the story isn't needed to know all turned out well. I began writing about something I know and love, which led to a custom darkroom, and platinum/palladium printing. Almost makes you want to believe in Leprechauns.
On that topic of darkrooms, I have not fully completed that project, and that is one more reason for being away from the printing routine. I am building a cabinet for storing presentation cases that will fit under the counter top work space. The final piece will be an 12"x18" light box, able to compare two 8x10 negatives in their acetate size of 8 1/2"x11". It will also have a 40 degree forward slant, and that will enable me to also use it to copy negatives with my digital camera and 70mm-300mm macro lens. Then the darkroom will be complete and the work flow ability will be enhanced, as will storage area, now taken up with presentation cases, soon to be tucked away yet easily reached.
On that other side, the writing, is currently working out the second book of the soon to be the Alchemist's Guide; series. The original book being the one noted above, the book I am currently working on is The Salt Paper printing process. It is the first hand coated printing process I worked with, over thirty years ago. I found it to be very rewarding as a printing process, especially with it being a printing out process, as well as the very long tonal scale. When I began hand coating there was little information on the subject, outside libraries with old books on the subject. I still have a number of books I found in book stores, from the thirties and forties that gave me the foundation to my knowledge of black and white film photography. They were actually invaluable for that task.
As I have learned from the years of getting the books into publication, using a POD platform, that from the reader's point of view, technical and instructional books should be 150 pages, give or take. And I believe for good reason. It's long enough to cover a specific topic fully and in depth without becoming a text book. The secondary reason is cost, as the alternative to this are the current "Bibles" on photographic subjects, from lighting to wildlife shooting, or the bibles on alternative processes that cover every single possible iteration of how to get a dark color on paper using chemicals and light. Systems you never even heard of, and for that, they deserve credit, as that isn't an easy task. For those individuals that have come to stumble onto photography and found it a bit addictive, and want to learn what you can and try stuff out, the bibles are the ticket. A bit spending relatively speaking yet worth the money just for the information they contain.
For the photographer that wants to learn a specific process, a walk through step by step method, including formulas, the short version becomes far more useful, and cheaper. Books to come will include The Kallitype & Van Dyke processes (identical, using different developers), Platinum/Palladium (Na2) printing and finally Gum Dichromate Printing. One of the things I learned when I started out was that being a competent writer or a competent photographer was good, but being able to be a photographer & writer was way better and made more money. The books will be works in progress for many months to come, as will the printing. What will change will be my focus on printing in Pt/Pd and gum exclusively, as well as scale up at some point to make 11x14 prints. Now that's something that excites my senses.
On that topic of darkrooms, I have not fully completed that project, and that is one more reason for being away from the printing routine. I am building a cabinet for storing presentation cases that will fit under the counter top work space. The final piece will be an 12"x18" light box, able to compare two 8x10 negatives in their acetate size of 8 1/2"x11". It will also have a 40 degree forward slant, and that will enable me to also use it to copy negatives with my digital camera and 70mm-300mm macro lens. Then the darkroom will be complete and the work flow ability will be enhanced, as will storage area, now taken up with presentation cases, soon to be tucked away yet easily reached.
On that other side, the writing, is currently working out the second book of the soon to be the Alchemist's Guide; series. The original book being the one noted above, the book I am currently working on is The Salt Paper printing process. It is the first hand coated printing process I worked with, over thirty years ago. I found it to be very rewarding as a printing process, especially with it being a printing out process, as well as the very long tonal scale. When I began hand coating there was little information on the subject, outside libraries with old books on the subject. I still have a number of books I found in book stores, from the thirties and forties that gave me the foundation to my knowledge of black and white film photography. They were actually invaluable for that task.
As I have learned from the years of getting the books into publication, using a POD platform, that from the reader's point of view, technical and instructional books should be 150 pages, give or take. And I believe for good reason. It's long enough to cover a specific topic fully and in depth without becoming a text book. The secondary reason is cost, as the alternative to this are the current "Bibles" on photographic subjects, from lighting to wildlife shooting, or the bibles on alternative processes that cover every single possible iteration of how to get a dark color on paper using chemicals and light. Systems you never even heard of, and for that, they deserve credit, as that isn't an easy task. For those individuals that have come to stumble onto photography and found it a bit addictive, and want to learn what you can and try stuff out, the bibles are the ticket. A bit spending relatively speaking yet worth the money just for the information they contain.
For the photographer that wants to learn a specific process, a walk through step by step method, including formulas, the short version becomes far more useful, and cheaper. Books to come will include The Kallitype & Van Dyke processes (identical, using different developers), Platinum/Palladium (Na2) printing and finally Gum Dichromate Printing. One of the things I learned when I started out was that being a competent writer or a competent photographer was good, but being able to be a photographer & writer was way better and made more money. The books will be works in progress for many months to come, as will the printing. What will change will be my focus on printing in Pt/Pd and gum exclusively, as well as scale up at some point to make 11x14 prints. Now that's something that excites my senses.
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