Gum Print in Progress

 Realizing a blog is supposed to have fresh material on a regular basis. I know this. Under the circumstances, printmaking has slowed down considerably. Home maintenance and improvements have captured my time and energy over the past weeks. I will confess, I did make an 11x14 gum over palladium print of Native Dancers, having completed the first one of the series, with it turning out quite nicely. I will also confess that I knew a few layers in that I wasn't liking it as I should have been. At that point it was what it was, and I wanted to see it to the end, just to see where it would go.

 I didn't like it. At all. It annoyed me that I had made it. That one is on a back burner, with some work on the negative image, tweaking it a bit before printing it again. And yeah, I printed that one over the course of five or six weeks. To make up for that, I jigged up a new image I captured recently. Adopting an elder cat, being elder and all, won't be round for the length of a kitties lifetime. Capt Jack. He staggers a bit and is unsteady on his feet at times, like he's coming off a long binge. But he affectionate, and loves to eat. He is a professional napper, and that is th eimage; him napping on the couch.

 This print is a gum print, on Fabriano Artistico 300 g/m, pre-shrunk but not sized. I'm relying on the paper's interior and exterior sizing to keep the image off the paper fibers. There is a bit of paper stain on the first run, which was a mix of light cyan, with a tiny spot of dark cyan for a deeper blue, over the entire print area. I'm going to begin the print using the standard CYMK printing format. I laid on the Golden Yellow layer this afternoon. Next up will be a quinacridone magenta, followed by a very sheer black layer, before beginning to color highlight areas on his fur.

I  find myself moving away from traditional realism,although, I admit the last print of "Morning Ritual" was pretty much dead on realistic replica of our front door view. I didn't mean it that way exactly, I follow the printing intuitively, theoretically, based upon subtractive color theory and color wheel principles. I've made it well known that I am near color blind to red/\green colors. Makes printing a bit dicey at times. Ya throw's the dice' and ya sees what ya gets. Not always, as standard printing theory keeps things in the lines. It is when the urge to experiment, trying out a new style or color application. One mistake and the print is junk.

I have to say I am enjoying printing in gum again, not gum over palladium. It's a difference experience. I have two 8x10 printing frames for gums so I am working on the 11x14 print of Capt Jack and began an 8x10 print of a pond at sunset, surrounded by trees. A subtly shaded scene and I want to get the light right, as well as the delicacy and tones of the light on the water. That's the tricky part. Stay tuned.

"Morning Ritual" ~ Gum over Palladium Print

I have been working on this print for some time now. So many thing getting in the way of that endeavor have slowed that process down considerably. This image was taken rather recently. The cat being our own Zoey, or Zoe Zoe as she was known by us. Her morning routine was to sit before the open front door, sitting peacefully, watching the world outside her own. The colors I used in the print image are mostly replicated from the actual colors of our living room, with exception to the floor tiles, which I lightened, using a pale green, instead of the darker brown of the real tiles. My use of color, and application therein, continues to change from when I began printing almost five years ago. That would be expected. This print has nine print layers, using thirteen color mixtures. There are four layers of variations of blue on the doors, and in the shadows. There are three different variations of red also applied to shadows. There should be colors in shadows, not just gray or black.

The trick for me is actually seeing the red spectrum colors I add, being I am all but color blind to red/green. And yet, I make colored gum prints. I'm like that. The most important element of any print, is the light. Reflecting how the light works on reflected objects and textures is, for me, what it's all about. The light, defines the image. The colors follow. I could have chosen any number of color combinations that would have worked. The colors in this print were chosen as I felt they represented the image best. Again, for me. The gum print remains the most versatile and personalized printing method of all printing methods. The possibilities with making a gum print are truly endless.

Gum over Palladium Print ~ Unique

"Morning Ritual" ~ 8"x10

 

"Old Wagon Wheel ~ Palladium toned Kallitype ~ Final Print

The shortening of the density range, or flattening the negative curve slightly, got the image where I had wanted, favoring the middle tones. The point of the image was the texture of the old wood showing up, more than the contrast between highlights and shadows. Palladium toning deepens blacks and deeper shadows, it open up the middle tones, lightening and separating tonal values, like the little flicks of black in dried wood, separating it from the highlights, adding contrast with the tonal separations. The toning also lightens and brightens highlights.

One issue I have come across from printing these larger prints, is the variations in print time caused by variations in the amount of solution on the print paper. I am finding a very different result between the test strips used to find print time, and the results of that print time on a coated full sheet. The ratios are slightly different, with the full print receiving a slight bit more solution for the area covered, than the test strips. Not that much though. This print image had four minutes less print time than the twelve minute test strip, yet, came out darker. Intuitively speaking, it would seem that more solution, deeper paper penetration, would require more print time to reach all the silver in the solution. This theory doesn't seem to be cooperating. That, then, demands some further testing, for that variation in outcomes.

This print was processed as the one before, with exception to print time, which was less. The first, more contrasty print image had a print time of ten minutes, as did the first copy of this image. This image had a print time of eight minutes, developed in sodium citrate then toned in Palladium for ten minutes. Palladium toner is a top down toner, working on highlights first, working down to the blacks over time. The citrate developed Kallitype is a warm toned image, the palladium toner cools the overall  image somewhat. If there is sufficient middle tones, the toning leaves them somewhat warm toned, although tonally responsive as the other areas.

Palladium toned Kallitype ~ Unique
"Old Wagon Wheel" ~ 11"x17"
Mesilla, New Mexico

"Old Wagon Wheel" ~ Palladium toned Kallitype

I've made it back into the darkroom again, having been rather focused on home affairs that were sufficiently important to absorb my full attention over the past few weeks. There is also a slight change that has begun to unfold, becoming a partner in creative endeavors. With a list of eleven book I have in print at this time it isn't much of a secret I am also a writer. Technically, my first calling. Long story, that.

This print was planned as an addition to the four recent 11"x17" palladium toned Kallitype prints I made. Two considerations to this  particular series of prints is their size, the maximum a wide body printer can make a negative, and, the prints all being unique. I am becoming ever more vigilante in selecting an image for printing now. Not just any image will do. Because of the above conditions of these  prints, the image should be really good. Something a viewer would see as "wow, I really like that". My photographic eye as well as my tastes and preferences have changed a lot over the years, I've begun second guessing my choices of images to print. This one being a prime example.

I have wanted to print this image for a few years now, but up until recently I hadn't connected up with matting to accommodate the 11"x17" format, so I stayed with 11"x14". This image was shot to be seen as is, and cropping alters the dimensions enough to lose the original appeal of the old wood, and bright sunlight contrast. I  made the negative image using the Kallitype <curve> I created in Paintshop Pro x9, [Photoshop for photography] That curve has a normal reciprocal print time of ten minutes, give or take a minute on either side, depending on the highlight to shadow ratio. I had thought this printing would be what I had envisioned it to be. Turns out, now, I see it as too contrasty, as there are a lot more wood textures in the middle of the image, that are now in zone 2, instead of zone 3 where I want them.

All of which means, I will be printing this image again. I have already reprinted another negative , using another curve I made for platinum/palladium printing; Na2 <curve> this is a softer, shorter density range, negative. The print time will be very close to the current one, at ten minutes, as the highlights in the image won't be altered all that much, perhaps just a bit. What will be far more visually apparent will be the middle  tones, where all the wood texture resides. I am intending on altering the middle tones a lot, the  zone 2 areas will be zone 3 areas, the zone 4s will be closer to zone5, zone 6 will be slightly darker and zone 7 will be the highlight area I will be printing to.

Palladium toned Kallitype
"Old Wagon Wheel" ~ 11"x17"
Mesilla, New Mexico

Photography & Art ~ A perspective

This being a blog, I feel there is freedom to discuss issues without posting new work, as has been the focus of this page in the past. When I began blogging on photography, I covered various areas of photography, including processes, practices and functional testing methods. I also was posting the print images I was making at the time. That process has brought me to my current position in photography, as a photographer and a printer. interestingly enough, it follows directly Dr Wayne Dyer's Dictum; "When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change". The most powerful tool at one's disposal, in life.

I bring that up as it affects how I perceive the photographic process, and how I want to utilize it. Photography has been in my blood since I was 13, in 1961, firing off my first black & white shots of the world, fascinated by both. Something about seeing a world in b&w, even then, was comforting to my eyes. It wasn't the real world. It represented the real world with beautiful gradations of grays. It has been a good number of years, with thirty years of commercial photography in the interim, to basically arrive back to that point of perception, of wonder, and deeper appreciation of the b&w image. I specialized in black and white photography when I had a commercial studio in the 1980's, it was still being regularly used. The final decade of commercial work was Event Photography, weddings, Quinceaneras, Proms, sports teams, Baseball Player Card photos, Sororities/Fraternity portraits, and special occasions. Everything in that work was all about the client.

I was fortunate to have been able to build a custom darkroom, designed for hand coated printing. For me, printmaking. That four year period produced ten printed portfolios of work, in four print mediums, with two mixed groupings. In that time, I wrote a book on each of those four processes, with the mixed processes within those books. And that, has changed the way I look at things, photographically. 'Producing, now, is something entirely different than when I began. When I began there were hundreds of images in my head, all wanting to be represented in their best form. A good amount of those images were shot thirty-five years ago, a much different period in my photographic life. Another thing to come of my printing over that period was the way I perceive my work.

When I began making hand coated prints again, four years ago, the focus was on building a clean portfolio. Then another, followed by another, and another book. The portfolios began with my earliest images, as Kallitype prints, in an edition of (5). Then came the Tombstone  portfolio of palladium prints in an edition of (3). As the portfolios progressed, my perspective progressed, to wanting only a very limited number of copies. The editions continued to decline to one of (2), before I came to realize this was telling me, everything. All the prints I make now are unique. There are several reasons for that.

Considering my age, in my seventh decade of life, with galleries chuck full of black and white photographers, of every stripe, then pandemic closing down pretty much everything, having editions of prints isn't a good idea. Then there's the commercially viable collectable value, based on how many prints in circulation, and the fewer the better for the buyer. Perhaps it is the sum of the above propositional argument, the simple truth being my choice now for making only unique prints comes down to my own way of looking at my prints.

There is always the expected way of making a black & white print, but b&w photography is very malleable, something stressed in the first book. A black and white image can be printed in almost endless variations upon the theme. Each iteration being viable, if, the printer wants it so. The classical black and white print as I came to know it derives of master works, such as Edward Weston. He sets a pretty high bar for fine printing. The eight definable tonalities, from deep black [dMax] to crisp white [zone 8] When I began, that was the focus, making a full scaled black and white image. That morphed into warm toned images printed in palladium, then gum and gum over palladium. Each print taking longer and longer to make.

That, was the process of change. When I intend to make a print now, I spend a good deal of time looking at images until I see the right one. I mean seeing it, as how it is to be printed and how that would look. The image is scrutinized for its design, its representation of the light, the chiaroscuro effect. All elements that make up what will be the final image seen by the viewer. Before that can take place, the printer must be able to see the final print as desired, in order to control the elements of the printing process that shape and control the end result of the printed image. If that image can't be seen, there is not trail for arriving anywhere.

I suppose what I'm saying is simply, I'm beginning to see my work in a different way. Each print is a jewel, a creation that has to be perfect. I don't print for expected tonalities, the eight tonal range print. What I'm interested in now is creating the Pictorial Effect. Shaping the image in such ways as to create the mood and lighting that is desired. I believe the lighting of the image is everything. Lighting not only sets the mood and structure of the image, it shapes the textural quality of the image and how the lights reflects off objects. It is the shaping of the printed image, that defines the printer, makes it unique, recognizable.

The summation of the above thought, was a journey every photographer/print-maker will experience if, they wish to use the term Art in reference to their work. Art, should be unique and rare. If their are umpteen or endless print copies, then it would be difficult for anyone to call that art. That would be commercial photography, and that, is what photography is all about. Take a shot, print it, then sell as many copies as you can. But that, is not Art. And that, is the beauty of having a blog. I can post my thoughts of photography and art. With that said, good energy to your photographic works.

g. Michael Handgis Photography

"Stairway to the Past II" ~ Final Print

After a dozen more test strips from several negatives, I have finally arrived at the final interpretation of this image. There are so many ways to prepare an image, shaped to the mood and dynamic interplay of tonalities that define the image. The dynamics of this image, as was the case with the companion print, was brilliant sunlight on stone and masonry. Showing that off, without losing the textural quality of the middle tones was the goal. Holding the bright sunlight directly on the masonry and stone to zone 7 was the trickiest part, while still not depressing the middle tones on the stone in the background. Hence the several negatives, each with variations of densities, on different parts of the image.

The original image was shot with my Canon 20D, fifteen or so years ago. The color image of that masonry and stonework was a sort of golden hue, which was what I had wanted to imitate. The closest I could arrive at that 'color' using a panchromatic process, was when the image was first developed and cleared, leaving a warm toned image rather close to the original. The palladium toning alters that color relationship, shifting the image to a cooler tone, the longer the toning the cooler outcome. The print was developed in sodium citrate, for the original warm tones.

Being a serial confessor I will mention here that I have learned a new insight to the printing, using digitally printed negatives onto acetate film. Being a companion print image, the perspective mattered. There was the left looking image and the right looking image, as I photographed both shots within three feet of each other. Each image was looking through a doorway, set about four feet apart at Tumacacori Mission, Arizona. Same sunlight, different perspective angles into two different rooms. The confession being I flipped the image in my head when finalizing it's setup for printing, not flipping the image horizontally for the printing. I had made three test strips before coming to the conclusion something was definitely amiss, as the print times and resultant prints just weren't jibing.

 

What I learned, was that the light refraction off the 'emulsion' side of the negative alters the light coming through said negative, lessening the actual light onto the print. Who'd a thunked it. I have printed more than one 5x7 negative out of my Burke & James without any change to the image besides being reverse from the original perspective. Makes a considerable difference with digital negatives, printed in a UV printer. Softer, less contrasty results. Which, I suppose, could be used to the printer's advantage, when needed.

The final print was printed in sodium citrate, cleared, then toned in 5% palladium solution [5g citric acid], for nine minutes. The palladium toner is a top down toner, working with the highlights first, brightening them before movinng down through the middle tones, opening them up, separating tonalities within the middle tone values, finally reaching the blacks, deepening them. The long toning also shifts the overall tonal color, to a more neutral value. This print finishes the two sets of companion images I had been wanting to print for several years. I'm finally printed most of the images I shot thirty-five years ago but never got to print. Now I'm beginning to print images I shot only ten or fifteen years ago.

Palladium toned Kallitype ~Unique

"Stairway to the Past II" ~ 11"x17"

Tumacacori Mission, Arizona

"Stairway to the Past II" ~ Palladium toned Kallitype

As I have with the past 11x17 prints, I am taking my sweet time making a final print. Each image I work with brings its own characteristics to be dealt with, in the process of ending up with an final print image that is the strongest way of showing off the print. I spend this much time, and material expense simply because all my prints now are unique, and there is but one time, one printing that will represent the image, for all time. It has to be perfect, archivally, as well as ending up with an image that is strong enough to allow the viewer to feel the mood set, connect with the image emotionally. Well, that's the theory. How well I hue to that will of course be decided by the viewer. For me, once I get the image printed the way I want it to be represented, then I'm good with it.

Palladium toned Kallitypes

"Stairway to the Past II" Test Images

Test Strip: Neg 1

This is the final test strip I printed of the more important areas of the image; the highlights, with background.The print time was 8-minutes; developed in sodium citrate, toned in palladium for 9-minutes. This is very close to how I wanted the tonal values to play out. Slightly light with the shadows, and just slightly bright on the highlights of the cement wall and stone floor. So, I added one minute to the full print to come, thinking it would slightly darken the shadows and print down the highlights a little more. That isn't what happened. The print image was considerably darker in the shadows, with the highlights printed down more than would be expected of a one minute difference. All of which is something I am unable to account for. Same process all across the test strips and prints.

The only difference being I freshened up the sodium citrate developer. I use the replenisher method, adding to the developer the amount of solution used during printing. When I've used one liter of replenisher with the original 2 liter developing solution, I toss it all out and start fresh. I would be hard pressed to believed that much difference showing up with basically the same developer. I also mixed fresh EDTA clearing back and print fixer. At any rate, what I got was quite a bit darker, richer, yet with the middle tones more suppressed than I would like.

Print from Neg 1; 11 min

This print is the same setup, same developer, same chemistry. The difference between the two is simply one minutes print time. Hence my confusion .Both of these prints are made from the same negative. This negative was made with my Kallitype <curve> plus an added +20 contrast ~ -10 shadows. This was to separate the shadows and highlights from the middle tones, brighten up the image. It worked, but I didn't go far enough at the time. I opted to retry the negative, adding the densities, dropping out others. The print to the left was made from the first negative I made, with just the K <curve> added. The final image is the second negative made, with the added densities in the highlights and reduced densities in the shadows & blacks. All three images are straight out of my Canon 20D, using the same outside light upon the print during copying. There are many things predictable about making Kallitype prints, when the process has been controlled, for predictability. Having made hundreds of Kallitypes, one gets the feel of things over time, hence better predictability.

Print from Neg 2; 8 min

What becomes immediately evident is the back wall of the setting, in this print the tones are more open to view. The highlights of direct sunlight on the concrete doorway and stone floor are brighter. In this print they need to be printed down a couple more minutes to reach a more appreciable zone 7, showing the brightness, but with full texture. All of which goes to demonstrate that an image can be represented in many different ways. So, where I'm at right now, is the first print is the original negative, and needs to be printed with less time to be more appreciative, and the second print, with the added manipulation of densities [more contrasty], needs to have print time added. Both are very close, The winner will turn out to be somewhere between the two prints as they are now.

There will be more printing to come for this image. This post was to show the process as it unfolded. I have blogged on process for years now. What I want to focus on now is technique; the manipulating of the image to create a desired end result that utilizes Pictorial Effect. Altering an image to create a mood in the setting to arrive at the strongest way of showing the image. Once I get full dry down with the latest print, the task will be to sit them side by side under good light and ponder just exactly which way I want to go, then find the perfect print time. That's the task.

"Stairway to the Past" ~ Palladium toned Kallitype

The charge that i have succumbed to the infectious nature of a pandemic virus, is way overblown. I have merely succumbed to venturing forth unless there's a  point to it. I have things not yet done in the creative side of life. I spent fifty years on the "Get a Job!" ledger. Yeah, I had lots of jobs, did so many different things keeping above water, feeding children demanding food, having the roof over our heads thingy. All sedated in my past, left to some fond memories that made things worth the effort put forth. A large part of my life has been surrounded by photography, beginning in 1961 when I was thirteen, and had a knockoff to the Kodak Brownie camera, loaded with b&w film.

As with every photographer who ever hefted a camera, snapped a frame or two, then made it through the printing; after forty years of daily use and practice, things are very different between the beginning and ending. Besides the controls of photography, through negative manipulation and uses of technique, the more subtle part of learning is the art of seeing. That doesn't come easy, or without earnest work at it. The thirty years of commercial photography, many of them spent at my 1000ft/q studio in Eugene, Oregon. Most excellent years, spent specializing in black & white photography. Of course, that was thirty years ago when print media was still mainstream. One would be amazed at how many advertising materials used b&w images for brochures and pamphlets for their local advertising.

The point of all that, being, In commercial photography you please the client, as you would the bride in wedding photography. What they want, rules. What they wanted was a full scaled b&w image that showed off their product [texture and tonal range]. I had spent some years working in fine art, owning a gallery, representing thirteen photographers, in that same town. I was a pretty good printer in silver gelatin printing. It showed up in my modeling portfolios, garnering me over two hundred models that I worked with for portfolios and head shots for auditions. I made the models, and the products look good. That was the goal, but it doesn't have a thing to do with art.

Being this is my blog on black and white photography, focused on hand coating printmaking processes, it is all about art, and what I think that's all about. It's my blog. There's also the underlying shaping of my posts by my writer's side, that side that also demands time with the Little Muse, who have a tendency to disappear in a deeper region of Mu, where they blend in, binging on Mu spirits, and sleeping it off. A couple of the Muse are thrashing about, demanding some word time. Again. Having eleven books in print bears this out. Everything I write about here, I've included in one of the five books on photography I've put out. Yes, a shameless plug.

In spite of the pandemic thingy, I have not been idle. I have been conflicted. I study each image I want to print, trying to divine exactly how I want to represent it. In film days, there were shooting and developing controls available to shape the negative image within the boundaries of a printing process; then, silver gelatin, mostly. In the days of digital imagery, all that changes. I can alter the contrast without altering the density range, or vice versa. Anyone with editing software knows this. And that, is why seeing the image as you envision it to be, as the "strongest way of presenting the image", not necessarily as it was captured. The Pictorial Effect; altering the image to showcase mood and setting, the emotional connection the printer had with the image. The idea is demonstrating that vision in the printing, with the intent of having the viewer seeing the mood set, feeling the emotional connections of the artist. That's the intent of art.

There are two negatives printed for this image, the second altering the tonal shape by altering the contrast slightly and reducing shadow density, very slightly. This altered the light, and feel of the image, as well as the textural qualities of the stone. For the most part, I am happy with the outcome. I only make one print of each image now; all unique. And that is why getting it 'right' is the printing intent. Not until the print image resonates with me, that I feel the harsh Arizona sun, mid day at the old Tumacacori Mission, that it will be matted and a certificate of authenticity. There be only one.

Palladium toned Kallitype ~ unique
"Stairway to the Past" ~ 11"x17"
Tumacacori Mission, Arizona

"Two Lilies II" ~ Palladium toned Kallitype

The pace of putting out a finished print has slowed from the past year. During the four years of printing while writing books about the processes I was producing new prints almost every day, sometimes more than one. I was also working in 8x10, now I'm working with 11x17 for the palladium toned Kallitypes, and 11x14 with the gum over palladium prints. This newest print is a sort of sister print to "Two Lilies" print, different perspective. They fit nicely side by side.

These prints needed a different handling. The density range of the density was considerably less than what I used in the past with Kallitype prints. That would have to do with the subject; two white lilies. The most demanding aspect being keeping the contrast between the shadows on the lily and the highlights. The shadows needed to be very soft. Very soft. That, was not an easy task. As always, copying the print using a digital camera adds to the fidelity of the digital image to the original print. I do my best.

This print was made on Revere Platinum paper. Developed in sodium acetate. Print time was 6 1/2 minutes. I know, that's strange for hand coating, but I was torn between the six minute and seven minute test strips, so I averaged the time. The print was toned in palladium toner for seven minutes. The palladium toner has a good deal of influence over the final image. I use the 5ml//1000ml toning solution, with 5g citric acid. The formula for the palladium toner using 4ml/1000ml tend to warm the print slightly more. The palladium toner's affect on the print is in brightening the highlights, opening up middle tones [light shadowed areas] and deepens blacks. Knowing that going allows for slight print time adjustments to compensate for the brightening of the highlights; zone 7.

Palladium toned Kallitype ~ Unique
"Two Lilies II" ~ 11x17

Printing in a Pandemic

This is a post about the times and current situations. Regardless of where we live, we're all dealing with much the same situation. Buenos dias a mi amigos en España. I had no idea. Forgive the Spanish, I realize it's crap. Learning academic Spanish is for language teachers, not how to actually speak the language. I have not been idle these past days, in spite of the mostly lock down conditions that prevail at this time.

I am currently working on the second gum over palladium print of Native dancers. It also will be an 11x14 print, with the intent on coloring the image pretty much in the same scheme as the first one. The time and mood remain the same, different group of dancers, with two of the lead dancers, from the first image. The colors applied to these prints are the boldest, brightest, most saturated color applications I've ever used. I admit, I'm liking it. My earlier work was more subdued, pastel in nature. What I was after then, as now, was the light. Capturing the quality of the light reflecting off objects. I'm also near color blind to red/green, so, there's that.

The thing is, with the book series completed, and the steady production of prints needed for examples used in the books, the pace of printing has changed. All prints I make now, are unique. Including Kallitype and palladium. The precious metal prints included. Making the platinum/palladium prints was truly excellent. I used the double sodium Na2 process, finding it a most beautiful medium for printing. That was last year, when palladium cost $77 for 25ml and platinum was $99 for 10ml. I used it at 2.5% solution, so, enough platinum to last me the rest of my life. The palladium, now about triple last year's price. My adjustment to that is making "poor man's" palladium prints; palladium toning a silver print, in this case a Kallitype. There are thousands of those poor man's platinum's, printed in the early years of the 20th century; same reason as today.

The sister print to the Two Lilies print will be printed sometime soon. Now that I have the preferred contrast and corrected density range for the negative, this print will be easy. Following that, I have two matching images from Tumacacori Mission of stone rooms, with old stone steps, soon to follow. The printing continues, albeit at a slower pace than before. That doesn't make for good blogging, but it does make good prints. My thanks for visiting my blog, and good energy to your photographic work.

"Two Lilies" ~ Final Print ~ Palladium

I will say here, that this image was the most difficult image I've ever tried to print. Printing a full tonal range  of a print image has to do with the entire range of tonalities/densities. Printing a completely white object(s) is not really the same. That requires printing in one tonal range, with inclusion of other tonalities in the shadowed range. That can be from zone 3 [full shadow detail] and zone 2 [deep enough any objects can only be detected, no details], and that is a vast difference as tones go. That left me with the task of figuring out an image contrast, and density range of the negative, such that, the printing will realize the brightest white; zone 7, will just reach its maximum tonal range without pushing the shadow area from fully detailed texture into zone 2, dark shadow, no detail.

The first two posts of earlier prints reveals that gap closing each new print, until reaching that balance between the whites and shadows; the textural zones. A bit annoying to me it took as many tries as it did. First error being sampling the wrong area of the print for an informed interpretation of the whole image. That led me astray for a while, before enlightenment to the situation. I have never attempted to [hand coated] print two white objects, with shadows. Works so much easier in digital heaven.

This is also the first image I've printed to the full 11"x17" format. I've been working in 11"x14", being that is the prevailing pre-cut mat size. Then I stumbled upon this pre-cut mat size from one of the vendors I use for my supplies, and this, will allow me to  print images that just can't be cropped from their original digital format [8x12 ~ instead of film; 8x10]. I crop to just what I want, when I snap the shutter. I'm not a shoot wide angle then look for something to crop out after look over the original scene. Amateurs do that.

This final print was printed on Revere Platinum paper, developed in sodium acetate developer, then toned in Palladium; the print is a Palladium print now. The palladium toning does two things, the first being the obvious, the palladium salts completely replacing all the silver salts in on the paper, leaving a palladium print; the "poor man's" Palladium print. There were many of those produced during the early years of the twentieth century. The more commonly known moniker was the 'poor man's platinum", as platinum was then as now, amazingly expensive. Over the period of this last year, palladium has almost tripled in price, making it now a rather expensive material to use for large print sizes. I've been corresponding with a gentleman that has been using a 16"x20" view camera, and making platinum prints. I don't know about the reader's take on that, but it boggled my mind, having the ability to actually make that happen.

Final print; this digital image of the original print is a bit misleading, as this image appears at those the highlight white on the left side of the primary lily has gone blank white. It has not. There is texture throughout that area on the original  print. My failing eyesight and ignorance of digital ways lave only a crappy replica of what is a much better image on paper, than on the screen. My apologies for that failing The stem shadow remains soft, as desired. The whitest white on the print, at the edges of the primary lily, are textured whites.

Palladium toned Kallitype Print
"Two Lilies" ~ 11"x17" ~ Unique

"Two Lilies" ~ Updated Version

It was worth the effort to continue to trek into new territories of printing experiences, learning to print white objects, with a bit of shadow. For me, that meant staying within the confines of zone 7 for all white areas, as deep as zone 3 for shadow, and zone 2 and below in the background. I believe I realized that, finally. Normally, it normally takes one, maybe two, well placed test strips to arrive at a correct print time. Basically, how much time to print the highlights to a textured level; zone 7. When the entire image is basically zone 7, things get trickier.

Same paper, same developer, same toning; different negative density range; flatter. I used Revere Platinum paper, developed in sodium acetate for the cool tones, toned with palladium. This is closer to the ideal print I had in mind. I am not finished with printing this image. This print will be unique, as are all my prints these days. I want the final print to be the image I know it can be.

Palladium toned Kallitype Print
"Two Lilies" ~ 11x17

"Two Lilies" ~ Palladium toned Kallitype

Being a serial confessor, I will say here that printing this image was the most difficult image I have ever worked with, or attempted realize. It was not process I was having a problem with, as I have worked that out long ago. This round was all about interpretation, and the choices to be made to arrive at what I thought I wanted when I began, and that has to do with technique. As I have brought up in earlier posts, I have been moving away from printing with the focus on representing full spectrum tonal range prints representing an image, the shift is in altering the existing tonalities of the image to shape the image to a more dramatic setting, altering the effect of light within the scene.

That process, for me, is discovering the Pictorial Effect of an image. Not, are all the tonalities represented, but what tonalities are to be included, and how much of each. When I began hand coated printing almost forty years ago, that process entailed altering the relationship of the  latent densities chemically, by altering the ASA/ISO, placement of shot, choice of developer, dilution of developer, and development time. All of which result in a global alteration of the densities, hence tonality of the print. Today, with Paintshop Pro x9, and Lightroom 6, I am able to do things to the now digital image in ways one couldn't hardly dream up back then.

Now, I can add an adjustment <curve> [controlling the density range], contrast control, and individual tonal range control, and that isn't even touching on layering and masking, or any of the other Gee Whiz things that are built into those programs. When I worked in IT support, setting up and keeping computer systems running smoothly, 486's were king and DOS was the primary language for the work to be done. That is the Model-T of computing. I won't mention working with mainframes in the '70's, or card readers with sorting machines in the '60's.....

I have worked on this image for over a week now; daily, with the result of six printed negatives, three full size prints, and three dozen test strips, and I'm still not really happy with the finished image. This is the first time I ever attempted to print white objects. The print shows the veins running along the surface of the Lily, all the way to near paper base white; zone 8. The Kallitype printing process tends to make black the lower tonalities, thus, when altering the whites to represent the fuller spectrum of white, it also alters the lower tonalities, thereby deepening them upon printing, and that, increases contrast. That was the battle. The original [inkjet print] to 12"x18" is very, very difficult to replicate. There is also the problem if making the digital copy of the original print with good fidelity. There is a sister print to come, same Lilies, different view. I will keep working this one out, as I really want to print this image as I know it can be.

Palladium toned Kallitype Print
"Two Lilies" ~ 11"x17"

"Grandps's Cabin" ~ Gum over Palladium

Finally, I have arrived at the finished print I had envisioned; for the most part. Every print teaches me something, with better insight to the color pallet and how I can use it. Being mostly color blind to red/green, that makes a difference. That leaves me to printing by utilizing subtractive color theory; watercolor principles. A gum print is technically a photographic watercolor.

For now, I'm staying with Revere Platinum paper, now, pre-shrunk twice, before making the palladium print, over which the gum is lain. As I noted in an earlier post on making this print, the decisions made on the printing procedures had to do with the balance between the dramatic effect of deep shadows, and, how much the viewer is able to see, in those shadows. The choice between zone 2 and zone 3. Although the first run of this print was with much deeper shadows, leaving all the object nearly obscure, in the darkness. As can be seen, I opted to open up the shadows, and use color to set the objects aside from the otherwise dark background.

The outcome of those decisions will be judged by the viewer. I arrived at the spot I had planned, so I any credits or criticisms for my efforts. A secondary decision to be made was how obvious the lighting, which is the other side of shadow and darkness. To capture the appearance of light is to hold the tonal range for light, which is between zone 6 and zone 7, then use a color that when printed to that tonality, represents the appearance of light. For me, that light color comes down to Yellow Ochre and Quinacridone Gold, mostly depending on whether said light is reflected off objects or seen directly, like through a window. From that, then, is how much color to use, so as not to make the whole affair fake, artificial.

Those cumulative decisions sum to the posted print; liked or disliked.Another variable with these printed images, is my ability to faithfully replicate the print image, digitally copied. Something that fills in a lot of ceiling-watch time.

Gum over Palladium Print

"Grandpa's Cabin" ~ 11x14 Unique

Willamette's Douglas Forest, Oregon

Grandpa's Cabin ~ Gum over Palladium Print

Up until now, I have been printing in multiple mediums, at the time respectively, the printing was related to the corresponding book I was writing, about the medium being used. That series of five books is now complete, the constant production of fresh prints has pretty much ended. When I began printing again four years ago, I was involved with a photographer's group using the group's organizer's large darkroom, made available as a public darkroom for members. The organizer hadn't been yet subjected to hand coating processes, and wanted to learn, upon hearing me wax heavy of the shear awesomeness of it, to begin with.

That was then, and a year later, with a nudge from my wife, said custom darkroom took shape, from what was once a shop, of some sort. Ripped everything out including the walls and rebuilt. That, changed everything. For those photographers who are black & white film users, and hand coating enthusiasts, who have had their own cherished darkroom; you know. Making the first salt paper print, in another photographer's darkroom, was nothing short of magical for me. Having my own darkroom, with all the chemicals I need to mix anything I want, is beyond my ability to expressive it in words. I take my work quite seriously.

 

The current print I am working on is getting more thought from me than most other prints I've even done, with the exception to "The Flute Player". That was twenty one print layers, using thirty six colors. I did a lot of thinking on that one. The considerations I'm making on this current print has more to do with interpreting the scene itself, than on the variant ways of doing it. They question was simply, how do I want this image of an old cabin, with odd things in the setting, with window to the outside. A standing at the at the counter, with window. There is ample shadow in the setting, some quite deep, much in zone 2 territory.

The question I had was, how much of the image should be swallowed by shadow? How much textural detail should be seen outside the window, in full sunlight, against dark shadow? 'The strongest way of seeing'. Then, begin to add the gum. Where to hold the light, how much? Each gum layer darkening the wood, most in shadow. Lots of interesting interpretation, before the planned printing, to hold each tonal range where it belongs in the planned finished image. That's the task. Seeing what you want to print. In the end, the print will be my vision, regardless of outside considerations. That, for an artist, is all that matters.

 

As with any photographic printing, one prints to the highlights; zone 6-7, depending on the lighting conditions and texture the light is reflecting off of. That means that when applying the gum over the tonalities of the print beneath, care must be taken to coat areas with a similar or equal print time. Coating a mid-tone object simultaneously with a highlight area, such as the situation with this print, with interior shadow and exterior brilliant sunshine outside the window, by the time the elements outside the window have been printed in sufficiently not to float away, the color(s) in the mid-tone area will be permanent, unlikely to float off or likely even brush off at that point. The printing needs to be organized by print time.

 

And that, only works if the printer isn't employing an all over coating of gum to the print, but working in localized areas. For those printers coating the entire image each layer, thought then has to be on the saturation of the gum mixture being applied, as it will have less affect on lower tonalities than mid-tones, and to a lessor degree, highlights. the gum layering is organized around print time.

This print is being printed on Revere Platinum paper. This paper works quite well for palladium printing, which is what it was made for, as well as gum printing, as the tooth is just right. If a gum only print is to be made, then the paper would need to have a hot-dip layer of sizing, probably at a 

2 1/2% solution of gelatin, as the paper has  sizing for palladium printing, not gum. The paper I have found to be my favorite over all others is Fabriano Artistico 140lb hot press watercolor paper. That paper is sized in the inter=ior and exterior, prints very nicely for gum over palladium and gum printing

I will be printing layer six on this print tomorrow. One layer per day, full dry down. The pre-shrinking process of one hot dip in water at 120ºF for one minute, works well for paper cut to make an 8"x10" print, on 11"x14" paper. That has always worked well. Once the paper size reaches the 15"x19 1/2" size to make a 11"14" print image for a gum over palladium, One hot dip isn't enough. The paper tends to shrink at the width. Two ot dips is recommended, and for those that aren't in a hurry, three hot dips would be best for no shrinkage. No pun intended. There is no image to show for now, but soon. Then, comments are welcome.

 

Gum over Palladium Print

"Grandpa's Cabin" ~ 11"x14"

 

"Sacred Dance" ~ Gum over Palladium Print

The print image of The Pub, continued the evolution of my gum over printing. My colors in my earlier gum over prints were muted, like soft pastels. At the time, that was the mood I was after, especially with the prints of people. It worked, then. Now, I am after bolder colors. What remains constant in my printing, is the light.  Capturing and holding the light in the setting, which sets the mood. Photographers is 'painting with light' and I would tell you, the object of painting with light is to hold that light to the visual range, setting the mood.

This image was taken in 1999, at a Pow Wow in Tucson, Arizona. Like the portfolio I have of Tombstone, AZ, with only period objects and dress are seen, with one caveat. Being we are in the age of digital imaging, my negatives are printed on an Epson 1430 printer, onto Arista II OHP transparency film [7-mil], after a journey through Lightroom 6, then on to Paintshop Pro X9, for prepping for the printer, flipping, adding an adjustment <curve> if needed, then sent to the printer. That takes two laptops, with each program nesting in its own environment. Not that I like that arrangement.

Paintshop Pro is Photoshop for digital photography, doing everything PS does, layering, masking, <curves> and things Photoshop can't do for photographic images. One of those very usable tools is the lovely clone tool. I particularly love that one, it can eliminate all manner of unwanted parts to an image. In the case of this image, that happened to be a line of EazyUp tents, and white folk standing about staring at Native American dancers in full regalia. What I saw, was the sacred Eagle Dance, on the plains, late afternoon. The clone brush made it so. Being a serial confessor, I will admit to a personal quirk of my work. In each of the prints I have of historical reference, somewhere in that image, there will be one subtle artifact that indicates it truer historical timeline. Something one would have to look for.

In this print, that one thing is the fourth dancer, in the background. A women, but wearing pants, not in Native dress. She is also facing the opposite direction than the male dancers. I hesitated several seconds before taking that shot, I saw the woman, at the time, facing the same direction as the men. I pulled back from the camera to see why she was there, to then see she was dancing in a woman's circle. as I returned to the view finder I saw she had reversed direction, now in opposition to the men, and, behind them enough that it pushed the mid-ground much further back, separating the dancers better from the background.Technically, most of these Indians aren't Plains Indians, as in Cheyenne, Arapaho, Sioux, and the like. These were Mescalero and San Carlos Apache, Navajo, and probably Hopi.

Some of the things I want to do with the gum I didn't try here, as i didn't want experimental efforts on this image, or the other two that I will be printing soon. I wanted to keep the image respectful, and as close to the original colors and design as I could. I have attempted to print this image dozens of time, over the course of four years. Each and every attempt, regardless of the medium, ended up with a blemish in the print, and usually always in the sky, most times right over the dancer's heads. A line of little black lines, like birds in flight, circling overhead, or other iterations. Sometimes a smudge or line in a promenant spot. Dozens of times. When you live in the southwest long enough, legends tend to take on a different hue. The Natives do not like their likeness captured, especially without their knowledge or consent. Well, you know where that leads.

After promising the Grandfathers I would honor the dancers and only do one print each, if they'd allow me to come up with a pristine print. Yeah, I'm familiar with superstitious behavior, but I really wanted to print this image. Once the palladium image was on the paper, clean, the rest was making it come alive, as best I could. Again, it is the light I am most interested in. There are a number of colors in the image I am unable to see, some at all, being about 90% color blind to red/green. I print theoretically, using subtractive color theory. I know what it's supposed to look like. Best I can do.

The palladium print was printed on Revere Platinum paper, pre-shrunk before printing.

Gum over Palladium Print
"Sacred Dance" ~ 11x14 ~ Unique
Tucson, Arizona

"The Pub" ~ Gum over Palladium Print

This print image was sot in Old Town, St. Augustine, Florida; a pub opened in the 17th century, and still open today. All operations in Old Town are period, establishments, street setting and personal dress. I stepped through the door of this pub, out of the bright sunshine, pulled up the camera and snapped the image. No time for laying anything out. I didn't even know until later that I even got a workable image at the time it was taken.

This image was printed on Fabriano Artistico 140lb hot press watercolor paper. This print has ten print runs of gum, over the palladium print, using about 15 color mixes. It also continues the evolution of my gum printing technique. The overall intent of this print image was recreating the mood of a 17th century pub, lighting and textural quality of the interior. Things like the barrister's white blouse, and the fisherman's outfit, and parrot. The lighting in the back room was to be a bit brighter than the bar scene, with walls that looked like an old well worn pub setting. That was the intent. It's up to the viewer for any connection to the image.

Gum over Palladium Print
"The Pub" ~ 11x14 ~ Unique
Old Town, St. Augustine, Florida

New Work ~ Gum over palladium Print

I have shifted my blogging to the blog on my website, however, this blog seems to attract printers, so it behooves me to post here as well. To catch up, I have finished the five books on photographic processes; "Alchemist's Guide; to Printing in Gum" ~ and Gum over Palladium.  Four years in the works completing that project. I now have ten portfolios of prints, forming the bulk of my body of work. For now I continue to print gum over palladium prints, now, in 11x14 format.

I have posted past gum over palladium prints, layer at a time, to show how the process proceeds, as technique. The thing to keep in mind is the gum process is very malleable, conforming to the printer's personal creativity. There are no real boundaries. When I began making gum prints, I had only a knowledge of the process, which is sufficient to begin, What I lacked was coming to understand technique, which comes after one begins learning technique. Technique is what shapes the print image to the printer's vision of what the image is to look like.

I am an avowed Pictorialist. No the fuzzy out of focus shots of young women in white gossamer dress holding a glass ball in the misty forest, near a lake. That'd be Clarence White. The Pictorial Effect has to do with creating an overall mood for the print image, by using technique to shape the elements in such a way it is 'the strongest way of seeing'. Dramatic, such that the viewer can more directly feel the emotional connection the printer had with the image. That takes time, and a lot of printing.

Next up is the first of the 11x14 gum over palladium prints in the newest portfolio. I will be noting the basics elements of the printing process, to give the reader a way of seeing how the print went together. The current print I am working on is the third print in the portfolio,a and one that I have been spending more time on, evaluating exactly what I want out of it. More on that when I post the print. Soon.