"Tammy's Rose" ~ Gum Layer 3

I took a day off. I'm old. The printing has to be flawless, and one's head has to be in the game and the focus has to be sharp. Any flaw at any time and the image is junk. This third layer was focused on the subject, mostly. Using a split color arrangement Tammy's hair and skin got a thin layer of Yellow Ochre. Her dress got a fairly thin mixture of Raw Umber, just enough to cross over from looking like a pale ochre to more like a brown when mixing in the gum. I also added the ochre over the light grasses in the foreground, separating further from the darker background, using blue/green/ochre.

This print run got a full 15 minute print time, printing for zone 7, highlights in the subject's hair as well as brilliance of the light on the dress. That I want to remain right at zone 7, and zone 6. That's the light zone. As the print progresses there is less of the overall 'yellow' look and a bit more depth, and tonal separation, with the colors at the different levels left sheer and subtle. This is a personal choice, a vision of 'how it should look', or artist's 'gesture' or 'hand' in the printing. Perhaps this is also a phase of printing for me. A way of interpreting the image. And, perhaps it also has to do with my mostly red/green color blindness which leave a far more subtle world of color than I am told exists. I see an obvious green color placard in front of me, but 100ft out I likely wouldn't, especially mixed with other similar colors or tones. I interpret the world in my prints probably the same. My primary focus is on the quality of the light.

For my efforts, if Tammy appears to be sitting on a stump in bright sunshine then the print is successful. The remaining yellowish color on the dress is mostly the remaining dichromate stain, which will be cleared when the print is finished, leaving a warm toned brown(ish) color. Theoretically. Which is how I print, using subtractive color theory. The photograph was taken of my daughter, who was my primary testing model. She got to pick the outfit I chose the spot. This one was to test a developer I had read about in an old photography book. Beutler 105. It was supposed to be a semi-compensating developer, holding in textured highlights like Pyro, leaving long skin tones like pyro, but not compensating in the lower densities. All of which I liked. This was the test shot, developing for the highlights I knew would be pushing zone 8. I still use that developer. Best overall developer ever created.

Split Color Application ~ Gum layer 3
Yellow Ochre ~ Raw Umber
"Tammy's Rose" ~ 8x10

"Tammy's Rose" ~ Gum Layer 2

Because of the color combinations I want to use, along with the differences in the tonal range between subject and background I am working with the background this layer, using split colors. The deeper background will be a blue/green when it's done. The rose branches right behind the subject will be green. I will further separate that backdrop by coating the lighter part where the dried grass is. Next layer will be focused on the subject, then further enhancements may come.

For those that see the full spectrum, you will be able to see the subtle green in the rose bush and blue/green of the distant background.  There remains the yellow dichromate stain.

Gum over Palladium ~ Layer 2 ~ Split color
"Tammy's Rose"

Tammy's Rose ~ Gum Layer 1

For me, the go to color to replicate direct sunshine on an object is Yellow Ochre. It warms the print image overall, as well as sets up the base color for successive colors, in this case, as was the last, that was mostly foliage. That allows for different color options to come depending on how the image is to be interpreted, influenced. The image I have in mind is a warm toned image with the subject displaying the brilliant sunshine that was the condition when photographed.

The highlights of the image, the subject's hair and dress remain right at the edge of zone 7, leaving the reflective brilliance of the sunlight still evident overall. I am printing right to zone 7 for this color layer, keeping the color showing at that tonal range, as golden light. That will be enhanced on the final layer. Following layers will focus on the subject's dress and the background foliage, layered separately using different colors. Some of the yellowish color is the dichromate stain.

Gum Layer 1 ~ Yellow Ochre
"Tammy's Rose"

"Tammy's Rose" ~ Gum over Palladium ~ Base Print

I have begun printing again, after a family visit and holiday expectations. One test strip verified the density range of the negative was spot on, and the base print to follow turned out as desired. I also have learned some additional subtle influences of palladium toner having to do with solution %. As I noted in an earlier post, reducing the % solution of palladium tends to warm the print image. That would be a reduction from a stock solution of  (Pd) 5ml to 1000ml DH2O ~ reduced to half that or less. Simply accomplished by adding more DH2O. I tend to mix 20ml (stock) with 30ml DH2O for a warmer tone. Also know that that the % solution also controls how much bleach back there is on the print image. The stronger % the more bleach back. Being a top down toner, this bleaching affect is first seen in the highlights, moving down the tonal values over time. The point of control for this is print time, to set up the right tonal scale before toning.

This photograph was taken circa 1984, for a developer test. I was learning photo chemistry at the time and had already begun mixing my own developers and other baths. This was a test for a non-M/Q developer; Beutler 105, which for me, remains one of the best developers ever created. It is a semi-compensating developer, with the compensation affecting highlights but not shadows, as pyro would, being a fully compensating developer. What I was after was full control of zone 7, holding what would otherwise run into zone 8, without texture. This was the shot that showed me it could be done. The image is of my daughter, Tammy, with the light blonde hair in full sunlight.

This is the base image that I will begin applying gum over. As the other gum over palladium prints, this is printed on pre-shrunk Hahnemühle paper, which is a very fine printing paper for this technique, with the multi-wet processing runs. The palladium print was made as a Kallitype, developed in sodium citrate, toned in palladium. Hence the 'poor man's palladium'. I do also print in palladium, and platinum/palladium (Na2), but find this combination to be more controllable for print color and tonal range. The most important element of the print is holding the subject's hair and dress just reaching zone 7. That's where the light is. The long creamy skin tones derived from the Beutler development mimics pyro portrait formulas, with both accelerators; sodium carbonate and hydroxide. Hydroxide just affords so much more acutance.

Palladium toned Kallitype ~ Base print for gum over palladium
"Tammy's Rose" ~ 8x10 ~ digital negative
Eugene, Oregon circa 1984

Dead Air Time ~ Apologies

One of the benefits of being old(er)(ish) comes from the slack one gets for moving slower than the crowd, and the times when their's dead spots along the line of continuity. Not that I'm using that card at this time, just saying. Although the olderish thingy is true. My wife's daughter and grandson came to the desert for a visit. The Old West part of Tucson does have its draw for mid-westerners. Nine days in the desert is the title of our time together, and it was quite enjoyable.

Those nine days spent on the road as guide precluded any darkroom time, painful as that was. Perhaps this missive would have been far better received had it been written on the first day. My apologies and regret for that slight. There are negatives waiting their turn in the printer, so it shouldn't be long before I have an image to show.

Every print is your best one ever