Digital Negatives ~ Keeping Two Sets

Until my printing paper order arrives at my door I am left to talking about photographic process. I had hoped to post the results of the newly printed negative that PJ created for me yesterday morning. Perhaps yesterday's foray to find Platine paper was a prophetic moment, because soon, I will have a newer brand of printing paper made specifically for alternative hand coated processes, and having all the attributes of Platine paper, at less than half the cost. That's worth the wait. Bostick & Sullivan gets orders to my door rather quickly, being their proximity to me is a short day's drive, in western measurements.

The post yesterday was on the digital negative designed for printing in silver, or Pt/Pd. The scale necessary for accomplishing that. The addition of spectral density to the negative is used as a printing time retardant, only. Adding a green tone to a negative image, utilizing a adjustment layer is a "global" action. That green color is evenly spread out over the entire negative image, thus, the affect is simply demanding more print time. There is no discernible variation to any tonal range over another during printing. That variable has to do with the density range, the density difference between the blackest area of the print, Zone 1, and pure blank white, Zone 8.

That has been the lesson PJ and I have been working through. For our purposes, the green spectral density we are adding to the negative is necessary due to the Solar Printer we are using for printing. It is putting out enough UV intensity to print in a salt paper print in under 4 minutes, when that negative printed in direct sunlight for 14 minutes. You get the point. Not easy controlling the printing in that short a print time. Especially in gum. The green spectral density retards the print time approximately ten minutes, and that is the print time we are working towards. The second variable concerning the density range has almost been worked out, with the last two test prints demonstrated. dMax was reached with the highlights just filling in Zone 7 (white with full texture), under 15 minutes. Now the fine tuning begins.

What is unknown, yet, is how this newest negative is going to print out. PJ was able to separate tonal regions in the negative and manipulate those densities exclusively, separating that density region from surrounding densities, increasing the tonal separation of the image. It was also noted, by PJ, who can actually see green in subtle shades, that as these density regions were being manipulated as a density, the spectral green of that region also seemed to darken or lighten with the changes in density. First of all, the image being discussed had just been altered to a "black and white" in Photoshop. From where came the menu offering slider controls for all the hue levels, of a black and white image. And secondly, even I could see the green spectral density of the image throughout the procedure, of a black and white negative. Yes, I am confused of this issue. One of the best reasons I have for not working within the digital framework of photography. However that process works, it will be revisited often with all future negatives should this test negative print as predicted by the virtue of its characteristics.

The same basic procedural rules for printing negatives will be used for the upcoming gum printing, with exception to density range. For gum printing, any standard density negative that would print well in a silver gelatin print, would work for a gum print. That being said, there are advantages to a 'bright' negative in gum printing. As with printing in any medium, the printer chooses a density range that best displays the image in its best form, or as Edward Weston put it, "the strongest way of seeing". That could mean a full density range leaving the dMax black all the way up to a crisp paper base white, a la Ansel Adams, or, a four tonal range print in soft light for specific effect. That is the printer's choice. How do you want the final print to look. No one else has a clue of the printer's intention even while looking at the print. The viewer may not like the print image, but have little choice but to accept that the printer wanted the image to look the way it does, right in front of their eyes.

Speaking for myself, I keep two sets of digital negatives, in two notebooks with clear sleeves, as well as digitally in two folder systems; silver/palladium and gum. What is in common is the use of spectral density to the negative as print time retardant. The density scaling will be conformed to best printing for each process, respectively. I like tweaking a standard scaled negative just a bit to pull out the middle tone textures, and 'brighten' the upper tones so they are at least a half tone density above middle tones. Even in gum printing, there are advantages to that practice. It could be said, that a negative that prints well in silver gel prints well in gum. It could also be said just as judiciously that a negative that prints well in hand coated silver will print well in gum. The print times would be exaggerated, but every density range would print in. What would change, is the visual appearance of the image. Such scaling for gum printing would of course alter the image in ways that aren't easily explained theoretically.

The image below was captured using the same old Burke & James flatbed view camera, and developed for printing in salted silver, although an earlier negative, before I stretched that density curve out much further, later on. Having scanned the image, I am now able to digitally create two negatives, scaled for different printing mediums. Just as I kept negatives in black and white film, I keep digital negatives, beginning with the master, a RAW digital image. That is kept in a marked file folder, and from there another folder keeps the .tif file negative images after being prepared for their specific printing purpose, respectively; silver and gum. This image will likely see both.

Salted Silver Print ~ "Arizona Desert View"

1986 ~ 5"x7" ~ Unique

Upper Sonoran Desert, Arizona

Digital Negatives ~ Magic Land Densities

I think back to the days of tray development of the 5x7 negatives I was shooting with. There was much that could be done to fully control the density range of any negative in any lighting condition, and spectral differences. Spectral differences including the difference in spectral light between Tucson, Arizona, and Eugene, Oregon. The spectral light of Eugene being up into the blue light area of the spectrum, with Tucson shifted to the lower, red spectrum. On panchromatic film that matters. Panchromatic film is more sensitive to the red light than the blue light, creating the misnomer of it being 'more contrasty' outside. That, is when a compensating developer comes in, and perhaps even a compaction during development. An earlier article.

Having now begun revisiting the arena of reading negatives, along with adding spectral density into the mix, I am coming to read so much better now. When I began this process some weeks ago, and without all the equipment I have now, I was working to build sufficient ink density on the acetate sheet to actually represent a true Zone 7 & 8. Turns out, I learned that particular lesson at the same time I came to grasp the spectral density's part to play in the process. This process is ongoing, and a collaboration with PJ (McArdle) who founded and created the darkroom photographers group, and where my printing is currently done, until my own printing room is done.

We have been developing a sort of hybrid of Dan Burkholder's procedural methodology in preparing a digital negative for printing in hand coated processes. His method works well, by the way, as he has demonstrated. What I am personally after is manipulating certain areas of the negative, representing certainly tonal ranges, for better texture and detail in the print as well as optimal tonal separation, using the longest density scale possible. I believe we stumbled onto that procedure this morning. I am not able to tell you what that was simply because I haven't a clue what he did. What I saw... was certainly not intuitive. I do not have Photoshop. I do have Corel Paintshop Pro which is Photoshop designed for photography. I will be trying to do what he did, then I can talk about it, as I will have some sort of structure to describe.

The simple of it is this, using hue/color slides in the menu, for a black and white negative image, sections of tonal ranges began changing their density, based upon hue assignment. Somehow it is seeing what had been the color assignments, no clue. The outcome was that the section controlling the sky and clouds set that up with a matching density range of the house with a Zone 7 density. The Cyan slide pulled up a Zone 3 area of a large field of grasses, to Zone 4, and so on. It appears that when the density increases or decreases, the amount of green tone followed suit, which would further separate the two tonal ranges just achieved. That negative now represents what would have been magic thirty years ago. If this method is a functional as it appears visually at this time, I will document it fully and writing about it. Grasping the digital aspect is certainly a weak spot for me.

On the way to print today, I needed to pick up a sheet of Arches Platine so I could print this new, most excellent negative. In a town(?) of a million people, not one art store has a single sheet of that paper, or anything equivalent. So, the printing session is off until my online order of a new equivalent of Arches Platine arrives. Revere Platinum paper, sold by Bostick & Sullivan, is less than half the cost of Platine, with the company's tag next to said paper, it is becoming the preferred paper for alternative process printers. This is very promising. It is of the same weight and dimensions, and is also sized, being made for hand coated printing. I will certainly be writing about that when it arrives.

I recently scanned two old 5x7 negatives that were still taped to the printing masks I used for printing a gum. They are of the upper Sonoran Desert in Arizona, taken circa 1986 during a family visit I made with my two offspring at the time. I had brought along my Burke & James 5x7 flat bed view camera, with all the stuff that goes with such a rig. That was also the year I captured the inside of Paul & Jerry's Bar in Jerome, Arizona, with recognizable old timers at the bar. Soon, that will be printed as an 8x10 in palladium. The image below is one I printed in gum, back then. This time around I will print it in both gum and silver to palladium.

Salted Silver Print ~ "Desert Mesas"
1986 ~ 5"x7" ~ Unique
Upper Sonoran Desert, Arizona

Test Print ~ Palladium toned Kallitype

As I mentioned before, I find the Kallitype process to my liking, more than salted silver, although I have made a number of really nice salted silver prints. The Kallitype uses a iron binder mixed with the silver solution at the time of printing, unlike the salt paper process where the salt (iron) binder is attached to the print paper by soaking it in a salt solution before drying, before later printing. The Kallitype process is almost exactly like the platinum/palladium printing process. Both use a ferric oxalate as the binder in equal amount to the silver/platinum/palladium solution; 10%/20%/15% respectively.

The Kallitype formula I have picked up uses 10% solution of silver, which has proven to be very effective. That, mixed with a 20% solution of ferric oxalate in equal amount then brushed on the printing paper. I use Arches Platine pretty much exclusively for Kallitypes. The full Kallitype process is laid out in detail under "Processes" right side of the blog page next to article listing. I only single coat the Kallitypes, thus far, with the problem of removing all the ferric iron in the paper being difficult. I have also come to learn that there is a better chemical for this job than the Citric Acid this formula calls for. That would be EDTA (Tetrasodium Salt) used in Pt/Pd printing to clear the print after development, same as Kallitype. My understanding is that EDTA can be used in the Kallitype process.

That brings up another quality of the two processes that I will be experimenting with. Both processes use ferric oxalate as the iron binder. For Pt/Pd the solution is 27%. For Kallitype (silver) it is 20%. The developing agents for Pt/Pd are ammonium citrate, and sodium citrate, which is also used in the Kallitype, this developer being a warm tone or brown shade for both processes. The different developers create the primary print color due to their reaction with the metallic salts. I prefer to use the black developer for Kallitype prints as it sets up a good deep dMax black in the lower tones which then remain deep black after toning with palladium, bringing the warm tones to the print.

This Kallitype print was developed in the black developer; sodium acetate & tartaric acid, and cleared in citric acid before toning in palladium. One of the attributes of the Kallitype is that the print is developed after printing out. This is not totally unique to Kallitype in silver, as a salt paper print can be developed out, just like a Kallitype, with exception to not then needing to be cleared, as in a Kallitype. Likely because the binder is in the paper. That would be a guess though. What that comes down to is that when you develop out a printed out print, the image is not fully printed in before development. In the case of a salt paper print, using Gallic acid calls for a print out time of 1/3rd standard print time. For Rodinal development it calls for 1/5th print time.

That means you won't see any detail above probably Zone 4, maybe Zone 5 before development. I am not used to that, printing in salt paper. This is new and remains a bit bizarre to my senses, yet. This image for this print was mostly prepared in Lightroom, using the slides for the visually inspected density assignments I put to each density range, before toning the negative green. I always work with an image I will be printing, in its negative form. This was close, however being I boosted the densities as well as added the green tone, it took some time to print it down. This print was a 20 minute print, with only the lower half of the tonal range printed in. I have come to know what happens when the print time exceeds 20 minutes. It isn't good.

Palladium toned Kallitype ~
8"x10" ~ "Sacred Dance"

Test Print ~ Palladium toned Salted Silver

The testing continues, with interesting outcomes cropping up that become real head scratchers. One of the variables that will be dropped out for now is two silver processes; salt paper and Kallitype. There are two really good reasons, one being cross contamination, and the other being simply the two processes are different enough to create more questions than offer up good prints. Both processes print roughly equally even from the same negative. Roughly equal meaning if a negative is scaled such that it prints nicely on salt paper, then it will print approximately equal as far as tonal range is concerned. That being said things can go sideways quickly without altering print times, as Kallitypes don't print like a salted silver (salt paper).

My direct experience with silver printing has been in the salt paper process. That process can be stripped down to two chemicals; table salt and silver nitrate, to make the print. There are formulas that include citric acid in the silver nitrate solution. I am currently staying with the formula I used before, as it is tried and true and I use it now as a baseline. I will print a batch of images with the citric acid included, as well as try out gelatin sizing on the paper when salting the paper. That is the fine tuning part that is a lot more fun than testing, even when there are breakthroughs.

I have come to find Kallitype printing more enjoyable, as a process, than the salt paper process. Perhaps it has to do with not having to pre-treat paper, which then becomes fixed at the salt % used, as well as using four times as much silver, in more saturated form. Part of the testing has to do with realizing the optimal level of binder to silver with the salt paper process. Printing my 5x7 negatives that were developed traditionally using pyro/OH required the binder (salt) at 2 1/2% and the silver solution saturated, at 13%. That agreeable handshake was a very good mixture. For the salt print then, the current 3% binder (salt) solution is actually a bit too much. The negatives as they are scaled now, would fit the 2 1/2% solution better.

In the salt paper process, the binder (salt) to silver ratio can be adjusted to suit the density range of the negative, to a degree. For thinner negatives, less than Log 1.2-1.8 say, the silver solution should be at 10%, and the salt binder between 1%0-2%. For thicker negatives Log 1.2+, the silver should be at 12% by the book, {I use a saturated solution of silver at 13%} and the binder between 2%-3%. And therein lies the tuning range for the negative's density curve. As the binder decreases, with the silver constant, the more contrasty the print. Less binder (salt) = increased contrast. Increased binder = ability to record negatives with a very long density range.

I am at that tuning point now, needing to decrease the salt binder to 2 1/2% while keeping the density range of the current negatives approximately the same. The print times between a salt paper and Kallitype are quite different, using the same negative. Also, when printing a salted silver, you print the image in fully, to the tonal range desired, for me that would be Zone 7, textured white. Then I slip the print into the wash tray or 30 seconds or so to allow the print to become wetted, as well as watch some of the unused silver begin to wash off. Then into the toner which will arrest any further darkening, or, fading from bleaching effect when in the fixer.

Printing in a Kallitype normally doesn't run like that. There are times when a dense negative is used and printing in the upper tonal ranges until them show up, when they seem to not want to come in, turns the print very dark when it is placed in the developer. Very dark. A print this morning was one such prints. After twenty minutes, in print increments of usually 4 minutes, I pulled the print, even though none of the sky had even begun to show up, as well as anything above Zone 6. When it hit the developer, the sky came in like magic, as did a lot of other attributes that hadn't even begun to appear during printing. Much is being learned from this.

Anyone wanting to look at either of these processes, on the right side of the page is a Processes section listing four processes, for easy access. The print I'm posting is a subject I have been wanting to print; flowers. I have too many such images to count. One has to begin somewhere, so I begin with my wife's favorite flower, one she has painted in watercolors many times. Still a work in progress, but it is getting close to what I want it to look like.

In yesterday's post I showed the negative I used for this print. Now you an see how that negative translated in silver, toned in palladium.

Palladium toned Salted Silver Print ~ "Lilies" ~ 8"x10"

CI Curves and Digital Negatives

I have been discussing negative controls using nomenclature suited for chemically developed negatives. Each time I interact with digital negatives, altering them to suit a printing medium, it becomes ever more clear that discussing contrast index curves has to be done under different terms. The two posts concerning contrast index curves and density range is an example. The explanation only works in theory; digitally. Altering the contrast index curve proportionally, or favoring middle tones, is accomplished using digital tools, which have no real rules or boundaries, in the traditional sense. Theoretically, one can manipulate the densities in any given tonal range for increased or decreased density, or other digital attributes. There is no command that alters the density range. That also comes from digital manipulation.

I alluded to this issue in the last post, describing the basic approach I take in digitally manipulating a negative before printing. In short, an in intuitive manipulation done by visual inspection. Knowing how the densities chosen relate to other densities that will all be affected by a constant light source. Meaning, the density range will ideally print down such that when texture shows in zone 7 the print is done and all the tonal ranges below zone 7 are reciprocally in their respective range as well. That can be accomplished in more than one way. The first way was my stripping out a good portion of the middle tones to realize more tonal separation. It worked too well and the effect was akin to a lithograph. All the creamy middle tones add much to a print. Lesson learned. These upcoming negatives have been manipulated to increase all the tonal values, however, not necessarily  proportional or equal. The manipulation was done to favor certain tonal zones, for emphasis.