U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: Fresson question

Re: Fresson question



Sandy,

In my opinion, a key aesthetic of monochrome Fresson is the intense matte blacks it is capable of providing. When you view a good Fresson, it's reflectance follows tonality. The highlight areas have a slight sheen which cranks down to a dead matte in the shadow areas . . . so much so that it looks as if you will get a smudge of pigment on a finger if you tough it..

By the very nature of D-Max measurements those intense matte black areas will not compare to silver or carbon. My point is that though the measurements are real, they are probably not a valuable way to judge this type of print's qualities.

Art



Sandy King wrote:

Reflective D-Max is just a term that describes the darkness of a print as measured with a densitometer, so it is expressed as a log value. Pt./Pd., kallitype and vandyke prints on art papers generally have a maximum Dmax of about log 1.45 - 1.55. Silver prints on glossy papers can have a Dmax of up to log 2.2 or even higher. A direct carbon print like a Fresson print will have a maximum Dmax of below log 1.4. Carbon transfer prints can have a reflective Dmax as high as silver papers, though this depends on many working conditions.

Reflective D-Max is a technical description and does not make any implication about aesthetic quality, though many pursue it for its own sake as they do detail and sharpness.


Sandy






At 12:25 AM -0500 1/12/08, Judy Seigel wrote:



Now, however, a possibly dumb question... though I doubt anyone's reading this far, so what the hey: What is "reflective D-Max"? D-max on an opaque surface rather than in a transparency? Or? (I've never seen that term -- tho, just ask me & I'll explain ULF.)



Judy