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.
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