Interactivity and process

Carl Weese (cjweese@wtco.net)
Sat, 13 Jun 1998 09:09:03 -0500

> Exactly -- and making the print is *interactive*, like painting. That is,
> you look at what's happening and decide what to do (or try) next. I think
> that may be one reason platinum printers (among others) can have trouble
> with it. They're accustomed to everything determined in advance, a
> detailed protocol.
>

Judy,

There may be some folks who _don't_ print platinum in an "interactive"
way, but there's no need, or advantage to being so rigid. To a certain
extent a given emulsion mix and method choice--once made--will
predetermine whether the print will be high or low in contrast, dark or
bright, warm or cold, or perhaps warm in the highlights and neutral in
the shadows, or warm in the shadows, neutral in the mid-tones, and warm
in the highlights: once you pick the combination the print has to come
out with a certain set of characteristics. But of course that's just the
first step in the feedback process of printing. If that first guess at
tonal and color pallettes turns out not to be as persuasive as you
wished, you move on to another formulation with different
characteristics.

And of course there are POP platinum methods (three actually: the
original patented Pizzighelli method of 1887 which I don't think anyone
uses in the original form today, then the the two modern versions of
Pizzighelli--the Ware/Malde ammonium print, and the lithium/cesium-based
Ziatype). With POP, the actual exposure process is truly interactice
because self-masking produces differential contrast--the longer you
expose the slower the progress of the shadows, while the highlights
continue to gain density at a much greater rate. Printing by inspection
as self-masking proceeds is about as interactive as you can get :-) .

---Carl