Bronzing or plating out is not a reversal or anything else but bronzing or
plating out -- a *metallic* look to the emulsion, which when viewed from
one angle sometimes shows near appropriate D-max, from another angle has a
relective, more or less shiny or mirror-like effect. This comes in varying
degrees and is called by various terms. But it is not a lessening of
density or reversal in the sense, true or false, or either of those terms.
Anyone who has seen it would, I daresay, accept the term "bronzing."
I've also found that sometimes it appears when the print is still wet and
remains, though it can disappear on drying, while sometimes you don't see
it on the wet print, but it appears when dry. I even have a sense that
sometimes it appears in time, not at first, but accruing (perhaps in a way
like the plating out in shadow areas of old silver gelatin prints).
> >The question I have in this discussion, as someone who has not yet
> >explored the delights of VDB, is this: is the "bronzing" of VDB under
> >discussion identical with, similar too, or a completely different
> >phenomenon from, the "solarization" of Pt/Pd prints, most commonly seen
> >in pure palladium develop-out prints, and associated with the deepest
> >image tones, which not only go brown but "reverse out" in tonality? >
>---Carl
My own feeling at this point is some doubt about the archival properties
of VDB, not everywhere and always, but somewheres and sometimes. I would
in any event, if I were starting from scratch try Mike Ware's Argyrotype
first. If you can get the silver oxide, it seems just as easy (I've never
done it), but the premise is that it's more archival.
As for Sabatier reversal vs. solarization, etc. -- as you know, we don't
do hornblowing around here, but we do strive at all times and in all ways
(in the words of Danphoto) to tell what's *right*. The next issue of
Post-Factory Photography will have a major feature on Sabatier -- from how
to do it to the Truth About the Mackie Line (wrong, completely wrong, in
most contemporary photo press, from Photo Techniques to Beaumont Newhall.)
cheers,
Judy