Jeffrey D. Mathias (jeffrey.d.mathias@worldnet.att.net)
Tue, 01 Jun 1999 08:17:57 -0400
> Stephen Edgar wrote:
>
> Hi Folks,
> I'm keen to have a go at platinum printing, but I'm confused as to the
> simplest way to get started. There appear to be many ways of
> approaching the topic.
> What is the simplest way for a newcomer to the process to get
> reasonable results ?
>
> I have a 4" x 5" camera and could produce 'proper' negatives for
> contact printing. However,having recently purchased Dan
> Burkholders book, "Making Digital Negatives",this seems a more
> flexible pathway, in that perhaps I could even work from 35mm
> negatives?
Stephen,
Thanks for the complement as to my guide. And, you probably know by now
my opinion on Palladio. As to what are reasonable results, that's a
mater of preference. I've always pursued the best qualities a process
has to offer. Any of the processes will take a while (or lifetime) to
master. So I suggest, as a starting point, to become familiar with
prints from as many processes and photographers as possible (not from
books, internet, or repros unless this is what you wish to produce, but
from actual prints). Then select a process and keep with it. It is
beneficial to work exclusively with one process. You've seemed to have
selected Pt/Pd, but this advice and the following is applicable to any
process.
The next step would be to become familiar with the materials and special
processing. It is suggested to reduce these to their bare minimum
simply for the ease of learning a few things at a time. Keep the
variables few and constant. Purchase small quantities of raw base
materials untill it is known what is desired, then buy bulk for cost
savings. Do not get kits or pre manufactured stuff as this will
severely limit the ability to truly learn and it may give consistency
problems or worse. If the process chosen involves coating, as most
alt-processes do, it is imperative to learn and become proficient at
coating at this stage. Even coating a bunch of paper with nothing more
than water and food coloring will be helpful. Notice how different
papers coat differently; this list has had many posts on coating various
materials (start with what other's have had success with, especially if
you have seen good quality prints with that material). Note that the
right or perfect negative is not needed at this point; in fact no
negative is really needed for any of the above.
As the next step, I suggest to complete the matrix exercises outlined in
my guide. For additional technical info, add a 21-step wedge when
printing (this has not yet been written up but plans are to add it in a
future revision). The value of this exercise is to train the eye to see
what a negative and print look like and their relationships with each
other and with one's seeing. This is so important. At this point a
negative and print can be made.
The next step is to photograph and make a lot of prints. Everything
should be relatively standardized at this point. So learn and master
these basics, and then when confident as to one's proficiency (and only
then), experiment with some variations.
The next step is to learn the building of larger negatives. This may
not be your desire at this point, but you can be assured that if you
have not become somewhat proficient at the above (making prints and the
proper negatives and understanding this), a lot of time and materials
will be wasted. I would suggest staying with 4x5 or even 35mm contact
prints until such time as the basics have been learned, then incorporate
other things such as negative building. What may seem to you to be
"flexible" at this point may only contain a lot of headaches; after
learning the basics will come the flexibility.
Please be assured that the above IS the simplest way to get resonable
results. Have fun.
-- Jeffrey D. Mathias http://home.att.net/~jeffrey.d.mathias/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Thu Oct 28 1999 - 21:39:36