Re: Show and Bromoil Inking Demo in Texas

Dave Rose wrote on 9/8/05, 9:10 PM:

> I can't make the show (too far away), but I visited the websites and I'm
> very impressed with the work. What process did you use to make your
> prints?

Hi Dave,

I was afraid you'd ask that. For both Jill and myself, this is the first
time either of us has had a show that included NO handmade prints. It
sorta took us aback when we realized it just as we were preparing to
deliver the prints.

Jill made 6x8-inch bromoils and then scanned those handmade prints. (By
the way, she prints all her original bromoils from digital negs made on
the Epson 2200. And all her images were shot with a little 3 mega-pixel
digital camera.) As you probably know, printing platinum is like falling
off a log compared to the handwork that goes into the bromoil. Thank god
Jill loves it and I only have to watch. ;^)

Jill's final prints in this show (www.jillskupinburkholder.com) are
11x14-inch Pigmented Ink Prints (around this household we don't call
them "inkjet" or--worse yet-- "Giclees") made on the Epson R2400 using
the Advanced Black and White Mode. The paper is Red River Lux Art
(lovely paper) and she mattes (actually I get that job) to 16x20.

She does very little Photoshop work on her images; her final prints are
practically an exact replica of the smaller bromoil, right down to the
brushed ink marks. The Epson's Advanced Black and White Mode provides
neat (though not perfect) ways to control image color. She's got the
2400 output looking really sweet.

My prints are Pigmented Ink too in a 9.5x13-inch size, matted to 22x28.
I'm using Crane's Museo paper, which I like a lot. Like Jill, I'm using
the R2400 Epson. IMHO, this printer is a big step forward in quality,
reduced metamerism, speed, archival standards and grayscale output.

And all the images in this group (www.danburkholder.com/new_images) came
from digital capture running 3 mega-pixel on up. Unlike Jill, I never
know when to stop in Photoshop and sometimes it shows. On the other
hand, that's how I've learned my 27% of Photoshop over the past 13 years
so I have a lot of respect for playfulness, be it in the darkroom, on
the computer, or on a motorcycle.

I'm not abandoning the handmade print. In fact, I'm eager take a few of
these color images to Pigment-Over-Platinum (POP). After three years of
dicking with the process, I've learned that only certain "special"
images can truly exploit the virtues (and merit the work) of POP. I
wasted far too much time trying to squeeze unsuitable images into the
POP color space, and that is neither good for the print nor does it
provide enough positive feedback to keep me interested. Now that I'm
developing a feel for which images can "let the process breath," it's
going to be fun to get back to the darkroom. Plus, I have a bunch of
images that need to be "straight" platinum-palladium. Make sense?

Anyway, Jill's the star of the show as you can tell by looking at her
images. Her designs are so unforced and inviting; I'm constantly envious
of how easy it is for her to point her camera in exactly the right
direction.

Sorry you can't make the show but thanks for looking at the web images!

Dan

-- 
www.danburkholder.com
www.tinytutorials.com