> "Double coating" can mean several things to people. I was particularly
> referring to using two complete coats of sensisitzer. Martin Axon (Platine
> paper inventor" recommends a second coat of just plain water, with perhaps
> a small addition of glyerin. Others use half as much sensitizer with the
> same amount of water and coat twice. Though this is a fairly uncommon
> practice, it does not use twice as much of the precious chemistry.
I did not find the second coat of just water to work very well with the
Platine paper. I still use two coats, each with about half the
sensitizer of a normal "full" coat, however, I don't dilute the coats.
The Platine paper is just not particularly absorbant.
> Last point: Dmax.
>
> I guess it is possible to make a violin sound like a viola. You could
> probably breed Dobermin Pincers to look like German Shepherds. But why
> bother? Platinum by nature is an exquisite midtone process. Those who are
> lucky enough to be able to see a show of great Pt work from the classic
> period (1890 - 1920) will see that virtually none of the prints will have
> anything near a true white or a true black. Clarence White, Steiglitz.
> Steichen, Kasebier, Coburn, Day, you name them, there are virtually never
> blacks or whites just grays. You have to see it to believe it. A.A. has
> left a legacy for the silver print, but I'm afraid we're trying to play
> violin music on violas when we use his dictims for Pt printing. If Adams
> were alive today, I think he would agree. In some ways, his reaction in
> the 30's was just the opposite, to free silver from the "unatural"
> dictates of the Pictorialists. That is people were making silver bromide
> look like gum and platinum. We are far too slavish on the issue of Dmax. I
> had dreams in the early days of seeeing Brett Weston's negs printed in Pt.
> No more.
True that Platinum has spectacular midtones, but I must take umbridge
with your characterization of anyone trying to include the density
extremes in their prints as "trying to play violin music on a viola" or
that it is equivalent to someone who was trying to "breed Dobermin
Pincers to look like German Shepherds".
For me, what I like about platinum is the luminosity, and subtlety of the
tonal separation. I have made some prints that have barely the faintest
image possible on the paper. A print of virtually all high values as it
were. This suited the subject matter. You could just as easily make a
print that had no highlights, just pure shadows. A deep rich black with
subtle shawdow information rendered with the luminosity which one only gets
with platinum. Or, one could also print a very full scale negative, and
have a rich Dmax, clear highlights, and the proverbial exquisite
midtones. To run with your musical metaphor, you might say that an
Exquisite Midtone Print (tm) is like a beautiful string quartet.
Elegant, delicate, perfect for what it is. However, if you are trying to
play a symphony with just string quartet I think you will be
disappointed. The rich blacks of some prints can be the foundation for a
great image - the double basses, tubas, contrabassoons. The clear
highlights, the flutes, piccolos, and triangle. Together, they can
express something which the string quartet could not. However, if you
score a string quartet for orchestra, I'm afraid all you would end up
with is so much hamburger.
If you like the soft, delicate expression of an Exquiiste Midtone Print,
that's great. If you prefer the Strum und Dang of a powerful full scale
print - that's fine too. And like, Beethoven, you might do some of each -
not locked into a ridgid mindset. I think that to say, "look at all these
old platinum prints, they don't have pure black or pure white" and use
that as a rational for not trying something new, if it suits the
expression of your vision, is being something of a Luddite. In fact, I
seem to recall a time that even you, Dick, lusted after the ultimate Dmax.
:)
I think we should be supportive of each other, and encourage each other
to express our images in whatever way suits our vision. While I think it
is healthy to suggest the possiblity of breaking free from the dogma of
full scale prints, I think it would be foolish to replace it with a new
Midtone Dogma.
- David Fokos