>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
With the above names it may be true, but a few years ago, I saw a show up
here in Canada, that was circulated by some outfit sponsored by Kodak. The
early, ca 1920? platinotypes were superb, with rich D-Max and therefore
clean whites (ok., without a rich D-max the same whites may not have been
all that bright:-)
I am kicking myself now, not only to save you folks some effort... but
because I didn't take better notes when looking at that show. What I do
remember distinctly is that the prints looked very different from what is
produced today. Also, none of them looked like the wishy-washy stuff Dick
is referring to above, and yes I have seen plenty of it myself. I only met
Ansel Adams once (ca 1976) and did ask him if he had ever used
platinotypes. He said no. If all he saw was the stuff Dick is referring to,
I can see why.
Luis Nadeau