I call it sharpening pencils: the things that you do to get ready to do the real work. Writers used to actually sharpen pencils. Painters still clean brushes. And photographers? Photographers do a lot of things: test film, mix chemicals, calibrate light meters… Sharpening pencils can be a good thing; if you write with a… [Read More]
Silver Printing with Printed Negatives, part 2
Last time I promised you my take on producing negatives for silver printing on an inkjet printer. This is quite a challenge, because silver gelatin prints are so crisp and subtle that they reveal tiny flaws in the negatives. Roll up your sleeves, and prepare to get some vicarious ink beneath your fingernails, ‘cause here… [Read More]
Silver Printing with Printed Negatives
Last quarter’s column produced the biggest reader response so far. Not that I was overwhelmed; I needed both hands to count the emails, but I didn’t have to take off my shoes. Still, at least a few of you think combining digital imaging with traditional photographic printing is pretty neat. When it comes to the… [Read More]
B&W Permanence
Last time I wrote about improving color image permanence through digital imaging. I wish I could report similar good news for black and white. Our standards are higher for black and white images, since we the standard techniques yield images with prospective lifetimes measured in triple digits. Much of the slower progress for black and… [Read More]
Permanence
Some photographs ought not to last. I’ve made my share. How convenient it would be if they slowly faded away to nothingness. I’m in good company: when Edward Weston decided that he didn’t like some formerly-loved images, he scraped the emulsion off the negatives and turned them into windowpanes. I bet he wanted the prints… [Read More]