Digital BW, The Print

Many people ask me how is it that my inkjet prints have an "etched" look
with rich deep blacks and brilliant highlights.  This ability has been the
culmination and development of a number of traditional and digital
techniques that I have come to use over the years. Well, here it is, for the
very first time I will tell all! ;-)

The following truths are true. They are not open to discussion, nor are they
the only workflow available. But!, if you want the truth, then here it
is.....;-)

Truth No. 1

Use great optics! No buts about it, no discussions no arguments....period.

Truth No. 2

Shoot your film and learn the Zone system. I am not an advocate of testing,
but you need to know what your materials will do.

Truth No. 3

Process your negatives in a staining Pyro developer. This is a religion and
I fully understand that. BUT, you wanted the truth, so here it is. Process
your negatives in PMK Pyro. The stain acts fills in between the grain
proportionately, That is, more stain builds up in the areas where there is
less silver and less stain in areas where there is more silver. And, most
importantly the negatives will have very high accutance and will exhibit
strong edge effects. You will see a fine black line along areas of tonal
change. The negatives will glow and so will your prints. Especially so with
low light situations, soft light, and fog!

You may not agree, but hey the truth hurts!

Truth No. 4

No matter how good your service bureau tells you their new fangled Imacon
is, insist on a drum scan. Insist on a flat scan, that is tell them you want
absolutely NO ADJUSTMENTS. No USM, no contrast adjustments and no gamma
adjustments. Ask them to scan your PMK Pyro negatives as RGB 48 bit files.
Have them scan using a native optical resolution resolution of the drum
scanners that is the smallest resolution that you can use. That is, scan at
300dpi at the image size rather than at 4000dpi at 1:1. The reason for this
is simple, at the lower dpi settings the drum will not scan the grain. If
you scan at the higher resolutions the drum scanner will adjust the aperture
and will scan right down into the grain and your Tri-X scan will be the most
georgeous example of TX grain you have ever seen.

This applies to drum scanners omly and may not be applicable to CCD
scanners.

Truth No. 5

Do as many of the tonal, contrast, and gamma adjustments as you can in 16
bit mode. Use duplicate copies of your images to make selections and
adjustment layers. Then you can copy these selections into the 16 bit file
as needed.

Truth No. 6

Buy the best paper you can. Saving $0.50 per sheet and buying Epson Archival
(Enhanced) Matte is silly and short sighted. The better papers are 100%
Cotton Rag, acid free and will help you obtain deep dense right blacks,
lovely midtones and brilliant highlights.

Truth No. 7

Whatever I say here works for me in my studio, in my darkroom, and in my
town. It may not work for you in yours. Technology is changing so fast, that
in 15 minutes everything that I just told you make be untrue!

Mike



----- Original Message -----
From: "btmcelhaney" <kmcelhaney@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 03, 2002 11:25 PM
Subject: [Digital BW] Re: Piezo Pro 24 RIP


>
> >>>>>Images from 35mm Tri-X, scanned at 2800 dpi
> on Minolta Multi, printed 18x27 on 24x36 Legion Photo Matt.<<<<<<
>
>
> That sounds nearly impossible to do while retaining any kind of
> quality! What's the secret? I would certainly like to see one of
> those exibition prints.
>
> Bruce McElhaney
> McElhaney Portrait Studio
> Livonia, MI
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., toomagenta@a... wrote:
> > In a message dated 4/2/2002 10:34:38 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> > butchhul@a... writes:
> >
> >
> > > George,
> > >
> > > I am also using a 7000 with the IP4 RIP and MIS-FS inks. Just
> > > finished framing and hanging a show of prints that I finished
> this
> > > past weekend.
> > Butch,
> > Thanks for responding to my query.
> > I am glad to hear from others who are using the system and are
> happy with it.
> > Not too many people chimed in, which I am guessing is a sign of
> lack of usage
> > rather than dissatisfaction.
> > Congratulations on your apparent success. I hope your exhibition
> leads to
> > many other successes.
> > (Must also say, Mike Kravit is both a gentleman and a fine source
> > of information for any traveling down this particular road.)
> > I must agree with you 110% on this point. Not only has he offered
> his
> > knowlege, experience and expertise, but he has generously offered
> to send a
> > sample print so I can put an eyeball on the picture!
> > They say that what goes around, comes around, so I hope some of the
> best
> > things that come around come back to  Mike.
> > This list is a pleasure to participate in, and I hope that I can
> someday
> > contribute to it in a positive way.
> > ( Images from 35mm Tri-X, scanned at 2800 dpi
> > on Minolta Multi, printed 18x27 on 24x36 Legion Photo Matt.)
> > Sounds like an amazing feat!
> > Thanks again,
> > George J Kunze
> >
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
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