Digital BW, The Print

Sounds like this was a great meeting.

>...
>The most common weakness in terms of print quality
>was lack of separation in deep blacks. ...

The rod coating that Robert and I are now doing allows one to address this.
With the deeper blacks (density over 2.0) one can increase the deep shadow
contrast and separate the tones, with dramatic visual impact.

Note that my lightly-selenium-toned Kodak Polymax Fine Art silver prints
have a dMax of only about 1.9.  So, one easy coat on an Eclipse Satine and
we have a visibly-greater dynamic range than the silver prints.  Add the
digital controls that allow us to selectively increase the contrast of the
deep blacks, and, well, the silver print just cannot compete on that basis
any more.

Another problem that the coating addresses is the physical deterioration
that prints can suffer. In the preservation projects I'm involved with the
poor physical condition of the prints is often the worst problem.  Pigmented
inks are going to be hit in spades with this.  Those particles on the
surface of the paper are very vulnerable.  One reason the traditional silver
print has done relatively well is that the image-forming particles are
embedded in gelatin.  This protects them to a certain degree.

The coatings (acrylic or polyurethane) we are now using to fix the carbon
particles to the paper and encapsulate them are a lot tougher and less
permeable than gelatin.  The resulting print surfaces are so tough I can
clean them with a damp paper towel.

With a tough, cleanable surface, this now opens up display without glazing.
When the glass/plexiglass and resulting reflections are removed, the dynamic
range of the print that is, as a practical matter, accessible to us in most
lighting situations expands dramatically.  In most actual display
conditions, an un-glazed, coated, carbon-pigment print will have a very
significantly better dynamic range than a glazed silver print.

The unglazed, high-dynamic-range prints we can now produce and display will
speak for themselves.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com