Digital BW, The Print

At 09:31 PM 1/7/04 -0500, you wrote:
>In music the fans of rock realy groove on the big booming base - they
>want their teeth to fall out from the base. The folks that like
>classical demand a huge spread - high frequency to low frequency and the
>folks that like jazz really get off on the subtitles of the midtones
>into the high range. I think it is probably the same in photography.
>Some people get off on "bad ass"DMax - to the point of being obcessed.
>Some demand the spread of tones -  DMax to bright white and demand it on
>every image independent of if it is best for the image or not.
>
>Me I'm a jazz guy. Give me the subtlness in the mid tones to the glowing
>highlights with enough DMax (bass) to make it interesting. I don't spray
>or coat because I don't need to and it gets in the way of the glowing
>highlights and midtones. You are probably right spraying and coating
>most likely changes the character of the image.
>
>Truman
>
>George Hartzell wrote:
>
> >
> > I've been playing with a can of PrintGuard spray, on Epson Archival
> > Matte and Hahnemulle [sic] William Turner.  I've noticed that it
> > *does* darken the blacks a bit, but also that it darkens the dark
> > grays a bit, the lighter grays a little bit, and the whites not at
> > all.  The end result is the midtones are a bit goofy.
> >
> > How do folks handle this Are folks using customized
> > profiles/icq's/curves/... or are they adjusting the images themselves,
> > or?
> >
> > g.
> >
> >
>
>Truman,

Truman,

Good analogy. I go for the jazz riffs myself.  As you say, knowing when to 
blow the right notes is what counts.
I think part of our Holy Quest is about tweaking the process as far as 
possible towards the appearance of an air-dried silver print just for the 
perverse satisfaction of fooling some serious silver print guys for at 
least a second or two.

RE coatings, I think lacquer sprays are important for protection but don't 
like the idea of having to complete the "look" of a print with them. I 
tried waxing with very tantalizing results (couldn't eliminate lap marks) 
but wouldn't want to have to do that all the time for the same reason.  My 
hope is someone will invent a pass-through coating device. A ferrotype 
sheet for ink-jet would be nice - soak the print in Permagloss and squeegee 
it on the sheet to dry :-) Hydrocoat on a Teflon-coated drum!

AZ




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