Digital BW, The Print

I believe the prints that Paul Strand coated were probably platinum 
prints; which was a medium he used frequently throughout his 
career.  The surface of platinum and palladium (pt/pd) prints is 
matt, much like the surface of inkjet prints when printed on matt 
papers.  The metallic pt/pd lies directly in or on the paper as the 
inkjet pigments do, not suspended in a gelatin emulsion like silver 
prints.  Pt/pd printers in the past often coated the prints with wax 
or varnish to protect the prints from abrasion, and sometimes 
possibly to deepen the blacks which is another way of saying to 
increase the Dmax.  For some reason increasing the "shine" on the 
surface of matt images, typically but not always increases the Dmax 
of a print.  Probably due to the way the surface scatters light.  

Glossy silver paper was originally designed to be heat dried in 
contact with a heated metal drum which was polished to mirror like 
surface.  This polished hot surface would give glossy silver paper a 
very glossy or extremely glossy surface.  Fine art B&W photographers 
in the past have generally prefered the look of gelatin silver 
prints printed on glossy paper then air dried which gives a semi-
glossy surface, rather than heat dried to a glossy surface.  Air 
dried gelatin silver prints have certain "luminance" and extended 
Dmax range which is difficult to duplicate with current inkjet 
technology.  Many B&W photographers, like myself, which have crossed 
over from the wet darkroom to the digital darkroom, would like to 
achive the same "luminance" and extended Dmax of air dried silver 
prints.

Therefore, some of us are attempting to use the old technique of 
coating our inkjet prints, printed on matt papers, with various 
coatings to try and achieve a similar "luminance" of the air dried 
silver print.  Some do it simply to protect the surface of the 
print.  The glossy inkjet papers I have seen on the market do not 
have the same look, looking like the very glossy heat dried and RC 
coated silver prints of the past.  Also, it my understanding that 
the glossy inkjet papers do not have the permanance that many of the 
matt "fine art" papers do.

Sorry for being so long winded, but it seemed there was a confusion 
as to why some are using coatings.

Randy Rancier


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Peter De Smidt 
<pdesmidt@T...> wrote:
> Steve Kale wrote:
> 
> >I'm puzzled.  Did people coat "air dried fibre prints"  (is that 
the right
> >term that people attach to fine darkroom prints?)?  
> >
> Some people waxed or varnished their prints,  for example Paul 
Strand 
> did so, but the practice fell out of favor years ago. Most 
coatings used 
> over the years have had problems.
> 
> -Peter De Smidt