Digital BW, The Print

> 
> Besides, the best paper (IMHO) for digital printing is Hahnamühle photo rag
> which has a texture and feel and color with no equivalent in silver printing
> papers that I know unless you make you own. What I'm trying to say is, use
> each technique for its strongest points, take into consideration the specifics
> of a technique and use them to your advantage. The B&W print 'look' that we
> all know and like and are nostalgic for, has its power and its magic because
> over time we learned how to take advantage of that technique, not by trying to
> copy another.
> 
> 
> Andu
> 
When I was studying art in school in my 20's I was surprised to find out
that watercolor paper costs quite a bit more than darkroom paper. "What a
rip-off" I thought I¹ll stick to my darkroom and throw my water colors away
as soon as that section was over.

But of course there was this Platinum & Palladium printing option where you
can apply your mind bogglingly expensive rare earth solution to this
amazingly expensive pure paper. And hope they don't have a solar eclipse or
Gum Bicromate, cheap stuff, to that paper and all the others.
Didn¹t get into that stuff much.

Now we¹ve got inkjet. And I think early on inkjet papers didn¹t just
approach the quality of darkroom papers they exceeded it. Easily and
quickly. As paper making is an old art and inkjet paper is more like regular
paper paper than darkroom paper. It¹s not like they have to learn how to
make it in the dark!:)

But we think inkjet is lagging because it has not mimicked that wonderful
dry down glossy we get with darkroom papers. Well it isn't going to mimic
what we see when we look at a darkroom print with a loupe either.

I say when someone says ³looks like an inkjet² we take it as a compliment
not the insult it may have been intended to be. Perhaps an inkjet should
look like an inkjet and not a darkroom print. As it¹s not.

I just found out this Epson Velvet paper I¹ve just gravitated to is 100%
cotton. Just like the mat board I spend so much money on when I have a show
or otherwise sell a print.

Kind of didn¹t occur to me that why am I using matt board which is better
than the paper itself? Shouldn't my darkroom paper be as good a materials as
the mat board I stick it to?
I notice lots of this ³paper² (what ever that means) is ³cellulous².  Sounds
like a left handed compliment to me.

I think the majority of photographic print making forms are mat.

Albumen Ambrotypes Argyrotypes Bromoils
Carbon/carbro Chrysotypes Collodion / wetplate Cyanotypes Ferrotypes Copper
Photogravure Gelatin silverprints Gumbichromates Gumoils Kallitypes
Lithographs Lithprints Liquidemulsion Platinum & Palladium Polaroid image
transfers Polaroid emulsion lifts Polymergravure Saltprints Satistaprints
Temperaprints Tin types Vandykes Ziatypes (Dandy Warhol's!?!)
Some of these I have no clue.

So why can't we be matt? :)




Mark Rabiner Photography Portland Oregon http://rabinergroup.com/