Digital BW, The Print

Hello All,

A few days ago I went through a box of old work prints from the Dark
Ages (aka darkroom days), looking for something.  It's been several
years since I examined closely any silver prints.  This box of prints
represents about 20 years of darkroom work and they are mostly printed
on Oriental Seagull or Ilford MGFB II, a few on Brovira and Gallerie.
 I was sitting near the living room picture window for the nice light,
and was shocked by the amount of glare reflected by them.  I'd
forgotten about that.  It was so bright it began to irritate my eyes
and I kept turning them to keep the glare away (and of course the few
RC prints were even worse).

I then came across a low key black background portrait and remembered
I had scanned and printed it back in my early digi days.  I found the
image and printed it on PR using Eboni BO to compare with the silver
version.  Side by side I liked the PR version better, and of course no
glare.  As for dmax, it did look a bit more on the MGFB in a side by
side up comparison, but the PR print somehow looked blacker
emotionally - I don't know how else to explain it, but the PR print
was aesthetically more pleasing and appeared darker when viewed on its
own.  Maybe I've just gotten used to the look.  But the lack of
reflectance sure did make it easier on the eyes.

There has been so much talk lately about achieving the "holy grail" of
replicating the ADFBG look, but suddenly that grail doesn't seem so
holy any more.  I realized I've been carrying around an idealized
memory for comparison, but the real thing destroyed it.  Like Tyler
said, maybe we don't realize how far we've come.

Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm