Digital BW, The Print

You've made some good points, you are right though, dry mounting is less desirable than 
attaching prints with T-hinges, but if you want large prints to stay flat and look their 
"best", dry mounting with the proper materials and techniques is probably the best 
technique for me and "should" last as long as the print without degrading the image.  I 
believe is good way to go  and more desirable to me than the alternative of wavy prints.

I tried to point out which of the techniques were archival and which were not, obviously 
any mounting method to anything other than an acid/lignin free Rag or Alpha board isn't 
archival.  Not all things need to be "Archival", which depends on the intended purpose of 
the image.

I do doubt that the yellowing of Weston's prints is due to actually being dry mounted.  
More than likely due to improper washing or the use of improper dry mount materials i.e. 
the board or the dry mount tissue wasn't acid/lignin free.  Could even be due to the 
photographic paper itself not being designed to archival standards, I don't think much 
thought was given to such things back in the 30's & 40's.  Today we are blessed with 
much better materials and research.



--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "djon43" <djon43@...> wrote:
>
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Randy Rancier"
> <randy_rancier2004@> wrote:
>  
> > Without a doubt the best way to keep a print flat is is by dry
> mounting it to any stiff board, 
> > i.e. foamcore, Rag board, gatorboard, etc....  I believe that dry
> mounting to a high quality 
> 
> Foamcore crumbles with age. You're mounting on something that won't
> last twenty years.
> 
> > Rag board should be considered archival if that is something you are
> concerned with; it 
> > was good enough for Edward Weston, Ansel Adams and the like and is
> accepted by 
> > Museums
> 
> People familiar with the breadth of Weston's and Adams' work know that
> dry mounted prints are worth less (market price) than unmounted prints
> (all photographs are worth less when dry mounted), and that they've
> yellowed heavily. 
> 
> While I love those old yellowed Westons far more than anything Adams
> did, mounted or unmounted, they're heavily and "unacceptably" yellowed
> in modern "archival" parlance.
> 
> Museums HATE dry mounting. Ask a curator, this is not news.
> 
> They do display dry mounted prints by photographers they consider
> significant, but dry mounting emphasizes "hobbiest" and "not serious"
> otherwise. County fairs and "art shows" have no difficulty with dry
> mounting, of course. 
> 
> 
> >However I prefer not to drymount prints 13 x 19 and smaller because they 
> > shouldn't need it as long as they are printed on some good heavy
> "Fine Art" papers.
> > 
> 
> This is valid for some "good heavy" papers and not for others. Some,
> particularly the baryta experiments (that's where they're at) pose
> major curvature challenges, particularly in changing humidity.
>