Digital BW, The Print

brosphoto91724@... wrote:

>I really like Paul's prints using VM with sepia2.
>Where can I find the info on the mix.

It's published on a forum posting.  Search by "sepia2."

The sepia2 mix was a bit too light, and I think a hair to yellow.  Sepia3
was right on density-wise, but maybe a bit too magenta.

I'll mix a new batch this weekend that is between the two.

I've been pouring over old photos and books on toning and the history of
photography.  My conclusion is that while there are a verity of "sepia"
tones, the albumen prints (which is what the vast majority of old family
photos are) tend to start out darker and relatively "chocolate" -- which has
a little more magenta than the sepia2, but not as much as the sepia3.
However, they fade to lighter and more yellow.  The yellowish ones I have
(and dislike, in terms of color) are also clearly faded.  So, the yellowish
color that I originally targeted with sepia2 appears to be a color that is
mostly associated with faded albumen.

So, I've been trying to match the colors that I see most commonly in the old
prints -- but now those that are clearly not very faded.  And, I've been
looking at the most authoritative books I have on the subject.

The most impressive and, perhaps, most authoritative source I've been using
is the book edited by Michel Frizot, "A New History of Photography."
Professor Frizot teaches the history of photography at the Ecole du Louvre,
Paris.  (Photography was invented over there, not in Rochester.)  He was
also the curator of expositions and catalogs for the Centre National de la
Photographic and is a state researcher at the Center de Recherche sur les
Arts et le Language, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris.
Given his impressive background and the French government backing he had, I
think he and the publisher of the book had the funds and background to get
the tones they reproduced accurate.  They closely match the samples I have
that appear to have been stored properly and in the dark.

So, I'm trying to get the sepia tone such that prints will be so close to
the most common un-faded old photo (albumen) tones that they can be
displayed alongside originals and fit right in.  I think I'm getting real
close.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com