Digital BW, The Print

I am trying to find different ways to achieve the platinum and palladium look with my 
black and white images using the Epson 9600 printer.  Some of the ways I have tried thus 
far include creating curves, color balance and gradiant map adjustment layers.  Does 
anyone in the group have another suggestion, I want to try many options to see which 
works best.  Thanks.

PhotoKit has a platinum effect (www.pixelgenius.com).  I think they have a
free trial so you can evaluate.  Also you might try the platinum and
palladium .ahu files at
http://www.zuberphotographics.com/pageI_BWToning.htm.  I think they look
pretty nice on PhotoRag.

Regards,

  --Ken Carney
    www.kencarney.com 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: skinnerbox13@... [mailto:skinnerbox13@...] 
> Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 6:57 PM
> To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [Digital BW] platinum and palladium tones with Epson 9600
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am trying to find different ways to achieve the platinum 
> and palladium look with my black and white images using the 
> Epson 9600 printer.  Some of the ways I have tried thus far 
> include creating curves, color balance and gradiant map 
> adjustment layers.  Does anyone in the group have another 
> suggestion, I want to try many options to see which works 
> best.  Thanks.

Personally I stay away from Photorag and other rag media that contain optical 
brighteners because they add blue to the highlights.  I use QTR with 
Ultrachrome on a 9600 and the two papers that I think come very close to 
Platinum/Palladium are Concorde Rag ( warm Platinum / Palladium) and 
Premier Art Hot Press ( Epson Ultrasmooth). I am using the curve percentages  
Sepia 75% and Cool 25%.  The PIezzotone Carbon Sepia is outstanding on 
Concorde Rag for a very warm lush tonality ( better than Platinum?). Now 
there is no one Platinum color. The hue you achieve on Platinum is 
dependdent on the amount of Palladium you add to it. Most " Platinum" prints 
you see out there are about 75% Palladium, which is quite warm brownish in 
composition.  Pure Platinum is rather cold and has a tendency to posterize in 
the shadows, thus the Palladium.  The more pure Platinum you use the more 
you go toward a cool neutral color. And, like inkjet output, the color of the 
paper influences it a lot. I do platinum in a class I teach and it is remarkable 
how close you can come with inkjet output on papers like William Turner if 
you like texture. The paper choice is  significant. I even go as far as to actually 
scan Platinum prints and finesse them in Photoshop and output on Concorde 
Rag, William Turner, etc.  That is even more realistic because part of the aura 
of Platinum is the way the image clusters into clumps of metalic image on the 
uncoated paper. I've gone up to 24"x 40" like  that.

John

> > I am trying to find different ways to achieve the platinum 
> > and palladium look with my black and white images using the 
> > Epson 9600 printer.  Some of the ways I have tried thus far 
> > include creating curves, color balance and gradiant map 
> > adjustment layers.  Does anyone in the group have another 
> > suggestion, I want to try many options to see which works 
> > best.  Thanks.