dodging & burning P/P prints

dennisl · Dec 8, 2006

Looking for help to dodge and burn platinum/palladium prints. Materials, techniques, etc. Like the results I am getting without it but would like to do some fine tuning.

Thank you

TheFlyingCamera · Dec 8, 2006

The very best way to do it is to control the negative in development. If that is not possible (contrast range too extreme, the spot that needs controlling is too small relative to the negative as a whole to be worth adjusting overall development), you need to make a contrast mask with rubylith to overlay the negative to dodge and/or burn. You can't do it with dodge/burn tools that you'd use for silver printing because A: the exposure times are too long- if you want to burn down a highlight that's two stops too bright, and your base exposure is 6 minutes, you're talking an additional 12 minutes burn cycle, and B: you don't want to be bathing your hands and your eyes in UV light for eighteen minutes at a time (as in the above example).

Joe Lipka · Dec 8, 2006

It's pretty difficult to dodge and burn pt/pd prints because the prints "self" mask during the printing proces. The images start to form during exposure and thus block more exposure.

Hybrid processes allow for fine tuning of the negative for printing. Stop on over and ask the same question there.

Allen Friday · Dec 8, 2006

I burn my PT prints infrequently (except for my mistakes, which I literally burn in a 55 gallon drum). But, one trick I have used on occasion is to cut a matt board smaller than the inside of my contact printing frame. Usually, to burn a small area, I will cut it such that there is an inch of play on the matt board, side to side and up and down, when the matt is placed inside the contact print frame. I then cut a hole in the board slightly smaller than the area to be burned. I make the regular exposure, put the matt board with the hole in it in the frame and then set the timer for the burn time. I wear a glove and long sleeves and reach in to the pizza oven exposure unit and move the matt board around during the exposure. The board can only move so far (an inch) before it hits the side of the frame, so the hole stays over the area to be burned. I slowly, but continually, move the matt around during the burn time.

dennisl · Dec 8, 2006

Thanks to everyone for all the suggestions. Sounds like some excellent techniques to try.

Dennis

RobertP · Dec 11, 2006

With a point light source like a NuArc 26 1K you dodge and burn just like you do with an enlarger. The light source is well above the vacuum frame with these units. Wear tinted safety glasses and if you're worried about your hands with that much uv light I suggest you stay out of the sun.

Michael Mutmansky · Dec 11, 2006

RobertP said:
With a point light source like a NuArc 26 1K you dodge and burn just like you do with an enlarger. The light source is well above the vacuum frame with these units. Wear tinted safety glasses and if you're worried about your hands with that much uv light I suggest you stay out of the sun.

Robert,

The UV point light exposure units (Nuarc, Amergraph) will produce a sunburn MUCH faster than being outside. By the time you realize you've gotten burned, you will have given yourself so much, that you could be talking about 2nd degree burning, which is serious business.

Proper sungoggles and long sleeves along with high SPF sunblock works for me.

As for dodging and burning, it is done just as easily in pt/pd as in silver, but the amount of time is on the order of munites rather than seconds. It works the same as silver, in that a dodge of 50% of the base exposure will equate to 1 stop dodge, so there's nothing new here.

I use sheets or cardboard for dodging, but I don't do highly detailed D&B on pt/pd like is possible on silver because the process really needs very little in most cases due to the DR of the paper. I dodge mostly to counteract lens falloff in a negative, for example.

---Michael

RobertP · Dec 11, 2006

Michael, I've been dodging and burning under a 1000 watt NuArc for years without so much as even a tan. And that includes 12 and 18min dodges and burns. Now I've seen pretty good sunburns from people using tanning beds and that doesn't seem to deter them. But I agree, error on the side of safety. Like my father use to say, " do as I say, not as I do"

Michael Mutmansky · Dec 11, 2006

Robert,

That's my experience too, but if I think I am going to be doing a lot of dodging, then the sunblock goes on. I won't go near the unit (it's in a seperate room normally) without sunglasses, though. Too much at risk with the eyes, if you'd ask me.

---Michael

RobertP · Dec 11, 2006

Glasses are a must. If you have ever suffered from a welders flashburn you'll know what I mean. That's nothing to play around with. But I will admit I have placed the negative and paper in the unit and started it without the glasses on but walked away immediately.My old NuArc doesn't have a curtain that closes up around it. It would probably be a good idea to fabricate one at some point. Also make sure none of your pets are around during printing. They'll be looking right up into the lamp. I have an aussie that thinks he's a master printer and wants to go to the darkroom evertime I do. I guess I need to get him some goggles....lol

dodging & burning P/P prints

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