Silver Wasting

Colin DeWolfe · Dec 1, 2015

Am I alone in feeling that if I print a large white border (not as large an image as the paper would support), or an image with lots of empty white space that I feel I am wasting silver? I know that empty space contributes to the image or its framing, and that printing a completely black photo is an equal waster, but I can't help thinking that if I print a mostly white image (snow, Antarctica, etc), that I am not using all the silver in the paper, and it is going to waste.

Sirius Glass · Dec 1, 2015

No the silver is removed by the hypo. If you are concerned about that use a silver capturing device and sent it to recycling.

Colin DeWolfe · Dec 1, 2015

I give it to a local lab and they recover it. (they also take care of my Blix and colour developer). It's more of a "this silver was meant to make an image" thing.

Sirius Glass · Dec 1, 2015

Then print black boarders. I do not care for them.

Bill Burk · Dec 1, 2015

I like the fact that when I print something really dark it doesn't use up all the printer ink.

Doremus Scudder · Dec 2, 2015

I'm sure Michelangelo agonized over all that "wasted" marble lying about the floor in chips when sculpting the Pietá... "Those rock chunks were meant to make a statue; I should have made Maria fatter/Christ's feet bigger/that nose bigger... I'm such a failure!"

Get over it and make moving images!

Doremus

David Brown · Dec 2, 2015

Colin DeWolfe said:
Am I alone in feeling ... that I am not using all the silver in the paper, and it is going to waste.

Yes.

bdial · Dec 2, 2015

Don't take pictures of snow, stick to black cats lurking in shadows.
Only shoot with 35mm so that you minimize the "wasted" silver in the negative.

Colin DeWolfe · Dec 2, 2015

Lol. These are awesome responses.

Sal Santamaura · Dec 2, 2015

Sirius Glass said:
...black boarders. I do not care for them.

Do you only rent rooms in your home to caucasians? Are asians OK? How about Latinos?

StephenT · Dec 2, 2015

LOL! "borders"

railwayman3 · Dec 2, 2015

Thinking back to the time when most snapshot photos were contact prints in 8-on-120 size, the area of paper "wasted" on white borders must have been proportionately much higher than present-day borderless prints. And at that time the recovery of silver from the used solutions was probably much less common than now. (Not to mention how much of the area is "wasted" on 35mm film, both on ordinary cassettes and on movie films).

Sirius Glass · Dec 2, 2015

Doremus Scudder said:
I'm sure Michelangelo agonized over all that "wasted" marble lying about the floor in chips when sculpting the Pietá... "Those rock chunks were meant to make a statue; I should have made Maria fatter/Christ's feet bigger/that nose bigger... I'm such a failure!"

Get over it and make moving images!

Doremus

cliveh · Dec 2, 2015

Colin DeWolfe said:
Am I alone in feeling that if I print a large white border (not as large an image as the paper would support), or an image with lots of empty white space that I feel I am wasting silver? I know that empty space contributes to the image or its framing, and that printing a completely black photo is an equal waster, but I can't help thinking that if I print a mostly white image (snow, Antarctica, etc), that I am not using all the silver in the paper, and it is going to waste.

Yes you are alone, the use or not of silver is entirely irrelevant in an aesthetic sense to the final image you wish to produce.

Silver Wasting

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