Toning a gelatin silver print to look like platinum

[Bob Carnie]

Mark is correct IMO


When I make exhibition quality Silver prints I need at least 8 sheets of paper which totals about $80 including the chem mix.
These days the same quality Pt Pd print with ( technology) is about $35 including chems.


I came to this conclusion over the last few years of printing both for hire and it shocked me as well.

Mark, that's a bold claim, and runs counter to what I've heard elsewhere. I'm not saying you're wrong, but, have you done the numbers?

I would love it if it were true! but there are a lot of disposables and external devices required that might not have gone into the calculation.

For example, I, and anyone else starting a digital neg platinum workflow needs at a minimum a high quality scanner, high quality ($1K+ (tell me if there are printers that can do digital negs for less!)), and possibly a UV bed.

Then you add up contact printing frames (my enlarger beseler 45 XL was $150 with all the trappings and both incandescent and diffusion heads), sheets of fine watercolor paper (surely no less than $0.50 per 8X10 sheet), maybe some red graphic masking film, and of course, those platinum salts! For which I don't know the # of print capacity per gram. But if you knew the per sheet cost of something like FB MG IV, and then also knew the per sheet cost of a fully prepared, sensitized piece of platinum paper, you'd arrive at a pretty good idea.

Oh, and time.

The most valuable thing of all.

A shoot>develop>scan>photoshop>print digital neg>contact print digital neg sounds like much more time involved than a shoot>develop>print workflow!

-S

 

[Ian Grant]

Mark is correct IMO

When I make exhibition quality Silver prints I need at least 8 sheets of paper which totals about $80 including the chem mix.
These days the same quality Pt Pd print with ( technology) is about $35 including chems.

I came to this conclusion over the last few years of printing both for hire and it shocked me as well.

I agree, one of my friends does Pt/Pd prints and it definitely works out cheaper than FB Silver Gelatin exhibition prints, I plan to make more Pt/Pd prints myself in the future.

Ian

 

[Nikonic]

I agree, one of my friends does Pt/Pd prints and it definitely works out cheaper than FB Silver Gelatin exhibition prints, I plan to make more Pt/Pd prints myself in the future.

Ian

This is very surprising.

Are we talking about a cost comparison on the price of one cm/2 area of fully prepared platinum vs one cm/2 of FB silver gelatin paper?

An "exhibition print" in silver might be 20X24", whereas platinum prints tend to be smaller, especially if printing from an in-camera negative, in which case the "per sheet" price of silver vs platinum might be misleading.

If this is true I might have to start saving for the tools of a digital workflow.

Best

-S

 

[nworth]

Platinum prints have a very distinct look that you just can't get with silver gelatin. Part of it is due to the emulsion itself: platinum has a distinct black tone and a very long scale. Part of it is the paper and coating process: platinum goes directly into the grains of the paper, and the paper is quite different from that used for silver gelatin. The lack of a gelatin in the emulsion (although it is often used in the sizing) has a big influence on the look of platinum. Kalitype will give prints that look more like platinum than anything you can do with silver gelatin, but they still do not look like platinum. Platinum is just a different, unique process.

By the way, platinum prints are usually warm black in color. Palladium gives brown-sepia prints, and mixtures give tones in between. The tone is also influenced by the other emulsion and processing components. If you just want to match the tone of platinum and not the whole look, get an example of a real platinum print (or a very high quality reproduction) and use it as a standard for comparison. Rudmans's toning book would also be helpful.