phritz phantom
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- Joined
- Aug 20, 2006
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being a huge fan of the pictures and technique of w.eugene smith, i browsed through the archives of apug to find out a little more about his way of work. but surprisingly i didn't find much.
since he's considered one of the top printers of photography, i'd really like to find out more about his technique. i've read his part in the "darkroom" series many times. are there any other books on him recommendable?
i'd really like to read a good biography about him, especially with some info on his photographic work. i've been looking for " photography made difficult" for a long time now, but it seems to be unavailable around here.
the one thing i'm wondering about the most is whether he really used "d76 with ten times the normal amount of borax of kodalk"?
this would call for 20gr of borax as opposed to 2gr in the original formula (this source: here ) or maybe he meant the replenisher? but he was probably going for a more active developer for his high contrast images (maybe more shadow detail too).
other sources say he used harvey's 777.
what photopaper would one use today if one wanted to go after his look? cold tone graded paper (grade 3 or 4?)? most likely not even available anymore. in "darkroom" he says the paper is polycontrast-f.
i'm also wondering about his his extensive use of pot.ferricyanide. for me it get the most use out of it with underdeveloped negatives, to push the highlights and upper midtones into position, or occasionally to enhance local contrast. but to really "open up the shadows" like he claims to, i could never really get that to work for me.
also i think i remember that he used to mount his pictures on black cardboard.
it would be very nice if someone could give me a few pointers for some good reading, and if people here used this thread to share some of their knowledge on this photographer - certainly useful to others too, since there seems to be no other thread focusing on his printing techniques - well, i wouldn't mind that too.
this was a pretty good read, i discovered while searching around, but probably old news to most people:
nyt times article
were his asstants and co-workers (if he had any) ever interviewed about their work?
since he's considered one of the top printers of photography, i'd really like to find out more about his technique. i've read his part in the "darkroom" series many times. are there any other books on him recommendable?
i'd really like to read a good biography about him, especially with some info on his photographic work. i've been looking for " photography made difficult" for a long time now, but it seems to be unavailable around here.
the one thing i'm wondering about the most is whether he really used "d76 with ten times the normal amount of borax of kodalk"?
this would call for 20gr of borax as opposed to 2gr in the original formula (this source: here ) or maybe he meant the replenisher? but he was probably going for a more active developer for his high contrast images (maybe more shadow detail too).
other sources say he used harvey's 777.
what photopaper would one use today if one wanted to go after his look? cold tone graded paper (grade 3 or 4?)? most likely not even available anymore. in "darkroom" he says the paper is polycontrast-f.
i'm also wondering about his his extensive use of pot.ferricyanide. for me it get the most use out of it with underdeveloped negatives, to push the highlights and upper midtones into position, or occasionally to enhance local contrast. but to really "open up the shadows" like he claims to, i could never really get that to work for me.
also i think i remember that he used to mount his pictures on black cardboard.
it would be very nice if someone could give me a few pointers for some good reading, and if people here used this thread to share some of their knowledge on this photographer - certainly useful to others too, since there seems to be no other thread focusing on his printing techniques - well, i wouldn't mind that too.
this was a pretty good read, i discovered while searching around, but probably old news to most people:
nyt times article
were his asstants and co-workers (if he had any) ever interviewed about their work?