As you see at Edward Weston s these two nude pictures , something is beatiful and strange. Pictures are solarized. I herebelow add an post from flickr on Weston gear ,
technique.
How can I solarize my prints , what was the exact recipe of two developers for that prints ? Is it possible to produce willis and clemens paper at home , pt ? Are these prints platin or azo ?
Here is the post from flickr :
Edward Weston's Technique
Edward Weston brought to Mexico an 8 X 10 view camera and a 3-1/4 x 4-1/4 Graflex. His battery of lenses included an "expensive anastigmat" of unspecified make and several soft focus, or diffused focus lenses, among them a Wollensak Verito and a Graf Variable. These lenses had the characteristic that the degree of diffusion (i.e. spherical aberration) could be altered at will.
The Variable was basically an anastigmat, fully corrected for its maximum aperture, f/3.8. By changing the distance between the front and the rear elements of this double lens, varying amounts of spherical aberration could be induced. Theoretically it thus produced either a needle sharp image or one so diffused that it hardly seemed to be produced by a lens.
The f/4 Verito was described by its manufacturer as "a specially designed double lens... which, while it gives the desired diffused or soft optical effect, shows no distortion, double lines, or other optical imperfections, and being rectilinear gives an even diffusion over the whole plate... Will not make sharp negatives with wiry definition unless stopped down to f:8."
When Weston wrote, on Easter, 1924, "Sharper and sharper I stopped down my lens; the limit of my diaphragm, f/32, was not enough, so I cut a smaller hole from black paper," he was referring to this characteristic of the Verito as well as to the fact that great depth of field is given with small lens openings.
He had trouble with the Variable. Although he stopped it down to the smallest aperture, he found troublesome flares. An optometrist deduced that this was caused by the large glass surface of the f/3.8 lens. On June 24, 1924, he purchased for25 pesos a second-hand Rapid Rectilinear lens. This type of lens had long been considered obsolete, if not archaic. Years later he gave this lens to his son Brett, who has most generously presented it to the George Eastman House. It bears no maker's name. On the barrel is inscribed: "8 X 10 THREE FOCUS," and the scratched dedication, "To Brett —Dad, 1937." Examination on an optical bench proves it to be an unsymmetrical form of Rapid Rectilinear of 11-1/4 inch focal length, well made and well centered. It has no shutter — Weston used a behind-the-lens Packard shutter — but an iris diaphram marked "R. O. C. and C.CO." (Rochester Optical and Camera Co.") The smallest opening is marked "256." Measurement proves this to be the long-obsolete "Uniform System," the equivalent of f/64.
Weston used panchromatic sheet film. This material, capable of recording all visible wavelengths — in contrast to orthochromatic emulsion, which is relatively insensitive to red and overly sensitive to blue — was an innovation in film form: it was first marketed in America by the Eastman Kodak Company only two years before Weston sailed to Mexico. Notations of exposures in the Mexican Daybook indicate that the speed of this "panchro" film would be rated today at 16 by the American Standards Association system. A portrait in full sunlight required 1/10 sec. at f/11; an open landscape was stopped down to f/32 for an exposure of 1/10 sec. with a K-l filter. He had no meter to calculate the exposure. Experience guided him: "I dislike to figure out time, and find my exposures more accurate when only felt."
On August 24, 1924, Weston noted: "I have returned, after several years use of Metol-Hydroquinone open-tank developer, to a three-solution Pyro developer, and I develop one at a time in a tray, instead of a dozen in a tank!" This technique he used for the rest of his life. It is classic; he undoubtedly learned of it at the "photographic college" he briefly attended. The 1908 instruction manual of a similar institution — the American School of Art and Photography — recommends it as the standard developer. Weston used it with less than the usual amount of sodium carbonate. (Interestingly, the Wollensak Optical Co. advised: "Negatives made with the Verito should be fully timed, and slightly underdeveloped, using any standard developer with a minimum amount of carbonate of soda...")
He printed on several kinds of paper. In his early years in Mexico he was especially fond of the platinum and palladium paper made by Willis & Clement, which he imported from England. This paper, which became obsolete in the 1930s, was sensitized with the salts of iron and platinum (or palladium), rather than silver. It gave soft, rich effects quite unlike any other kind of paper, and was cherished by pictorial photographers. Prints were exposed in sunlight for minutes, developed in potassium oxalate and fixed in hydrochloric acid, 'the addition of potassium bichromate to the developer gave an increased brilliance in the whites; this technique Weston used in his struggle to get prints of the dramatic white clouds which so moved him. The paper had a tendency, especially if damp, to solarize, i.e. partially reverse in the highlights, giving a dark edge instead of a light one. Printing was slow work. To make fourteen prints from as many negatives in one day, as he did on September 30, 1924, was unusual.
On this day he noted with surprise that proof prints, made on Azo paper, gave him as much satisfaction as platinotypes. This material, which is still produced by the Eastman Kodak Company, was a typical gelatino-chloride developing-out paper exposed to artificial light. Weston always referred to it as "gaslight paper," a name given to it in the 1890s, but which was retained decades after electricity became universal.
Although Weston preferred an 8 X 10 camera (he rejoiced in "the precision of a view box planted firmly on a sturdy tripod") he made increasing use while in Mexico of his 3-1/4 X 4-1/4 Graflex - hand held even at exposures as long as 1/10 second. To enlarge these negatives on platinum or palladium paper was tedious. An enlarged negative had to be made. First an 8 X 10 inch glass positive was made from the small negative. From this, in turn, he made a new negative, which he then printed by contact. Apparently he never printed by projection -although it was entirely practical to do so with gelatino-bromide papers which were then readily available. On his return to California he abandoned platinum and palladio papers, and settled on glossy chloro-bromide papers — which he invariably printed by contact.
This simple technique Weston used throughout his life. It was a direct outgrowth of his formative Mexican days.
B. N (Beaumont Newhall)
Originally posted at 6:43AM, 27 February 2010 PST ( permalink )
dannysoar edited this topic 9 months ago
Mustafa Umut Sarac
Istanbul
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