What are the best books on print manipulation?

MrBrowning · Jul 1, 2016

I have an idea for a series that I am having a hard time seeing through. What are some good books that talk about print manipulation? The prints will be B&W and Lith.

Rick A · Jul 1, 2016

Matt, I have a very old edition of "Photographic Printing" by Ralph Hattersley from 1977. It covers some now archaic processes, I may be willing to let it go.

Bob Carnie · Jul 1, 2016

Gradient Light by Eddie Ephrems was good he actually has two books I would recommend

Tim Rudman has a nice series of books .

Darkroom 1 and Darkroom 2 is also a nice couple of books on different ways to get to an end point.

M Carter · Jul 13, 2016

Tim's Lith printing books are pretty priceless, though all the papers mentioned are gone now. Wolfgang Moersch is a master as well, there are some PDFs on his site, and he and Tim both post in the Facebook lith group.

Lith (other than 2nd pass) is pretty much a different discipline than traditional B&W darkroom work. Control of contrast and exposure is radically different; you may rely on flashing much much more and I'm finding the need for a way to repeatable "spot flash" specific areas of the paper; and even doing 2nd-pass, you often need to make prints very different than the final print to make it work. I found some info from moersch about starting a wildly overexposed print in lith dev and then moving to very dilute sepia for instance. There's really no end to it.

dasBlute · Jul 13, 2016

Books that helped me...

All these show progressive refinements, not only the hows but also the whys which to my mind is much more interesting...

The Photographer's Master Printing Course, Tim Rudman
The Master Printer's, Steve Macleod
Steve Bartlett's Black and White Printing Workshop, Jon Tarrant

Jim Jones · Jul 20, 2016

My printing technique changed little after acquiring a copy of Lootens on Photographic Enlarging & Print Quality by J. Ghislain Lootens decades ago, although it was interesting. The early editions may give better insight into the "good old days." Way Beyond Monochrome by Ralph Lambrecht and Chris Woodhouse is a comprehensive and technical guide to traditional B&W printing, with very well reproduced and inspiring examples.

MrBrowning · Jul 20, 2016

Thanks Everyone. I have a copy of the Lith Printer's Master Course but it is packed away in a box (I hope) and don't want to drop $50 on another copy since I know I have one.

I just ordered Darkroom by Eleanor Lewis & Breaking the rules: A photo media cookbook by Bea Nettles (Both recommended from Facebook groups). I also dug out my Copy of Tim Rudman's Master Printing Course (I forgot what a Great book it is). Rick was Kind enough to loan me Photographic Printing. I really do need to find the Lith book as I'm having issues with some negatives I've printed well before and I'd bet my notes are packed wherever that book is.

Next on my List is Lootens & Gradient Light.

Oscar Carlsson · Jul 29, 2016

I really like these two:

https://www.amazon.com/Black-White-Photographic-Printing-Workshop/dp/1883403391 - explains how each image was printed and often why.
https://www.amazon.com/Way-Beyond-Monochrome-Traditional-Photography/dp/0240816250/ - explains the technical details of multigrade printing and lots more.

Maybe not what you are asking for but they cover most of my needs.

Jim Jones · Aug 3, 2016

Some darkroom technicians have recommended The New Projection Control by the controversial master of the manipulated darkroom image, William Mortensen. It has been out of print for many decades, but used copies are available online.

Eric Rose · Aug 3, 2016

Ohhh, I just want to post a politically incorrect comment ....

Patrick Robert James · Aug 3, 2016

Just ask your questions here. A lot of people know things that you will never find in a book. Books are intended for learning general things, not specific things. The people here are chock full of technical knowledge so you might as well take advantage of it.

Ronald Moravec · Aug 13, 2016

Lootens on Enlarging. If you can find a copy. Mine is from 1965 and my son got it 2 weeks ago. It is like math, nothing changed. His first lesson is in September.

Ansel Adams on printing. One of a series of 4 or 5 on different aspects of photography.

Today we have used book stores and You Tube.

The same lootens book was in West Virginia from Chicago 25 years ago. I thought a man to print by mail much the same way as a chess game by mail. Lootens came back and now the third student is using it.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=enlarging+film

https://fstoppers.com/post-production/ultimate-guide-dodge-burn-technique-part-1-fundamentals-9261

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/aboutus/page.asp?n=125

http://www.davidkachel.com/assets/dyedodg.htm

Have fun

What are the best books on print manipulation?

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