where's the thread - large prints being made

A while back somebody posted pictures taken of a man here, helping the other make very large prints. Seems there was a print with a large tree on it, in fixer. I can't find the thread, and wanted to pass the link on to another here. Can someone easily point me there?

Thanks!

Bill Schwab posted this of him and I in the darkroom

btw I was the good looking guy

Am I looking at it and not seeing? I can't find it, or a link.

I think once Bill see's this he may be able to find the link for you , I don't know how to find it.

I think this is what you are looking for: (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Bob Carnie said:

I think once Bill see's this he may be able to find the link for you , I don't know how to find it.

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search for "Orange"

or

"SAFESUIT"


:munch:

I was going to post here some questions to Bob about his working methods doing those fantastic prints. But I see the two-thousand-plus posts and figured the search function was my friend.

Hope you don't mind, Bob, but I have collected a mini-masterclass on your printing methods here.

BTW, I was just in Toronto last weekend picking up a head for my (there was a url link here which no longer exists). Too bad I only had a very limited time in Toronto, I would have liked to stop by the Elevator.

48x96 inches is the largest size I do * client needs big budget**
30 x40 inches on a weekly basis
20x24 most common size
11x14 common for portfolio reviews
8x10 prints * I will do only if hot pokers threatened to eyes*

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I never use any filters for lith printing, I want as much light as possible, in fact I use 250w bulbs rather than the standard 150w.

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Go to a organic grow store , they have very , very large trays and are beautiful for the your purpose. The are quite cheap.
largest one I have is 50 inches by 8 ft.
good luck, I have drain holes in the bottom of mine to take out the water rather than over flow.
At this size the trays with water are really heavy and cumbersome.
I use window screens 5ft by 8ft to dry the prints face down after squeege.

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I just finished our 40ft sink with West Systems,, great stuff goes down really well no stink , three coats and your printing.

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This may come across as absolutely going against the grain and suprisingly silly to some, but after a few thousand negs printing becomes easy.

When Printing
I keep no notes , don't want them , they get in the way of what I am trying to do.
I do not look at test strips for longer than 10 secs and they are full prints at that. I only look forward and do not look back or compare. I like what I like and that is that.

All dodging and burning is decided in the developer tray and I absolutely do watch the image emerge.. the lights are only for a quick look at potential problem areas and to confirm my mental notes from the dev tray.

As the image emerges in the dev you can see all the areas needing attention and this is where all my attention to dodge and burn is aimed and I then decide where to go.
I am using a bastardized split printing method and all I am doing is working with percentages of filters and slight time adjustments. The apeture is always two stops down at the sweet spot and time and filter change are my variables.

Every negative is treated as a new adventure and I am not in the busness of copy work so all I do is go forward. I have not seen a large amount of repeat prints of the same negative, and I find the second,third ,fourth or more time I see a negative the better I get at printing it.

For me working in the darkroom is an adventure I don't want to spoil it by taking notes.

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I use three enlargers,
Two condensors with exact setup lenses ect. so that I can work on two negs at a time, I like having the prints back to back when developing.
the third enlarger is diffusion and I use it for portraits where smooth skin tone is important and also I flash with this enlarger.
I find this the most practical and efficient setup for show printing if one has the room.

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I charge by the hour for fibre printing , I also make the client provide the paper and lunch. I also encourage the photographer to spend time in the darkroom to nail the look.
$125 per hour with $60 for toning and washing.
* I have printed professionally for 30 odd years and this method is definately the best*

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Accept the grain and you have no problem with larger prints.. I really like the effect of 35mm enlarged to this size.

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Enlarger focusing for mural:

This is exactly how I do it, two man job for sure,,

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For my own work I usually include the black border of all my work, this allows me the ability to get on to the task of making a good print rather than in the darkroom making any decisions re crop.

For show work the consistancy of format, negative grain size and apperance is very critical and far outweighs IMO any last minute changes to image size , shape or composition.. It is very obvious when walking into a room and seeing a mix mash of sizes and image ratio's that the photographer has cropped , and this is not appealing to me and makes me feel the photographer is unsure of their work.

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Looks like you also have a 2000W Durst. I use mine vertical, but I had mine projecting on the wall last night and was very impressed with the big image. So much so, that I'm thinking I need to figure out a way to process some of those big prints in my home darkroom.

There should be no problem making the Large Print, I am using a 2000w Durst Horizontal Enlarger with glass carrier to project on the wall.
I have ordered 10 rolls of 42inch x 100ft Fotospeed which will arrive shortly. I am very confident of the results.

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Hey! I'm the good looking guy!

Yes mine is a 2000 W Durst, the other big boy is a 11x14 Deveere which I really love.
If you go to home depot you can get the under the bed clothing holders that will allow you to roll prints quite easily ,,, when I am doing lambda prints 6-8 ft at a time I use these trays.. Lots of chemicials needed but totally doable in a home darkroom if you have floor space.
You can hang the prints after squeege to dry* not how I do in now* and find a frame shop with a hot press to mount the print.
***A series of fill and dumps after hypo clear should work really well ***
thanks for posting all those quotes,
I cannot stress enough, to all workers that having fun while printing should be first on you list, getting all tied up in knots is no way to spend your time.

Also... the bastard split printing method, I am convinced is the easiest way to proceed with printing , and looking at the print in the developer is a real key to learning your dodge and burns.


QUOTE=ic-racer;897178]Looks like you also have a 2000W Durst. I use mine vertical, but I had mine projecting on the wall last night and was very impressed with the big image. So much so, that I'm thinking I need to figure out a way to process some of those big prints in my home darkroom.[/QUOTE]

I'm enjoying this... should be made a sticky with Cheryl's advice to aspiring photogs.

Thanks!

Ok since you are enjoying it and its Saturday Morning and nobodys here to bother me **Dinesh**I will add a few more thoughts for printers .

Too many people are trying to make the perfect print, perfect neg or at least that is my take on things over the last few years reading on APUG.
When I first started my small company , I was trying to compete in a very tough marketplace with some good printers already established and I thought the road was to make prints of perfection..
What I found out quite quickly that my clients had the final say and seemed to like something just a bit different than I did. They did not care if I left an inperfection , hot spot , dead spot in the print.
So I started this policy, and it really pissed off my competition.. for every 16x20 print that someone ordered I would make three, two I would just give them.
But the two I gave them for free were different from the first print I sold, I would force myself to get what I thought the client would like.. then take a few moments and make two **sometimes totally different takes on the final** What I found was two things ,, since I have a frame shop all three prints usually got framed and over time it was not always the first image that people liked.
IMO-Good printing is a frame of mind that you get into , its not a series of notes and tempeture checks.
Good practice is advised but once you are under the lens anything and everything should be an option. For lith printing I use tissue alot on the paper under the lens, try warping plexiglass during an exposure see what happens. Use your dodging tool as a burning tool , gives fantastic vignettes if you hold the interest spot to the tone you like.
Print on grade 5 and flash with 00 , you may be suprised on how that looks
Print on grade 00 and just put a hint of 5 black in your picture ,, keep it on the light side and you have created a wonderful image.***I learned this one from Les Mclean who I consider one of the great printers of the last 50 years.

When making contact sheets of your work,, make experiments with darker and lighter contacts ,, 1/2 stop 1 stop even more. Critically look at your work and you will see some interesting images that you would have glossed over trying to make the perfect print.

Since day one of printing I prefer to do full test of any negative, when I am showing people how to print I will make test strips , but when I am alone I only do full sheets.
I thought I was the only one doing this until in the mid 90's I read an article
in View camera by MAS who described the outflanking method that he uses in making prints.. you learn things by looking at mistakes.

Contour Printing, New coccine on negatives, bleaching negatives, stripping out tones in negatives are all old practices that I have tried , with some success or faillure , but each method brings more weapons to your arsonal of working methods under the lens.
Anyone like Lillian Bass work, Yosef Karshes prints, Joel Peter prints.. Jerry Ullseman, Man Ray prints?? the list goes on and on.

After seeing Sebastio Salgados work at the George Eastman House I was convinced that print perfection is not all what we think it is, there must be emotion in the print that matches the image.
It was a experience I will never forget when I saw people weeping over images , that were exhibited and for what its worth the prints were great, but not exceptional or perfect.


Man Ray... now he is something to talk about.. I think all printers who want to be better should try making prints or images with no negatives and experiment with materials and see how light goes through them and lands on the paper..

Photograms on Steroids

Imagine on your enlarger a swing in device that is adjustable in height , may be glass , maybe plexi , may be tissue, maybe ** you fill in the blanks** during a series of exposues you lay things on to affect areas of the print ,, may be gels , may be nose hairs, may be whatever.

As I point out the device is adjustable so you can match the print size and as well use this for feathering. I think this device would be a wonderful way of making enlarged prints but adding the element of Man Rays crazy optics.

Toffle said:

I'm enjoying this... should be made a sticky with Cheryl's advice to aspiring photogs.

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Bob Carnie, thank you - thank you - thank you!