Multi-Pt/Pd+NYTimes "Irving Penn:Platinum Prints"

[Ken Lee]

The recent Sunday NY Times contained a review of "Irving Penn: Platinum Prints", an exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, which runs through October 2, 2005.



The reviewer gives a rather mixed and multi-faceted impression of Mr. Penn's show, and it is too long to reproduce here - even if that were legal. I don't know if the article appears on the Times web site, as I am not a subscriber to that.



While I find many of Mr. Penn's images to be rather depressing, I found this rather interesting:

"Called platinum-palladium... involving fine paper and repeated printings of the negative on a single sheet. (Mr. Penn also figured out how to keep these multiple printings in absolute registration.) The platinum-palladium process yields lustrous, tonally rich prints that exude an aura of technical virtuosity. They are one of a kind, handmade and as close to full-fledged art objects as most photographers get."



Has anyone gotten any good results with multi-pass Pt/Pd prints ? Is this procedure described anywhere ? My impression was that it really doesn't add much - until I read Michael A. Smith's mention of his printing atelier and their quad-tone process.

[paulr]

full review:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/17/arts/design/17smit.html

[Ken Lee]

Thanks. It's better on-line, since you can see the color of the images. In the newspaper itself, they are simply b&w.

[Brian Ellis]

Is there something peculiar to platinum printing when it comes to keeping the negative in registration with the paper through multiple printings? The reviewer seems to think Mr. Penn had to figure out a way to do that. Gum printers have been doing it for more than a century. The techniques for doing it are well known and fairly simple to apply.

[wfwhitaker]

"They are... as close to full-fledged art objects as most photographers get.



So what am I? Half-fledged? Quarter-fledged? I'd rather hear it from a full-fledged newspaper.

[Christian Nze]

Hello

Multi-coating and exposing create platinum print with higher Dmax and better seapration in the low density. Irving Penn use to dry mount the papper on a sheet of aluminium before the first coat, so the paper does not shrink in the drying step.
I Don't know if he use different negatives and how many coat he made.
As wrote Brian Multiple platinum printing work like gum, by this I mean that you can play on the contrast of the emulision to work on the highlight or the lowlight.

I use to make some print like this , and find it really interesting for low key image or night photography prints.

At last this process can be use with most alt process, I also use it with cyanotype, kallitype. With some process like Ziatype you don't even need to clear between each layer.

Regards

Christian nze

[tom north]

Platinum-Palladium can refer to one of two things. Whenever I prepare an emulsion for Platinum-Palladium, I mix 50% platinum and 50% palladium salts. This gives me both the higher contrast and tonal range of platinum and the warmth of palladium. This is done with one coating of emulsion. I've also coated papers with two coats of emulsions of platinum to get a higher D-max. This could probably be done with platinum-palladium. The prints tend to have a little bit greater tonal range. I typically don't do it much because I have gotten a big improvement in tonal range using Pyro development. Platinum, Paladium, or Platinum-Palladium prints are not printed in registration. They are a traditional printing out process that is typically done in an older wood contact frame with sunlight as the best light source. Paper shrinkage is not a problem with good paper. The reviewer apparently did not know what he or she is talking about.

[richard curtis]

Here are some (not mine), but very impressive multi layer Negative plat/palladium prints

http://www.hofer-photo.com/printroom/page/tifl0200.html

Richard,

Myself i am still using single digital negatives, that is difficult enough

[Brian C. Miller]

Do a Google news search, and there are lots of reviews. Fotolia Blog has some pictures with its piece.