View Camera article - platinum on digital prints.

**Jorge Gasteazoro** · 18-Jan-2006, 12:17

Dan Burkholder has been doing pt/pd over pigment for a few years already. Although I have not seen the work mentioned here, I have seen many of Dan's prints and IMO you have to have a special "eye" to pull it off. Dan has a very particular style which compliments his printing very well. It is not only about greater blacks, but very subtle tonalities in color which enhance the color of a pt/pd print. Not to mention the fact that additional colors add (in some cases) interest to the print.

You might want to check Dan's web site and see more of this type of work.

**sanking** · 18-Jan-2006, 17:56

I don't mean to divert attention from Jim's work, which I find very interesting, but I would like to mention that if one is primarily intested in getting more Dmax from the Pt./Pd. process they might also want to consider Pt./Pd. over cyanotype. The color of the combination is very neutral, and Dmax is bumped considerably. Also, cyanotype is one of the most permanent of all processes so the combination would be very archival.

**Jorge Gasteazoro** · 18-Jan-2006, 18:18

The color of the combination is very neutral, and Dmax is bumped considerably

You got any to show? I would like to see even a scan..... :-)

**sanking** · 18-Jan-2006, 19:13

"You got any to show? I would like to see even a scan..... :-"

I have not printed this way and don't have anything to show . My remarks were based on the work I saw of a friend who had great success with the combination. I will check to see if he might be willing to scan one of his prints for you to see.

It would be easy enough for you too fool around with this yourself since you already know Pt./Pd. printing and cyanotype is very simple, and the process requirements as to paper pH and such are very similar. Just be sure to pre-shrink the paper before the first printing or it will be impossible to get good registration on the second printing.

**Struan Gray** · 19-Jan-2006, 01:13

Jim's photographs are a wonderful use of tone and subtle colouring. I find them much more satisfying than Dan Burkholder's work using the same technique, which to me seems to rely too much on a simplistic splash of colour in a monochrome world. Jim's images are less insistently clever.

FWIW, one advantage of this sort of technique is that you don't have to use the black channel from the straight CMYK seperation. You can create a seperate black channel using the channel mixer and/or dodging and burning any spatially aligned monochrome image and then insert it into the seperation file. It's a technique I used to use a lot with my wholly spectroscopic microscope images, which are essentially black and white images colourised according to a result of a seperate measurement. With flatbed scans of my film I run into noise issues too much to use this technique very often, but with drum or Imacon scans - or digital originals - that shouldn't be an issue.

**Kirk Gittings** · 19-Jan-2006, 10:05

Just a personal point of view. I think the images are interesting and the technique has alot of potential, but those particular images would be stronger as straight platinum prints. I find the color distracting and unecessary.

One of the best issues of VC I have seen in a long time. I think VC is on the upswing.

**William Mortensen** · 19-Jan-2006, 11:10

Though I can only see the reproductions in VC and on the web, Jim's process does seem quite subtle, beautiful, and unique. It's well-suited to his vision and subject matter, which I also admire. Still, there's this little nagging voice in my mind, saying "platinum over digital? That's like ketsup over chocolate ice cream..."

My compliments to Jim, and to Steve for a very fine issue!