Yes yes, precisely my point… "It looks like platinum, but it isn't - therefore I call it platinum".Originally Posted by Vaughn
Sure - but that's… cheating, isn't it? Reminds me of that joke about the baker making quail pies that are much cheaper than his competition - it's simple, he cuts the quail meat with horse meat… One quail, one horse
A can of "Pork and Beans" technically should be called "Beans and Pork", since there are far more beans than pork. But it is allowed and not considered to be false advertising due to the tradition of calling in "Pork and Beans".
Platinum prints fall into the same catagory, IMO. A print coated with only palladium, if developed in a developer that has ever been used for prints containing platinum (including palladium prints using NA2), actually will now contain platinum picked up from the developer.
Rock, Merced River
Early Morning
8x10 Platinum/Palladium Print
Selling that as "platinum print" would be plain fraud.
Not fraud, but certainly not full disclosure. In my mind the difference between a platinum print and a palladium print is the same difference between a silver chloride print and a silver bromide (or other silver salt) print.
For brevity, in discussions I usually just call them platinum prints. On the wall, they are Platinum/Palladium prints.
who cares what its called, its a beautiful print that is a joy to look at. photographers lie, how many terms are there for an inkjet print floating around in any gallery out there. The proof is in the print.
The comparison is wrong - in one case you deal with different halides of one metal. Platinum and palladium are different metals. And, as you pointed out earlier, one is more precious than the other. Which reflects also in pricing…
Dave, the discussion here is not on the quality of the images. And neither on the *naming*. It is about the metals involved…
So you value your prints based on the current market value of the metals involved?
No -- that is just the picking of nits, as far as I am concerned. Different metals, different chemical compounds
The cost difference between platinum and palladium per print is immaterial compared to the cost of the print. I sell 8x10 Pt/pd prints for $400 -- the cost of the metal is somewhere around 2% of the price. I am not selling metal...I am selling a photograph.
Actually for me, an 8x10 all-palladium print uses a little over $4 worth of palladium, a pure platinum about $14. Small change compared to the price of the print...so no, the price difference between pt and pd does not reflect in the pricing. I would sell a all-pd print for the same price as a all-pt print. I am not tacking on another $10 to the price due to the metal cost difference.
Redwoods, Bull Creek Flat
4x10 Pt/pd print
Beautiful! I was there just a few weeks ago. Thanks also for the memory.
Ed Ross
Platinum is the most recognized noble metal, and traditionally platinum prints had all sorts of other metals in their matrix. Not just noble metals, but all sorts of things, even mercury. The notion of a "pure platinum print" is a complete misnomer, its actually a relatively modern creation, and very few people make them well enough to be worth a good look. Like Vaughn said, if there is any metal in the developer, its gonna be in the print. So call it what you want. I almost always just call my work a photograph, and I am one of the biggest process nerds I know. People, whether they are versed in photographic process or not, look at my photographs and know they were painstakingly hand made, and if they actually care what the process is a conversation always follows. Does a platinum print intrinsically hold more value than a silver print, or a C print, or inkjet print? I used to swear it did, but now I'm not so sure, but what I am sure about is when done well they are breathtaking. Vaughn's prints probably look pretty damn good however he prints them, and he is obviously highly proficient at many historical outputs, but the images would still impress when printed straight of my epson. Anyways, I'm gonna go print a photograph right now.
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