I'm new to Platinum and Palladium printing and would greatly appreciate any advice! I've made a few test prints, and I'm having difficulty figuring out the right amount of emulsion and exposure times.
Some questions I have:
- Does the amount of emulsion make a difference in whether an image will appear lighter or darker? I made 2 test prints, both at the same exposure time but with one that had slightly more emulsion. The one that had more emulsion came out darker. Please take a look at the attached images.
- My images appear soft and a little out of focus despite the negative being sharp and in focus. Is there something I might be doing wrong, or is the soft print just a natural characteristic of platinum and palladium prints?
- Is the clearing bath reusable, and if not, what is the safest way of disposing of the used clearing bath?
- Will there always be equal amounts of Palladium and ferric oxalate when mixing the emulsion? And how do you guess how much Platinum to add?
- My exposure times are somewhere around 15-22 minutes. This seems too long compared to some YouTubers I follow who claim to have 5-11 minutes of exposure time. I bought the same UV lights as Tim Layton after watching his YouTube video describing his UV printer - Tim Layton's Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcRPtAVi_jU
Thanks for taking the time to help! I'm sure I'll have a million more questions as I go on...
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